20 June 2008

Best Fish n Chips in Canberra

| neurotic_gal
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Where can you find the best fish n chips in Canberra?

I have been to the fish n chip shop in O’Connor which was pretty darn pricey.

Anyone know of a good, relatively inexpensive fish n chip shop that has good fish that aren’t from Lake Burley Griffin but are from the ocean and have somehow managed to stay relatively fresh on the traverse inland to get here.

I also love a good steamed dim sim, which are usually available at fish n chip shops in Melbourne, yet all the places I’ve gone to here in the good ole Capital seem to just fry the living daylights out of dim sims (heart attack inducing) if they are available at all.

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Bernie’s from the Bay @ Charnwood gets my vote. We have been buying fish and chips from this wonderful shop ever since they opened, years ago. The fish is beautiful and fresh – there is a variety of fish to pick from and they will cook it fresh for you – battered or grilled. I often buy fresh fish to take home and cook myself and the quality and freshness is always excellent. The fish and seafood is delivered fresh from the South Coast weekly and the quality is fantastic They also sell salads and drinks. The owners are very friendly and very welcoming when I visit. So, if you live in the West Belconnen area, give them a go – I know you’ll be pleased.

Why54 said :

Spectra said :

Northside, there’s excellent fish and okay chips to be had from Higgins (can’t recall the name I’m afraid). In Charnwood there’s Bernie’s from the Bay which has fantastic chips and pretty good fish too.

Bernies at charnie is very good.

Not anymore. Last time I was there the chips were of the frozen variety rather than the famous hand cut chips they were well known for.

The actual fish and calamari at Bernie’s was oily and forgettable. Steve’s at Melba has far better fish.

Spectra said :

Northside, there’s excellent fish and okay chips to be had from Higgins (can’t recall the name I’m afraid). In Charnwood there’s Bernie’s from the Bay which has fantastic chips and pretty good fish too.

Bernies at charnie is very good.

razzie said :

The best fish and chips in Canberra can be found at Bernies From The Bay in Charnwood. After nearly 11 years living in Canberra our wait is finally over! We enjoyed every last morsel and will be making it our regular place to eat from now on.
Believe me, we have tried many places, even driving to Batesman Bay and Wollongong. Short of flying back to Perth to our favourite local, Bernies is by far the best we have tasted to date since being in the east and it’s also reasonably priced 🙂 The 15-20 minute drive there is worth every km.

You are probably right about it being the best in Canberra (although the place in Fyshwick would be pretty competitive).

That being said, I don’t think fish and chips are a Canberra thing. Fish and chip shops are rare and crap. Bernie’s wouldn’t rate as any better than average in QLD.

The best fish and chips in Canberra can be found at Bernies From The Bay in Charnwood. After nearly 11 years living in Canberra our wait is finally over! We enjoyed every last morsel and will be making it our regular place to eat from now on.
Believe me, we have tried many places, even driving to Batesman Bay and Wollongong. Short of flying back to Perth to our favourite local, Bernies is by far the best we have tasted to date since being in the east and it’s also reasonably priced 🙂 The 15-20 minute drive there is worth every km.

Taste On Jardine in Kingston.

They do great burgers too.

Hawker shops seems to punch above its weight. The butcher used make magnificent sausages – probably still does.

Pommy bastard8:04 am 06 Dec 08

Having come here from the land of “fish ‘n’ chips” I can reliably inform you that the the fish and chips at Hawker chippy, next door to “Rock Salt”, are the finest in the capital.

Southside has to be Naked Fish [formerly Fisho King] at Southlands.

You stop at Bruno’s for some chocs for afters, if you’re early enough.

bernie’s gets my vote too

Bernie’s also have sweet potato scallops that are just devine!

The Canberra Yacht Fish and chips isn’t worth the trip this year. It wasn’t fresh. Small serve. Still worth the drive to Kingston for “Taste on Jardine”.

Best fish and chips in Canberra? Queanbeyan! The traditional hamburgery in the main street, next to Walshes Hotel, gets great raps from the fish-eaters. It certainly looked good.

Best : “Taste On Jardine” in Kingston (across from the PO). Good selection of fish. Great Batter, good salad, good chips and the best sauce. Excellent meal and value.

We had takeaway fish and chips from Deakin last night. Very disappointing. Small serve, (not enough chips, lemon, sauce, no salt) and the batter didn’t add to the meal. Poor meal and value.

The Yacht Club has a takeaway (hole in the wall) open on the weekends now. Ill try it next week. Last year it was good.

Bernies at the Bay at Charnwood shops is outstanding, and have real chips. The fortune box at Gungahlin Town Centre do fantastic steamed dims sims (home made)

Best chips I’ve had in YEARS was from that pub in Cooma (Alpine Hotel). I’d forgotten chips could taste like that. Amazingly light and crispy (they were proper fat chips), and almost nothing inside, they were like clouds. Crispy clouds.

