Oxford Fish Shop, Iffley Road, Oxford

 

Yes, it's called 'Oxford Fish Shop' although the signage only reads 'FISH & CHIPS'. You'll find it easily enough though, with its bold, orange sign.

As I waited for my fish to be freshly fried the proprietor and I talked about the ridiculous price of housing. “For the cost of a flat in Oxford you could buy a French chateau with twelve bedrooms…” Then we spoke about the rocketing price of potatoes and oil. This hadn’t out-priced my lunch of fish, chips and curry sauce which came to £12.50.

I found a bench down the road to park on and eat my steaming hot meal.

There was only one size cod at this shop. It was a chunky and substantial portion with a lovely thin, crisp, almost orangey coloured batter. The flesh inside was chunky and pure white. Very fresh and satisfying.

The chips were very tasty. Golden and cut to a medium thickness. Some of them were quite long and required cutting in half before eating.

My curry sauce was served in a pot. Not the finest curry I’ve had, but its lumpy texture clung nicely to the chips as I dunked them in. My mouth was mopped clean with a piece of paper towel the chippy owner had given me.

With every morsel eaten it was time to walk my meal off with a lap around the botanic gardens.

Ratings out of 5:

Fish (cod): 5
Chips: 4
Curry sauce: 4
Shop / service: 5
Over all: 4