Why do you Irish love the chipper.

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/78003185#Comment_78003185

I realise I'm 10+ years too late to reply to this, but every chipper I've ever had in either the UK or NI, they've battered the fish in front of my eyes before cooking it. Every single time, for the last 20-odd years. I've NEVER had that happen in Ireland. The amount of doughy, claggy, lumpy, sweaty, uncooked batter on most chipper fish here is ridiculous. It's supposed to be light and crispy, not dense and cloying.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121017285#Comment_121017285

Or rock hard like when I broke off 80% of my back tooth eating a smoked cod from Silvios one time.

blue note

It's sad to see them die out as they really were institutions. When I was growing up (90s) a takeaway meant a chipper. There was a chinese in the town too and that grew in popularity, but if you didn't have time to make a dinner, they fed you. In my teen years I worked in one. I suspect the standards in chippers is / was appalling, but the one I worked in I couldn't fault. The place was scrubbed at the end of each evening, food temps were checked and recorded, the temp the hot food was stored at was monitered, the fridges and freezers checked too. And everything only cooked once, there was certainly never a sausage, fish or piece of chicken reheated.

Now though, I just can't understand how people like the food in them. The chips tend to be greasy, very rarely crispy. The burgers are flavourless, the buns consistently terrible. The menus are far too big - the only way to offer menus that size is to freeze half the stuff. And when they're buying in pre-made frozen stuff it's going to be awful. I wouldn't buy it in a supermaket, I certainly don't want to pay anyone to serve it to me.

The item which epitomises how bad the food in chippers tend to be though is the battered sausage. They should be battered and then fried and then given to you. That way they should be delicious. Instead though, they slice them down the middle, so those tasty sausage fats leak out and the inside gets dehydrated by the vegetable oil instead of the actual sausage steaming inside. And typically, you're probably getting one that was half cooked to speed up service meaning that it's even more dehydrated and greasy. The fact that the majority of chippers can't cook a battered sausage really is a sad indictment of them.

I will admit that I find the majority of takeaways terrible though, so maybe I'm not the best person to judge them. Chinese's perhaps the worst - everything on the menu tastes gloopy. Pizzas are up there too. Indians are probably the least worst of them, but I'd still say the majority of them are awful.

The one way I think chippers could save themselves though is if they tried to make nice food and abandoned trying to sell everything. You can't sell burgers, sausages, fish, chicken, kebabs, pizzas, pies, etc and expect to do it all well. The quality of food trucks tends to be great in Ireland now, but you'll find that they do pizza or burgers or dumplings or bao buns or whatever. The chippers need to get rid of the majority of their menu and figure out how to make what's left on their menus delicious. Firstly, for God's sake get the chips right. If you can't make nice chips look for a new career now. Then if you're going to do burgers don't just buy in frozen ones from musgraves and hope they're grand. If this is your business, you need to know everything about it. If you're not interested in what cut of beef goes into them, what fat ratios and what breed of cow then don't do burgers. If you're not going to try to figure out how to make the tastiest burgers why would anyone go to you? If you're going to do fish then source fresh fish, make your batter and serve fresh battered fish. If they're not going to try to move with the times, they don't deserve to survive.

j2

This is odd but the voice and manner of the guy giving me the fish and chips has an impact. The guy in burdocks in howth had a strong Dublin accent, which I don't, and he was very chill and relaxed. I loved it. Same thing I had fish achips in a fancy spot in Dalkey and it was nice, but I wasn't all set to nut. These are the fundamental mysteries of life.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121017519#Comment_121017519

i generally order batter sausages when i get chips and i've never got one that was cut lengthways

SEPT 23 1989

Standards have fallen drastically in my local chippers and Chinese while prices have skyrocketed

the Indian has remained consistently good while only increasing prices slightly

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117859477#Comment_117859477

jackie lennox has definitely gone a bit downhill in the last few years but i can guarantee they didnt serve you frozen chips. having said that i wont be going there next time im home. barties is pretty close and i find it to be much better overall

dinos is fairly decent to be fair but i dont know about it being the best. the golden fry, murphys or the fish wife (although thats gone i think?) are probably the best in the city, have heard good things about chish n fips out in crosshaven too

and nobody refers to corkonians as 'corkys' ffs.....