Gotta go back through Cooma soon.

Not sure how their fish was as we didn’t have it, but they’re first stop on the road up from Eden/Merimbula…

kean van choc6:36 pm 21 Jun 08

We’d given up buying cooked fish and chips in Canberra and started making our own, but we had them (and calamari) today for lunch at the Belco Markets – really, really good. The fish – flathead – was fresh (well, as fresh as you can get in Canberra), the batter thin and crispy, and the chips were chunky enough and very tasty. The shop itself was a very casual affair with plastic chairs and tables; just what you’d expect from a place at the markets. They do a roaring trade with heaps of people kicking back with seafood laksa, lobster and other assorted stuff from the sea. Well worth a try.

As for Hughes (almost my local shops) – I don’t rate them. The batter is thick and floury. The chips are OK though.

Bernies at the Bay in Charnwood. The chips are real – potatoes chopped up rather than the frozen processed crap you get at most takeaways. The fish is great as well.

green_frogs_go_pop6:11 pm 21 Jun 08

Vic Bitterman said :

Isabella Plains takeaway.

Nobody but shop owners of Greek extraction can cook quality fish & chips! 🙂

(Their pizzas suck BTW)

Haha, definatly. (Both, the fish and chips are good, and the pizzas arent something to write home about..)

and fish o king? Been there once, i had to sell organs on the black market to pay for it. (haha, i’m so funny. but seriously, it was expensive and such.)
But, johno’s takeaway (which is what? two doors down or something?) does pretty good fish and chips..last time i was there, anyway.

I second: Hughes Take-Away, never tried the fish, but the burgers and pizza are fine

There’s a fish caravan near the servo at the Wanniassa shops (where SupaBarn is) that opens late in the week in the evening. There are queues for miles! I don’t eat fish but the rellos who do reckon it’s fresh fish, not frozen, and fried in clean, hot oil.

Vic Bitterman5:08 pm 20 Jun 08

Isabella Plains takeaway.

Nobody but shop owners of Greek extraction can cook quality fish & chips! 🙂

(Their pizzas suck BTW)

Woody Mann-Caruso4:52 pm 20 Jun 08

The OED says:

1. a. A merchant, trader, dealer, or trafficker (freq. of a specified commodity); (from the 16th cent.) a person engaged in a petty or disreputable trade or traffic.

Apparently it comes from the Old Saxon mongari, Old High German mangari, mengari, Old Icelandic mangari, probably directly from the classical Latin mang (dealer, trader). In those languages it’s not just fish (for example, Middle High German vleischmanger, and even Old Saxon flesmongere).

But let’s not forget my favourite, ‘whoremonger’. ‘One who has dealings with whores; one who practises whoredom; a fornicator, lecher.’

Chisholm chippie was tops b4 the reno – just re-opened and I intend to try ’em tonite!

err… rooms? Sorry…

what does a rumourmonger sell?

Why do we refer to fish sellers as fishmongers? We don’t have chicken mongers or meatmongers. But we also have ironmongers. Ah the joys of the English language…

FWIW, my vote also goes to the Livingstone Cafe at Wanniassa shops.

I live in outer Belconnen but still buy my “Victorian Style” Fish/n/chips from Dickson Seafood within the Dickson shopping centre. They seem really pricey but give you multiple servings for the advertised prices – which seems a good thing but actually makes it tricky to order a value-for-money feed.

But they’re great fish/n/chips a they nearly always have flake which helps that “Missing Melbourne fish/n/chips” craving better.

ihatepublicservants2:42 pm 20 Jun 08

For fishmonger – definitely Blue Seas. They’re ridiculously good.

Best fish and chips – I like Flatheads in O’Connor but they are expensive. Perhaps you could buy fish at Blue Seas, batter it and deep fry it at home! Deliciously controlled flavour with all the convenience of take away…

Holden Caulfield said :

Go to pretty much any takeway within 40 minutes drive of South Australia’s coastline, where Flake is generally the staple, and you’ll see what good fish’n’chips should taste like.

or if they have managed to get the bones out effectively, a nice grilled whiting….

Livingston Cafe @ The Wanniassa Shops

Not sure what they do to their crumbed fish but it is awsome.

Note this is the “big” wanniassa shops not the small shops that is now a biker clubhouse 😉

You’ll probably all scoff, but I’m just heading over to the Lachlan Cafe on Brisbane Ave in Barton for their fish. They always have nice fresh stuff, crispy batter, and cheap too. Don’t like their chips much so I usually get my vegies via a couple of nice potato scallops (potato cakes to those further south). That meets or exceeds my oil and salt RDI for the week. Mmmm…

Holden Caulfield12:31 pm 20 Jun 08

Go to pretty much any takeway within 40 minutes drive of South Australia’s coastline, where Flake is generally the staple, and you’ll see what good fish’n’chips should taste like.

also agree with holden caufield. that said, the fish market place in civic, ground floor next to butcher adjacent escalators nth end civic markets, is passable.

tak kee in dickson do a good steamed dim sim (along with some of the best roast duck in town), but the asian grocers in wooley and cape st’s dickson sell them and are easy to steam yourself. poultry place (walk in shop, not corner counter) in belco markets also sell a good range of frozen steamable goodies.

