Westown Fish Supplies

 REVIEW LOCATION:

New Plymouth

Store: Westown Fish Supplies, 61 Tukapa St.
Price: $6.80

Amount of chips:     5/5
Chip quality:        3/5
Size of fish:        5/5
Fish quality:        4/5

Total Score:         17

Well drained of oil?: Not very good I'm afraid.
Satisfied?:  I ate a lot and am feeling reasonably satisfied.

Comments: 

This shop was so cute. NZ commercial fish poster on the door window, max capacity of about 8 customers at a time and a constant core thawing smile from the pregnant Chinese owner while smacking out the orders on a busy Friday night. A clean menu board in Broadway and Arial fonts surrounded by vivid on white A4 cartridge paper with quickly written adjectives like "YUMMY" and "DELICIOUS". One other customer in the cue exclaimed to me that these were the best fish and chips in New Plymouth.

The chips were an overly generous scoop of old mate Mr Chip's chips with a few light flicks of salt. These were unfortunately over done in the fryer and a high ratio of which had hollowed out.
The fish was a very pleasing cut of Warehou with a perfect delicate spread of batter. The flavour of the fish itself would be what I'd regard as one of the best deep fried fishes I've had. A great meaty texture with subtle umami notes of kombu and sea salt.
This meal had all the right components to blow me away at such a low price but was unfortunately let down by the frying. The importance of banging and hanging was not well considered which resulted in a greasy and not very enjoyable experience.
Their heart is truly in it and I am legitimately bummed I can't give them a shining review with 5s across the board.

Snappers Fish and Chips

REVIEW LOCATION:
New Plymouth

Store: Snappers Fish and Chips, 497 Devon St East
Price: $7.60

Amount of chips:     5/5
Chip quality:        5/5
Size of fish:        4/5
Fish quality:        3/5

Total Score:         17

Well drained of oil?: Very!
Satisfied?: More than enough food.

Comments: Yup. I'm still in New Plymouth so I peeped around at which shops had good ratings on Google maps. A shop called Snappers came up and was rated relatively high considering they had over 100 Google reviews which I'd say is a lot for small town New Zealand.
The layout is quite comical, it feels like everyone is hanging out in a shed with a small gas heater in the corner. With the doors and windows shut there still seemed to be a strong breeze whipping through the room which I couldn't figure out. The interior decorating is very shabby chic/mumcore with large welded metal fish sculptures against canary yellow walls and fake flowers placed all over the room. There are 2 different sets of home stereo speakers, one pair is mounted up high but not working so I'm guessing they just gave up on them when they stopped working.
This shop was constantly busy the entire time with a lot of young but very hard working teenagers working out the back and keeping on top of the relentless orders coming through. The menu board was classy black vinyl on white but was given the full kiwi design treatment by covering unavailable menu items with paper and white masking tape and headed with the company logo which has a picture of a big goofy cartoon fish.
The chips are old faithful Mr Chips chips and were fried very well. I had zero complaints with this batch, the fry time and the bang and hang were perfectly done to produce some golden fries that were a pleasure to eat. It got me thinking, the past two experiences have both been the same straight cut Mr Chips brand which just goes to show the importance of potato preparation before frying is just as important as the frying itself.
The fish of the day was lemon fish. Now and again you can run into a filet of lemon fish that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth('scuse the pun) but I'm pleased to announce today's was a delicious bit. There were a few things that let it down though. At first sight it seemed like I was in for a big fish day but it turned out it was sliced thin and the batter was applied on the heavy side. This was made worse by what I guess was a rushed fry time as the batter was still a bit under cooked and doughy which seems to be a common mistake of the busier shops.
It wasn't exactly offensive but I won't be recommending it. Well... no wait - if you're at the nearby beach and got a hankering for only chip butties, definitely hit them up! I dunno, it's kinda funny that a store named after a type of fish was let down by their fish.

Port Fish Shop

REVIEW LOCATION:
New Plymouth

Store: Port Fish Shop/Blue Ocean Seafood, 10 Breakwater Rd.
Price: $7.60

Amount of chips:     5/5
Chip quality:        5/5
Size of fish:        5/5
Fish quality:        4/5

Total Score:         19

Well drained of oil?: Noticeably good!
Satisfied?: I am so full and feel great.

