Marina Fish and Chips, Chapel St Leonards, Lincolnshire

This Sunday myself and an accomplice decided to take a spontaneous trip to Chapel St Leonard's, a small seaside village located on the Lincolnshire coast. As we dragged my morbidly obese Jack Russell down the beach we quickly noticed many beachgoers carry smartly designed brown bags adorned with the bright blue logo of Marina Fish and Chips. Lunch was immediately decided upon.

Located less than 2 minutes from the beach, Marina Fish And Chips shows clear signs of a recent renovation. Inside is modern, clean and well organised. The window boasts a 5-star food hygiene rating, NFFF membership, and training certificates. There are clear COVID-19 procedures in place which amazingly all customers were following. An amazing achievement in itself as the shop was very busy.

As I joined the line I assumed a was in for a wait, but all in from joining the line to leaving with my food I was in the shop for no more than 15 minutes. I ordered haddock and chips, cod and chips, two mushy peas, and one pot of homemade tartare sauce. The staff were friendly and remained un-flustered by the large line of customers forming down the street. The fish is MSC certified (YAY!) and the empty range implied everything was cooked to order (double YAY!). The menu itself was not excessively large and had all the fish and chip classics you would expect.

Once we received our order we trundled back to the beach to tuck in. The perfectly sized portions were brilliantly presented in white recyclable boxes. Both the cod and the haddock were thick, flaky, and coated in a perfect crispy batter. The chips were warm, chunky and fluffy. In the bottom of the box there wasn’t a single drop of oil - everything was light, delicious, and grease-free. The overwhelming silence from my accomplice told me he was enjoying his. The only criticism we had, and it was the minutest and tiniest of criticisms, was we would have liked more salt and vinegar.

Overall Marina Fish and Chips is a chippy that screams “we love what we do and we are good at what we do.” Everything about our experience showed the owners have nothing but care and respect for our national dish. Something that can often be lost in seaside towns. So next time you're headed to a day out at Skegness, carry on for another 7 miles and visit Marina instead.

Chips: 5

Fish (cod and haddock): 5
Mushy peas: 5
Homemade tartare sauce: 5

Shop / service: 5

Over all: 5