Best of Canberra - Fish and Chips

Snappers on the lake – beautiful setting – but after making enquiries today – the fish is supplied by a company – arrives pre-crumbed and frozen. Said company get it from a New Zealand company – I didn’t go any further with my investigations. Such a waste of a stunning location.

I have had yet another disappointing experience of fish and chips. I live in southern Tuggeranong and I have really not found anywhere round here that can be relied upon to serve up really good fish AND chips! Tonight I was really yearning for some fish and chips, not having had any in a long time. So we decided to try The Dancing Noodle, the newest take-away at the Lanyon shops. Well the battered fish was OK, though I’ve definitely tasted much better, and the two little strips were far from generous. As for the chips – they were about as “ordinary” as one has come to expect around here! I grew up in a coastal town in Tassie and, just about all the fish and chip shops there were good – because they had to compete with each other. Here it seems nobody bothers to up their game because they just don’t have anything really good to compete with. From reading the comments here, it seems the best ones are in Belconnen anyway. Charnwood is about as far away from where we live as anywhere in Canberra could be! 🙁 I do wish we had even one really great fish and chip shop in Tuggers. Then the others might lift their game. We used to get fish and chips from “Billy Banks” (Banks shops) – his CAN be good – but the last lot we had were terrible and we have generally found them to be very much “hit and miss” – sometimes good, sometimes very “ordinary” indeed. 🙁 Have found the take-aways at Calwell and Erindale disappointing too. In the past Isabella Plains take-away has been pretty good, though a bit expensive – but last time we went there even they were a bit disappointing. When you’ve had fish and chips from Narooma and Dalmeny, sadly Canberra’s are enormously disappointing!

jcitizen said :

Ben_Dover said :

I’m a pom, so I know my fish and chips

Only a POM would expect “MUSHY PEAS” from a fisho. WHinge WHinge……….

I’m a Pom and I would expect mushy peas at a chippy as well. I don’t like normal garden peas but I will eat mushys. They should also stock pickled eggs and gherkins (fondly known as wallys for some reason).

I’ve been here over 20 years and I still miss cod and chips. Sure if I nipped back there that it would not be as nice as I remember, but Aus does really need to lift its game in this department.

jcitizen said :

You have got to be joking, Hawker ,Really…..What about Watson Shops????

Yes, as I say, Hawker “The Cookery Nook” does, in my view, the best chips in Canberra. As for Watson, I really couldn’t say, I haven’t tried theirs.

jcitizen said :

Have you tried their crumbed snapper? Its the best I have had, always fresh with a healthy serve of unreal chips.

Ah! That’s where you are going wrong. Fish and chip shop fish is, traditionally, battered. Also, most people prefer a serve of real chips with their fish, rather than unreal one.

jcitizen said :

Bernie’s is good but it gets a bit expensive.

How does it “get a bit expensive”?

jcitizen said :

Only a POM would expect “MUSHY PEAS” from a fisho. WHinge WHinge……….

Well seeing as the dish is an English import into Australia, and seeing as your perspectives on it seem, at best, somewhat warped, I’ll excuse your ignorance for now.

“De gustibus non est disputandum ” is a very apt and apposite phrase. Look it up, it may save you a world of embarrassment in future.

+2 for the Livingston Cafe @ Wanniassa shops (NOT Erindale, big difference!). Do yourself (but not your arteries) a favour by trying their hamburgers too 🙂

Ben_Dover said :

I’m a pom, so I know my fish and chips

Every Friday I have a fish and chip supper, it’s a treat. If I’m home, I’ll go to Hawker chippy, which does big tasty slabs of (unnamed*) fish, and possibly the best chips in Canberra.

If I’m in work on a Friday evening shift however, there’s a problem. Yes I could do a run over to Hawker in the works car, and get my supper there. But I’d get sacked if I got caught, or had an accident in it. I could use the chippy in Hughes, but their fish is a bit suspect as it is always totally uniform in shape and size.

I could go to Naked Fish in Mawson, which does great fish, usually a choice of at least 8 species. But their chips are crinkle cut cr#p. I could go to the Curtin chipper, which usually has 2 or 3 types of fish on offer, not great chips, and can be wonderful, but more often is awful.

One Friday night at work I decided to go to a the Peppered Prawn as the place advertised that they were ”Canberra’s best fish restaurant”, and they had fish and chips on the menu. I came away with the smallest serve of fish and chips it’s ever been my displeasure to encounter.

No chippy in Canberra does mushy peas, which is infamy.

The nearest Canberra has to a proper chipper is “Bernie’s from the Bay”, reasonable range of fish, and chips which meet the standard. The standard for Canberra chips, they wouldn’t pass muster in Blighty.

*Ok, call it Ernie if you must.

You have got to be joking, Hawker ,Really…..What about Watson Shops????
Have you tried their crumbed snapper? Its the best I have had, always fresh with a healthy serve of unreal chips.
Bernie’s is good but it gets a bit expensive.
Only a POM would expect “MUSHY PEAS” from a fisho. WHinge WHinge……….

There’s a great little fish and chip shop at the Dickson Shopping Centre. Quiet, unassuming, but fresh fish and seafood, good chips and lovely salad.

I’ll second and third the opinion of Snapper at the Yacht Club, it’s re opened, redesigned, and a redeveloped menu. Fresh fish from the coast, battered or crumbed onsite, open 7 days, serving Lonsdale Roaster coffee blend for the Café and Pialligo Estate bacon on their B and E’s.

I’ve been quite a few times in it’s previous life, as the spot is superb for kids, but now there’s wine/beer onsite, the food is fantastic and combined with the music through the loudspeakers on a balmy Canberra evening, it’s magical. Even the bat watching at dusk is worth the trip.

+1 Wanniassa Shops (Livingston Cafe or something) crumbed fish is great and the chips are plentiful and really good.

They still sell chips by how much you want to spend (min $2.50) which seems pretty rare now days but I feel is the fairest system. I hate spending $5 on chips when I am only $4 hungry 😉

the chippie at the Wanniassa shops is pretty good if you’re after the “wrapped in newspaper” variety of fish and chips.