Comments: I really liked the vibe of this place. Clean but not classy. Rough but not a complete dive. The daughter working the register out the front while mum and dad hold it down on the fryers out the back. Classic murals on the walls of an under water scene to set the mood with 2 fish tanks housing tropical species. The menu items are 40% original vinyl lettering and 60% chaotic mix of different single line print outs, some of which are laminated. The menu title still holds the previous name of the shop which confused me for a minute.
The chips were skillfully cooked Mr Chips brand chips. They were so good that I would consider them the best batch of fries I have had since I've been back in the country. The massive scoop had a pleasant fluffy inner and the oil residue on the exterior was almost non-existent. They continued to be enjoyable as they cooled down which is also a good sign.
The fish was a very impressive hunk of Warehou. Plastered with the perfect amount batter and pulled out just at the right moment. This would have been perfect 5s across the board but the fish had a slight metallic muddy flavour in a couple of mouthfuls which was the only thing to let any of this down. The amount of seasoning used was right in the sweet spot.
It feels good to fiiiinally get some relatively decent F 'n' Cs.

George's Fisheries

REVIEW LOCATION:
Whanganui

Store: George's Fisheries, 40 Victoria Ave.
Price: $7.40

Amount of chips:     5/5
Chip quality:        3/5
Size of fish:        5/5
Fish quality:        3/5

Total Score:         16

Well drained of oil?: Very good.
Satisfied?: Couldn't have eaten another bite!

Comments: I had a lot of confidence in this place as it was our go to while living in Whanganui. We lived above this store for years and it was extremely difficult to hold ourselves back from gorging on George's most days. So I came at this review with fond memories and nostalgia which I thought may bias my opinion on it only to find that it was under new management. Instantly the palace I had built in my mind of this hot chips hot spot began to crumble right in front of me. No Yvonne behind the deep frier banging away? Is it even George's if her oddly stern but friendly smile isn't beaming at you from behind the counter for that first 10 seconds after you set the shop door buzzer off?
The young white guy behind the counter asking a Maori customer where he stole his watch kinda put the whole experience off onto the wrong foot but I tried to look through it and not let ownership change get in the way of a fair review.
The chips are without a doubt the recipe bestowed upon them from the previous owners and when done right are the "double bounce" of the hand cut chip world which in my opinion is a massive accomplishment. Unfortunately, this batch were not cooked with the care and attention they deserve and I was served light fried chips with a raw center. This made the trudge through the generously large scoop very unenjoyable. Not even the fact that they were fried in beef dripping could save them.
The fish was a pleasant shift to blue warehou as the house fish, however, this was let down by the thick doughy batter application. It was not only under cooked but it over powered any subtleties of the fish itself which defeats the purpose of using anything different to a cheap lemon fish cut.
I think my longing for the great culinary experience from the good old days aside, these were objectively pretty bad fish and chips. The dream is over. It's now time for someone else in Whanganui to carry the torch and lead the way in the pursuit of perfect fish and chips.

Marinovich's Seafood Restaurant

REVIEW LOCATION:
New Plymouth

Store: Marinovich's Seafood Restaurant, 19 Brougham St.
Price: $10.00

Amount of chips:     5/5
Chip quality:        2/5
Size of fish:        3/5
Fish quality:        4/5

Total Score:         14

Well drained of oil?: Lips felt slightly chapped but good overall.
Satisfied?: My guts are feeling pretty packed.

Comments: Unfortunately I didn't get to experience this chip shop personally as these were picked up for me so I don't have any comments on the vibe of the place but the online presence (Google street view lets you go inside) and logo caught my attention.
I can't say anything too brutal about this place as it is my in-law's go to for their Friday night fish and chips and they seem pretty happy with it.
...But to be completely honest, it wasn't the best experience I've had which says a lot given this is what I'd consider to be our national dish.
The chips, while extremely plentiful managed to fall outside of the category of what I'd consider to be the perfect chip. They were more reminiscent of a roasted potato than a classic hot chip. If home cut fries is a game for the big kids, these chips would definitely get chosen last. The bang and hang was great but the waxy exterior was a quite rough - an hour after eating I'm beginning to get feeling back in my tongue. Inside was slightly under developed and I'm just really not into super thick fries. The ratio of crispy exterior to mashy inner is out of wack and what you're left with is just a mouthful of bland potato for most of the meal which can't be corrected with seasoning.
The fish was quite pleasant for your industry standard piece of lemon fish. The flesh was juicy and it was wrapped in just the right amount of batter. It was beautifully cooked and only let down by it's size considering it was a $5 fillet of the default fish.
I wanna give a quick mention to the cook's light hand when it came to the application of the seasoning. I feel like everything I've eaten from a food vendor since I've been back has been INTENSE and over seasoned so I appreciated that.
Overall not the worst I've had but also not a place I will remember in the near future.