Fish and chips and other balms for the soul

[MisterCairo]

F&C is most definitely a favourite of mine. In town, Boomers Fries makes a tasty, fresh fish and chips, and Madelyn's Diner is reputed to have the best F&C in town. Malt vinegar and loads of nasty salt are musts, of course!

We have a "chip wagon" in town, no fish, just chips (fries they call them - Ken's Fries), it's literally a truck parked downtown in its own licensed spot, selling nothing but chips and pop.

Here's the best part - THEY DON'T SERVE ANY KETCHUP and THEY ONLY HAVE MALT VINEGAR!

Some traditions are worth keeping!

My absolute best experience, though, has to be, wait for it - deep fried haggis and chips! A wagon serves it too, and I've only had it at the local Embro Highland Games. Mmmmmmmmmmmm...............

 

[HoosierDaddy]

During the 1970s there were fast food eateries here in the U.S. called "H. Salt". Golden battered fish with handcut fries(chips)wrapped in fake newspaper served with malt vinegar. Quite an unusual and popular chain here in the midwest(Indiana)..before fast food fish&tarter sauce dinner chains like "LongJohnSilver" and "Captain Ds" entered the area.
During the same timeframe a chain of restaurants called "Lums" offered what seemed like hundreds of different varieties of dressed up hotdogs(more like large plump frankfurters) on soft chewy hotdog buns becaming quite popular as well. Sweet..reg and spicey sauerkrauts...many types of relish...different kinds of onions....varieties of mustards...and long before the micro breweries..many foreign bottled beers..as well as on tap. After a few good years..they faded from the scene..replaced by new McDonalds with the playgrounds and prob somehow blown away by Wendys.....
HD

 

[cptjeff]

I tried fish and chips once along with my dad and a friend. We had just landed in London that day, and somehow found the worst fish and chips place (chippery?) in London. Perhaps I'll try it again someday.

As for comfort food from home, as a North Carolinian I have to say proper barbeque- pulled pork with a vinegar based sauce, slaw mixed in (not mayo based, vinegar based). Hush Puppies and a cheerwine (Local soda, also known as God's gift to soft drinks) on the side.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

Cornish Pasties- Cornish ones, not London ones- no carrots, or other foreign bodies, and not minced meat. Potato, beef, turnips, or swede, onions, salt black pepper and pastry. And pronounced like pass, not like gas.

My family are from the West Country too and we're all big pasty fans. Easy to eat on the go, just hold it by the ridge at the edge.
Typically I find many folks have a kebab or burger after a night out "clubbing" but in the West Country there appears to be another alternative of pasties and other similar savoury pastry items.

cptjeff - I've always known it as a "chippy" that's not to say that know-one does call it a chippery, just I've just not heard it; there are a lot of colloquial phrases about though.

 

[Smithy]

I like Fish and Chips but when I moved from NZ to England, I found the
English F&C to be a bit too greasy and stodgy.
I prefer a little less of the grease and more of the crispy batter on the fish
and well cooked chips, rather than fat, white ones.
I was mainly in London, though...

Maybe I haven't had enough regional Fish and Chips experience.
Maybe that's it.


B
T

Another Kiwi here and I have chime in with BT and say the very best fish 'n chips IMHO are from NZ. If you ever get the opportunity when you're in the Land of the Long White Cloud, buy some (preferably snapper or terakihi). And they still serve it wrapped in yesterday's newspaper in many places. Beer battered with tartare sauce - not greasy, vinegar on the chips and some lemon wedges, bloody brilliant!

 

[Babydoll]

Lots of opportunities to have fisn-n-chips in Seattle (some good and some not). Locally (close to the University of Washington) one of the best is from an Irish pub (and yes, the owner is really Irish) called FinnMcCools.
Though I don't consider fisn-n-chips a walk-away food. I have only had it served in a basket with knife and fork.
And yes, the Irish place serves it with the vinegar, but they also provide a side of tarter sause for those so inclined.

I'm surprised you didn't mention Ivar's. They're my go-to for local fish and chips.

 

[Miss Crisplock]

Growing up in Seattle, I've had a lot of fish and chips and hardly ever had any that weren't great. Ivar's Downtown, Whale's Tail in Des Moines, ect. There are "even off the menu" F & C at jack in the box that are more than decent.

Still a H. Salt here and there; there is one in Huntington Beach, CA.

My favorite fish for F&C is beer battered halibut. Alaska is the home of some fabulous F&C.

 

[kamikat]

My mom's father was a diplomat, stationed mostly in Lebanon and Tehran. My mom learned to cook from the family cooks, so my comfort foods tend to be Middle Eastern in origin. I don't eat meat any more, so when I need comfort foods I reach for pita and hummus with LOTS of garlic or a falafel sandwhich. My dad's family is Greek, so Greek food is always holiday food. I know people who own Greek dinners and back when I ate meat, my go-to comfort foods were always pastichio or moussaka.