The fish monger at Belconnen Mall is pretty good, doesn’t smell. Someone told me once that fish shops shouldn’t smell, that sea smell is off fish.

Clown Killer – I think you’re confused. The stuff from the coast goes TO the Sydney fish market 😉

Well, the Bermagui stuff does anyway…

Northside, there’s excellent fish and okay chips to be had from Higgins (can’t recall the name I’m afraid). In Charnwood there’s Bernie’s from the Bay which has fantastic chips and pretty good fish too.

Clown Killer11:36 am 20 Jun 08

I buy fresh fish from the place on the corner near the rug shop at the Fyshwick Markets. The reality is that unless most places both here in Canberra and on the coast get their seafood from the same place – the Sydney Fish Markets.

I was in Eden about a month ago and thought I’d treat the family to some fresh fish for dinner – not possible after doing the rounds of the fish coops, wholesalers and the like there wasn’t a bright eyed, shiny sea creature to be had … I ended up stopping at Fyshwick markets on the way home.

Woody Mann-Caruso11:19 am 20 Jun 08

I do rate sezzle for sticking around after that beating she got after her first post, though – the world loves a stayer. 😉

Woody Mann-Caruso11:17 am 20 Jun 08

I don’t rate Mawson at all. There’s something…I dunno, less the honest about their fish and chips. The fish should be en enormous, weighty wodge of flaky white goodness, enclosed in not-too-thick, not-too-thin but uniform and golden greasy batter, not some dainty fill-ay of some yuppie fish in tempura. The chips shoud be misshapen, different lengths, some crisp and golden, some soggy and squished. There needs to be tomato sauce, and Pasito, and a bit too much salt. There should be butchers paper that slowly becomes transparent, not cardboard boxes, and no logos in sight.

If you’re in the Woden area of town you can’t go past Hughes Take-Away. Grilled Fish dinner $10 – very nice.

la mente torbida10:53 am 20 Jun 08

@captainwhorebags

Blue Seas in Leeton St, Fyshwick (near the Fyshwick Fruit Markets)

I agree with Holden Caulfield, there is no such thing…

captainwhorebags10:34 am 20 Jun 08

Somewhat related, can anyone recommend a very good fishmonger that’s close to the southside?

gun street girl10:29 am 20 Jun 08

Thumbs up to all suggestions thus far: Flathead Cafe, Cape Cod and Fish O King are all good (although I think the latter has recently changed its name – doesn’t seem to have affected quality, however). Unfortunately, I don’t think anything here can hold a candle to what you can get 2.5 hours down the road – quick drive to the coast, anyone…?

Clown Killer10:24 am 20 Jun 08

The O’Conner fisho is pretty good – the trick to avoiding high prices is to not specify your species. We found that the generic “fish of the day and chips” deal was a lot cheaper than specifying say, flayhead or Dory or whatever and you just end up with whatever fish they have more of – often a more expensive one too.

Not sure about good fisho’s on the south side. I would however warn against the little van at Wanniassa shops. It used to be OK but in my opinion that’s no longer the case.

I’m not big on fish and chips so can’t comment there, but I LOVE dim sims so can offer som advice.

You are correct, most takeaways in Canberra fry them which is no good compared to steamed. Kramer is correct, sometimes your best to get them from an asian takeaway or restaraunt, my vote is for Asian Cafe on WestRow.

However, you can’t go past buying them frozen from the supermarket and steaming them yourself, much cheaper and you can have them whenever you want.

perfect hangover food! 😉

la mente torbida10:18 am 20 Jun 08

Cape Cod….Deakin shops

Holden Caulfield10:18 am 20 Jun 08

There is no such thing as “best” and “Fish’n’Chips” and “Canberra”.

Sadly. 🙁

I always feel Ill after eating at O’Connor fush and chups, I think the oil may not be hot enough so the fish becomes marinated in vegetable oil.

I assume you are referring to Flathead Cafe at O’Connor, which is my favourite fish and chips in Canberra – although their chips could be a bit better. Nothing beats a summer evening there with a six pack of Coopers from the shops, and sitting outside with a good feed of fish & chips.

I leave the dim sims to the experts (Chinese takeaway & yum cha) where you can usually specify fried or steamed.

“Fish O’ King” in Mawson has the best fish (but the chips can be kind of variable).

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