National Fish and Chip Day: NI people can’t beat a cod supper

Given that today marks National Fish and Chip Day, the News Letter spoke to a portion of fish specialists across Northern Ireland to establish what the most popular order was with customers.

It should come as no surprise that a good, old fashioned cod supper came out on top, closely followed by scampi.

Joel Scullion, who runs The Merchant in Ballymena, said: “We do cod and haddock, but 90% would always order cod. The fresh scampi is also popular. Friday is the big day for fish and chips – we call it Fry-day.”

Joel said all of The Merchant’s fish comes fresh from Ardglass to their two shops – a sit-in restaurant in Ballymena town centre and a takeaway in Broughshane.

He said: “We’ve been serving fish in our family since 1956. I’m third generation but we’re now onto the fourth generation coming through.”

Last year Captain Jacks in Portaferry was named as the Best Fish and Chip Shop in the Province at the Northern Ireland Fish and Chip Shop Awards.

Owner James Higginson said: “We had a woman of 97 who travelled from Belfast. She’d seen me giving an interview on television about the award.

“She made her son drive her the whole way from Belfast. They came with their own cutlery to go and sit and the sea front and have the best fish and chips in Northern Ireland. They got a cod and a scampi.”

Their choice echoed the favourites of the majority of customers.

James said: “Cod would be our number one seller, followed by our scampi. We batter all our scampi fresh every day in-house.

“All our fish comes fresh out of Portavogie from C-Fish and another wee boat called Hooked By The Jesse J. They’ve only started up. He owns his own boat called the Jesse J, he comes every Friday with fresh fish which we put on the specials menu for the restaurant.”

Anita Steenson from multi award-winning Belfast restaurant Fish City said while a traditional cod supper was very popular, their customers also tended to be quite adventurous given the variety of fish dishes on the menu.

She said: “The fish tacos, cod supper, pan roasted hake, oysters, mussels and squid would be our customers’ go to dishes.”

One of the few benefits of the pandemic has meant that Fish City has been able to extend its outdoor seating area in Ann Street.

Anita said: “There’s been a lovely vibe with all the people eating outside. On the sunny days it was almost like you were on holidays.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor