The Best Fish and Chips in Ireland
After a wonderful wedding and vacation, I’m back, and hugely grateful to Lisa and guest bloggers Abigail Tucker and Ashley Luthern for feeding the blog so richly in my absence!
Our honeymoon took us to Ireland and northern Wales, destinations which I confess attracted me in part because they aren’t renowned for their cuisine. If we went to Italy, or France, say, I might have felt silently guilty for relaxing instead of gathering blog fodder—but I didn’t expect the food in the U.K. to be anything to write home about (or write about at home).
Fish and chips at Fishy Fishy Cafe in Kinsale, Ireland. Courtesy Flickr user Daniela.Elle
But I forgot about fish. Especially fish and chips (fries), which between the two of us, we ordered nearly every day. It was tasty the first time we tried it, at a generic-looking seafood restaurant in Dublin, though we laughed at the unappetizing menu phrasing: “Served with mushy peas.” And it was even better in a cozy pub on the west coast, with a side of live traditional music, after a walk beside the gorgeous Cliffs of Moher.
We spent the final night in Kinsale, a harbor town just south of Cork, motivated in part by its reputation as a gourmet hotspot. I’d read in a guidebook about an award-winning cafe and “chippie” (fish and chips shop) there called Fishy Fishy, which serves only the freshest, local, sustainable seafood.
Unfortunately, it was only open for lunch, and we arrived too late after a hairy day on those narrow, winding, drive-on-the-left roads. We tried to console ourselves with other dinner options, but couldn’t decide on any of the menus we walked past, and ended up down by the pier. We were just about to backtrack to a hotel pub when I noticed one more sign.
“Two Fishy Fishies!” I squealed, sounding like a delighted toddler reading a Dr. Seuss book. Turns out that the original cafe was so successful that the owners, Martin and Marie Shanahan, opened a second, larger location by the pier a few years ago (my guidebook was a bit outdated).
I ordered something from the specials menu, a pan-fried turbot fillet served with mushroom risotto and a citrus-cream sauce with chives. It was stupefyingly good. Time to sound a toddler again: “Mmm,” “Yummy,” and “Wow,” was the extent of our conversation for the first few minutes. My husband got the fish and chips, which he declared “the best in Ireland.” The haddock was uber-fresh, the beer batter light and pillowy, and the fries artfully presented in a paper-lined silver cup.
On the walk back to our B&B, we popped into a bookshop, and I spotted “The Seafood Lover’s Cookbook,” co-written by Fishy Fishy’s chef proprietor, Martin Shanahan. It doesn’t include the fish and chips recipe (just as well, as it likely requires a fryer), but it does have a helpful section of fish preparation techniques, a glossary of fish names with notes on sustainability, and dozens of recipes that I look forward to trying. I’ll be trying turbot again, too, which the book describes as “one of the prime fishes that suits all types of cooking” because of its moist flesh. (And I’m pleased to see can be sourced sustainably in U.S. waters as well.)
What is the best seafood you’ve ever eaten, and where?
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The best seafood to be had is definitely in Australia. I had the best fish and chips on my very first day there, in a lovely restaurant near Whale Beach (I think–I was really jetlagged) to the north of Sydney. Best fish ever was in Cairns–coral trout. And then there were the Moreton Bay bugs (a kind of lobster) my friends grilled one evening. Mmmmm.
Comment by Sarah Zielinski — July 16, 2009 @ 1:21 pm
No question about it: sushi breakfast, Tsukiji market, Tokyo.
Comment by WilliamB — July 16, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
Cedar-planked salmon, at any summer community fair in western Washington state. YUMMMMM!
Comment by Mohi — July 17, 2009 @ 10:49 am
My wife and I are going on a 10th anniversary trip to the western coast of Ireland soon, so I’ll look out for Fishy Fishy.
I live in Virginia, so we get plenty of fresh seafood here, but I have to say that my memory bank tends to turn to the fresh fish I’ve eaten in California as being the best. I suspect it’s the inventive preparation that put Cali over the top, as Virginia seems to go for a very direct “here’s your fresh fish” presentation.
Comment by Eric Angevine — July 17, 2009 @ 10:52 am
Growing up in Chicago, all our seafood was frozen. Some of the fresh fish I caught at the trout farm didn’t interest me either. I never liked the stuff.
Fast forward to college days, I had just moved to Florida. I was becoming a certified scuba diver in Key Largo. Our group decided to get some fresh dolphin off a fishing boat and cook it on the grill. Oh no, not fish! We went to the grocery store and got some parsley, onion, garlic, butter, lemon, salt, pepper and aluminum foil to wrap the concoction. It was the best ever! I can still remember it and can eat fish nowadays.
Comment by Bill Antalek — July 17, 2009 @ 11:05 am
It’s not very exotic…but I’d have to say one of my favorites is this place on the Napeague stretch between the Hamptons and Montauk in Long Island. Technically, it’s called Lobster Roll, but affectionately it’s known as “Lunch” because of a sign on the roof that screams “Lunch” in all caps. (http://www.lobsterroll.com/history.html) Great fish and chips! Brings back mouth-watering memories! There’s a pretty good clam bar down the road too (http://www.clambaronline.com/Home_Page.html).
Comment by Megan — July 17, 2009 @ 11:26 am
I turned 22 in Ecuador, South America, on a summer-1976 excursion with friends. We were staying in a hut at the end of the beach about a mile from a fishing village. The ‘gringos’ went to town and got me a cake and bottle of rum, and they bought some fresh tuna steaks. We grilled them over an open fire with only salt and butter. I’ll never forget the taste, and have never found it again since.
Comment by D. Spooner — July 17, 2009 @ 9:44 pm
Mojarra frita con arroz con coco y patacón pisao (fried red snapper with coconut rice and flattened fried salted plantains) in Barú Island – Cartagena, Colombia.
Comment by Pablo — July 18, 2009 @ 5:45 am
Best Fish Chowder is in Boston. Legal sea Food or @ Westin Hotel. Both miraculous. Best Seafood resaurant is in Portland, ME. Street & Co. on tine cobblestoned Wharf St. The freshest carefulkly seasoned, rarely sauced and as good as it gets, Nust mention the Lobster Fra Diavlo, $40 for 2 a masterpiece and worth it @ twice the price.
Comment by JJ — July 26, 2009 @ 6:30 am
[...] We sat on the roof deck, where the ambience was ultra-simple: a sheet of brown paper laid across a picnic table. After anchoring the tablecloth with a pitcher of beer, we checked out the crab “menu”—a receipt slip printed with the day’s inventory. Sizes ranged from small to extra large (and beyond that to jumbo, huge and extra huge, but they were out of those), so we ordered a dozen of their largest. My husband, who has a shellfish allergy, opted for fish and chips instead (the verdict: good, but it was better in Ireland). [...]
Pingback by Cracking into Crabs | Food & Think — August 11, 2009 @ 9:42 am
[...] and Drink: the best fish and chipsin Ireland, according to Food & Think blogger Amanda [...]
Pingback by Travel Hit List: Ireland | Journeys Blog — August 19, 2009 @ 8:01 am
Catfish Pad in Tallahassee, Florida, and Governor’s restaurant in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Comment by Kerry Dexter — August 20, 2009 @ 11:40 am
[...] and Ireland have fish and chips. In Scotland, where I lived briefly, the chippers also sold battered (and deep-fried, of course) [...]
Pingback by Billions and Billions of McRice Burgers Served? | Food & Think — October 5, 2009 @ 10:23 am