It seems as though people who live in the vicinity of Kimberley and Eastwood are spoilt for choice when it comes to quality fish and chip shops. Hilltop Fish Bar is one such establishment. It was a Saturday lunchtime when this Chip Fiend visited. The shop was busy with customers, one of whom came in to collect a large box full of food that had been pre-ordered over the phone.
Other people in the queue requested what they wanted upon entering and then waited patiently for it to be fried. Some people were asking for the fish to be 'well done'. I had not heard this before. There were no fish slowly going chewy in the cabinet because everything was being cooked fresh. The young man responsible for frying was kept busy dipping fish portions of varying sizes into batter, while the other two members of staff served.
I ordered a medium haddock and waited in the queue. I noted that one other customer was becoming increasingly hungry as he waited for his order to be ready and kept adding more and more items to it, the hungrier that he became. Although I am certain that this is not a ploy invented by the chippy owners, it was amusing to see the chip-starved punter ask for extra sausages and kebab meat with his order! It reminded me of going into Ikea down the road. You might go into Hilltop only intending to buy a bag of chips, but then leave ten minutes later with the entire contents of the frying range!
When my meal was ready I sat on a bench across the road. The chips were delicious. Fresh, long and medium to chunky in thickness. The fish was quite firm (maybe it was 'well done'!) and had nice big flakes. The batter wasn't thick, but it was a bit sticky on the inside. The mushy peas were a good colour and had that lovely homemade starchy taste that the Chip Fiends like. A very good chippy with friendly staff.
Ratings out of 5:
Chips: 5
Fish: 3
Mushy peas: 4
Shop / service: 4
Over all: 4
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