hookturns.com – a weblog about Melbourne

You’ve got to love a fish and chip shop that lets you order a half serve of minimum chips. Ol’ School Fish & Chips (566 Brunswick St, Fitzroy North) provides this option, which is handy if you’re ordering for one.

For $10 you get two generous pieces of fried flake, and $1.50 buys you more than enough chips. Not only do you get a lot of chips, but they’re also hand cut and fresh, rather than coming out of the freezer. They’re cooked well, as is the fish, and it’s the sign of a good fish and chip shop when you can walk in and not be overwhelmed by the smell of oil.

While another Brunswick Street fish and chip shop may pack the punters in, Ol’ School Fish & Chips is my pick of the bunch.

It was an unseasonably warm September evening, so fish and chips seemed in order. I had two new fish and chip shops to choose from, The Ol School Fish & Chips (566 Brunswick St, North Fitzroy) and The Seafood Shak (150 Scotchmer St, North Fitzroy).

I’d already had a burger and chips from the latter, so that seemed like a safe bet. There are nine different types of fish to choose from, but I opted for the standard flake. Three pieces of flake and minimum chips (not all for me) cost $18.60 and arrived pretty quickly, despite it being a busy night.

Each piece of flake was a generous size, very fresh, and cooked perfectly in clean oil. The batter was crisp and flavoursome, and the fish nice and moist. The chips were also well cooked, again in clean rice bran oil. This oil gives the chips a distinct flavour that’s quite hard to describe, and may not be be to all tastes, but I don’t mind them.

Next time I’ll try The Ol School Fish & Chips, but it will need to be good to better The Seafood Shak, which I think is the best fish and chip shop in Melbourne.