Sgt Hartman

Best fish and chips I've had in ages was from Donkey Ford's in Limerick a couple of weeks ago. I went for the whiting which was really nice. Two pieces of battered whiting and loads of chips wrapped in paper the old fashioned way. A week before that I ordered a fresh cod and chips for myself and the OH in Macari's in Balbriggan. While it was decent it was nowhere near as good as the one from Donkey's. The price was ridiculous also. I ordered from Just Eat for delivery and the total came to approx €28. And that was with no extras.

Strumms

There is so much competition.

im my area the takeaways used to be only chipper / Chinese / pizza

now doing takeaway… chipper, Chinese , pizza, Indian, Italian, Thai, posh sandwich shops x2 …. All the pubs now do carvary take away since covid… so probably with the variety, chippers are doing less and costs are big.

for the consumer : the expense is a thing too….more focus on health and healthy eating is a thing too…

quarter pounder with cheese and regular chips in my local one… now 9 euros…. Place is out the door at weekends but mostly because it’s next door to a really busy pub… but quiet during the week….

ghostfacekilla

I romanticise the effect this food will have on me to a level only explained by insanity and once I can't eat another morsel, I feel ill for a few hours. Eventually, I forget and do it again...like a micro version of forgetting the pain of childbirth and suggesting we should try for another baby.

iniscealtra

The only thing I really like in an Irish chipper is a curry chip or a curry cheese.

Is the battered sausage a Dublin thing? It would never occur to me to order one.

Fish and chips in Ireland - the fish is always over cooked and the batter is generally not good. Unless you’ve found a gem.

@Sgt Hartman Have heard good things about Donkey Fords

whisky_galore

Most chippers here are "meh" to poor, "drunk quality" food for the less discerning late night customer who would eat an old shoe if it was dipped in batter and fried.

I think closures of poorer quality outlets will hasten and they won't be missed.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121019562#Comment_121019562

A bag and a battered one was my standard order.

blue note

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121017692#Comment_121017692

I'm amazed to hear that. I've lived in a lot of places in Dublin and I think the only local I had that didn't cut them down the middle was Beshoffs. Dooley's in Tramore used to not cut them too. But my local chippers would have been on the Ballymun Road, Whitehall, Clontarf, Fairview, Drumcondra, Grand Canal Dock, Carpenterstown, Ranelagh, Killester and Portmarnock. At this stage I'd really notice if a place didn't cut it down the middle.

Macari's below even have it in their picture. They're completely shameless.

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121019281#Comment_121019281

tried donkey fords about 5 or so years ago and was utterly disappointed, had heard so much and i thought it was rubbish but maybe i had caught them on a bad day.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121019999#Comment_121019999

it might be a dublin thing so, i have limited experience there apart from beshoffs and burdocks

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121021721#Comment_121021721

Silvios, Borza, Cinellis, Roma et all all split the sausage

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121021921#Comment_121021921

again, dublin

Dial Hard

I can't believe people are debating the merits (or otherwise) of splitting a battered sausage on an 11-year-old thread.

bobdcow

Our local cut corners about 10 years ago. The quality, especially on the chips went down hill and for what was once a busy place the custom just died out. It took him a while to come back to previous quality but the damage was done. It was the same locals who would frequent it and keep it open but it has closed now. Like was said previously you can't cut on the quality, not with the prices these days.

We have a chipper in town who do very tasty battered sausages, not cut down the middle, just fried in front of you. His quality has been consistent since he opened, his problem is he has no parking. If there was a car park next to him his chipper would be jointed all day.

Trampas

Are chippers selling coley and passing it off as cod still? Long time since I’ve gone to one bar at the seaside but it seem to be a thing at one stage.

Use to be a 2/3 times a week visit. Especially on the walk home from the pub. Them days are over now but felt like food was going crap and that shovel at the end was getting smaller. That last shovel was always important

blue note

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121022119#Comment_121022119

No we're not. No-one is defending splitting them down the middle. I'm delighted to read that more than a couple of places don't split them.

Greyfox

Id never get fish or a burger in a chipper but chipper chips, battered sausage and curry sauce still taste better than a home cooked meal.