The Best Fish & Chips in Scotland

We have not had Fish & Chips since arriving in the UK. Why? Well for starters, they're rather expensive, and also they're usually not that nice by New Zealand standards. Usually the fish is greasy and tasteless. We don't know what it is; perhaps the fish is different here, perhaps it's the way they do the batter here. But basically we know from past experience not to bother with Fish & Chips in the UK.

That was until we heard about Anstruther Fish Bar, which over the past several years has won many awards as the best chippy shop in Scotland. Helen got the tip off from her workmates, and seeing as we were to be in the neighbourhood we thought it would be worth a visit. Could they be as good as our old local in Johnsonville?

Upon arriving in the small coastal fishing town of Anstruther, we had no trouble finding the shop. Just look at the queue outside!



Thanks to Helen's parking gene, we found a free park right outside, and joined the queue. The cold, strong wind we had in St. Andrews was here too, and here we were queuing on the waterfront. This had better be worth it...

Once inside, we thought we were almost at the counter, but no! It was like queuing for a Disneyland ride, into a set of cattle pens to queue some more. The things we do just to clog the arteries.


It was an hour to get our food. We must be crazy! But seeing as this was meant to be lunch, and it was now after 4pm, we deserved a medal for patience. Once we secured our dinners, we braved the wind to sit and eat outdoors.

So how was it? Helen had the battered fish, mine was crumbed. Both were nice, by UK standards. And none of the meal was greasy. And we did enjoy it. But I'm sorry to say, I think New Zealanders get better Fish & Chips at all but the worst shops.

After that, we made a beeline back to Edinburgh to return the rental car.