Dublin Chippers

This fish-and-chip shop has been family owned for three generations, The cod is glistening fresh, the batter couldn’t be bettered by a Japanese tempura chef, featherlight, crispy and cooked through. The chips taste great – freshly cooked so they’re hot and free from grease. If you don’t fancy fish, then how about a pie, maybe cheese-and-onion, home made with a nice thin water crust pastry? Or steak-and-kidney pudding, choice of two, one steamed in foil, the other in muslin. Peas? Certainly. Mushy or black? For dessert, another pie, this one filled with apple or rhubarb, again, made on the premises. Grandma Pollard’s must be on a shortlist for World’s Best Chipper. Alas it’s in Yorkshire, not in Dublin.

So how do our own measure up to this potato paragon? To find out I took my lady’s Mazda coupe, collected my asbestos-throated pal Paul and set out on a high-speed tour de frites. First pit stop was Burdock’s, Christ Church, coal-fired range and all, Dublin’s benchmark chipper. Next, Angelos, 35 years in Wexford Street. Then, off to the Liberties where they like things a bit traditional so the one-on-ones ought to be up to scratch. We pulled up at Fuscos in Meath Street. Paul remembered that The Manor Take-away in Stoneybatter was well spoken of so we went there next. Finally, we trekked to Quirke’s, under the bridge in Amiens Street, something of a northside legend. By now our palates were all codded-out so we called it a night.

Here’s what we found
BURDOCKS:
Fish: Good and tasty cod, nicely cooked, pieces flaked away with the sea-fresh sheen still on them *****
Batter: Concrete overcoat with a woolly lining. **
Chips: Floury potatoes. A bit limp and only lukewarm. *
ANGELOS
Fish: We had to wait a bit while they cooked it but it was worth it. Angelos had run out of fresh cod so we ordered haddock, which being a drier fish, doesn’t taste as good deep-fried. Still they gave a decent-sized portion of very fresh fish. ****
Batter: Thinner, crispier than Burdocks. Still room for improvement though. ***
Chips: Best we tasted. Nice and hot. A slightly waxy potato which gave the chips more bite and flavour. *****
FUSCO’s
Fish: Watery, as though it had been standing around too long. Not much flavour, poor texture. **
Batter: Nothing remarkable. Again, too thick so the inside wasn’t cooked. **
Chips: Hot and free from grease, but didn’t taste of much. Quite a lot of very small chips. ***
THE MANOR TAKE-AWAY
Fish: Quite a good thick piece of cod. Flaky and fresh. ****
Batter: Best of the night. Although pre-battered it was crisp through and not too thick. ***
Chips: Decent, big chunky chips commendably low in grease ***
QUIRKE’S
Fish: Decent fish, moist and fresh but… ****
Batter: Thick crusty cocoon, soggy within. Dripping in grease – we suspect the range hadn’t been heated to a high enough temperature. *
Chips: Rancid taste. Very floury potato with little flavour. *

Best Buy: 1. Angelo’s. 2. The Manor 3. Burdocks.