 

[Missy Hellfire]

There is definitely something of the comfort food about Fish and Chips. Yesterday we went into the Derbyshire Peak District and I walked along the promenade at Matlock Bath with my beloved, each of us warming our hande on a bag of fish and ships and happy in the knowledge that many couples had done the same for a hundred years before!

I may be waxing a little lyrical, but there is something lovely in going to a place like that and almost sharing an experience with a visitor from the past.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"MATLOCK" I remember it well as! a child, Welsh rarebit, at a Restaurant, I think was called Bentleys, this is going back to 1968' ish and the Petrified Well, is my Lady Penelope FB1 still there?"

 

[BellyTank]

I had some Fish & Chips in a Turkish Pizzeria in Stockholm last night...
Crumbed cod and nice chips. Better than expected but not the good stuff.


Smithy, that Chinese Take Away at Pasadena (Auckland)
does a nice piece of Fish.


B
T

 

[Missy Hellfire]

"MATLOCK" I remember it well as! a child, Welsh rarebit, at a Restaurant, I think was called Bentleys, this is going back to 1968' ish and the Petrified Well, is my Lady Penelope FB1 still there?"

I'm afraid I didn't see one of those Binkie, but we were only there for a relatively short time. I shall have to go back and have a look!

And get some more chips, of course

 

[cupcake]

My boyfriend and I went on a date the other day. We had fish and chips (and mushy peas!) while sitting with our feet dangled over the side of a jetty on the river. Absolutely Perfect.

 

[jwalls]

During the 1970s there were fast food eateries here in the U.S. called "H. Salt". Golden battered fish with handcut fries(chips)wrapped in fake newspaper served with malt vinegar. Quite an unusual and popular chain here in the midwest(Indiana)..before fast food fish&tarter sauce dinner chains like "LongJohnSilver" and "Captain Ds" entered the area.
During the same timeframe a chain of restaurants called "Lums" offered what seemed like hundreds of different varieties of dressed up hotdogs(more like large plump frankfurters) on soft chewy hotdog buns becaming quite popular as well. Sweet..reg and spicey sauerkrauts...many types of relish...different kinds of onions....varieties of mustards...and long before the micro breweries..many foreign bottled beers..as well as on tap. After a few good years..they faded from the scene..replaced by new McDonalds with the playgrounds and prob somehow blown away by Wendys.....
HD

I remember 'Lum's' from the 70's when I worked in Atlanta. They served the best brine pickles with every order. I would love to be able to get a dog and fries there today.

 

[dnjan]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Ivar's. They're my go-to for local fish and chips.

The closest Ivars to me is the Ivars Smoked Salmon house, and I never go there for fish and chips. If I go there, it is for a nice meal, indoors.
Besides, fish and chips needs a beer, and you can't get a beer at the walk-up Ivars places, can you?

 

[matei]

I also enjoy F&C, especially from our local chipper. They're under new ownership and gone a bit posh, but to my surprise the quality has improved.

Nothing beats a brown bag (I've not seen them served up in newsprint in ages) of piping hot F&C on a chilly evening.

I think that the taste of traditional fish and chips might leave many North American palates a bit underwhelmed, along with the vinegar. Certainly in my experience, any friends who come from stateside are usually somewhat confused, I don't think the actual flavour jibes with their expectation.

The mushy peas don't go over well either... (I don't like peas anyhow, in any guise, mushy or otherwise)

I also like the much-maligned lamb doner, in spite of the somewhat dubious origin of the meat content.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

all my balms for the soul involve sour cream.

lots and lots of sour cream.

 

[PistolPete1969]

Ivar's is the BEST!!!!!

I was stationed in Bremerton in the late 1980's. I used to take the ferry to Seattle whenever I could. Ivar's was like a beacon.

To this day Ivar's is the best clam chowder I have ever had, IMHO.

 

[Babydoll]

The closest Ivars to me is the Ivars Smoked Salmon house, and I never go there for fish and chips. If I go there, it is for a nice meal, indoors.
Besides, fish and chips needs a beer, and you can't get a beer at the walk-up Ivars places, can you?

Not a beer drinker, so that's not a deciding factor for me.

My favorite Ivars location is Mukilteo. Years and years of family gatherings to fly kites, and having Ivars on the beach. Great memories!

 

[dnjan]

Clam Chowder - that is definitely a comfort food!

To this day Ivar's is the best clam chowder I have ever had, IMHO.

Definitely! So good that I am rarely tempted to make it myself anymore.

They serve it at Husky Stadium during the football games. A bit pricey, but fantastic!