Australia’s best fish and chips

The battle for Australia’s best fish and chips for 2019 has now been settled with Tobin Fish Tales in Townsville taking the crown.

Competition for the Australian Fish and Chips Awards saw almost 40,000 consumers cast their votes for their favourite in the People’s Choice category. With the leaders established from that pool, judges then traversed the country tasting the people’s choices in each state and territory before settling on their final decision for this year’s winner.

Tobin’s Fish Tales, based in Townsville and run by Andrew and Renae Tobin, despite being a smaller shop, punches well above its weight and really stands out from the crowd, according to the judges.

So, what gave Tobin’s Fish Tales the edge?

Starting with the basics, the fish was cooked to perfection, the chips crunchy and seasoned well. The range of seafood is local with some of it even caught by the owners. The staff are attentive and knowledgeable and provide a wealth of information to customers about the seafood they sell. 

Owners of Tobin’s Fish Tales, Andrew and Renae both have PhD’s in fisheries and Andrew is a commercial fisher with over 20 years’ experience. It seems likely all that wealth of knowledge has paid off!

Where is your favourite fish and chip shop?

8 comments

 

That pic looks great, but am quietly wondering if it tastes as good as my fav place. Whenever we roll into Kalbarri/WA we head straight for the Jetty Shack. Grab some fish and chips and a couple of cold bears from the bottle shop next door (well beer for me, cider for the wife), cross the road and sit and watch the sunset. That's life!

Image result for the jetty shack/kalbarri

Image result for kalbarri sunset

Btw have no idea who Steve Scally is, so not advertising for him. 

 

That looks like a view from Grey Street ABE. Beautiful sunset!

I don't have one favourite fish and chip place. I like to try out different "sea food shacks" when we go for a little trip. I particularly like Sweet Lips in Fremantle and Cervantes fish shop,  both in WA. I prefer to have fish and chips in a casual setting rather than in a restaurant, and almost always with a sea view!

I thought it was illegal to drink alcohol in public in WA!

That’s right roy. So please follow the rules when you visit our beautiful State, we take no prisoners!

 

That's right Sophie and further down Grey St as you know, there's feeding of the pelicans!

We always stop at Eden on our way back from visiting the grandkids in Canberra. The fish is straight off the trawlers and is very fresh. One shop we found to be the best after following the locals to it is behind the front of the wharf.

Another one is Morgan's in Scarborough Qld which was great but not sure now as that was years ago. You could buy winter mullet fish cheap or choose a piece that you they would cook from the display. 
 

Morgans has or had a great rep. But the only time in my life (apart from in Thailand) I've ever had cooked fish that was definitely 'off', it came from Morgans. In a prominent fish and chip shop, that's not 'bad luck' or 'unfortunate', that's just plain, simple unforgiveable! Obviously, never been back.

There are numerous worthy fish and chip shops around Austarlia.

Perhaps you should list all the top ones ineach area. My pick for Adelaide is "The Fish Man" in the Foodland shopping center Blackwood SA 5051

The best fish and chips we have ever had was in Stanley in Tasmania.  Amazingly fresh fish and the chips were perfect.

However avoid buying a coffee in Tassie.  Most coffee shops have no idea of what a real expresso coffee is. The only places we got a real coffee was in a small cafe in Sheffield and another in Scottsdale.  

When driving accross to/from Perth every 2 to 3 years we always stop in Ceduna SA for fish & chips, they are worth waiting for. The fish & chips in Rockingham WA are really good also. In fact to think of it there are good F&C shops all over Australia, just have to find them. Most dissappointing F&C I ever had was in Hull UK, chips soggy and greasy and the fish yuckky: won't go back there again.

and on the same day Qld's Courier-Mail awards Best Fish and Chip shop to one in Redlands just to confuse the issue.  

If there is one place that I would go back to again and again, it would be the Sydney Fish Market. Fresh seafood cooked on the spot at Peters. 

Yes Sydney Fishmarkets are a great place to eat.

Peters is not only tasty but reasonably priced.

The seafood restaurant in the vicinity ai also enjoy eating is Doyles.

Melbourne's got some great fish and chip places. Can't think of the names now, but I prefer to go somewhere where I can choose my own fish. If it comes battered and fried you can be sure you're getting that basa from Vietnam c**p, so beware.

8 comments



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