Newington Fish Bar got our reporter Finn Macdiarmid behind the counter to put his fish frying to the test and to see if his version of the kent classic would pick up anything beyond a bronze...
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00:00Can you tell me what your favourite takeaway is?
00:01Yeah, my favourite takeaway, I'm very old-fashioned I'm afraid, fish and chips.
00:05It has to be. On the seaside? Oh, come on.
00:07Erm, I love fish and chips. Yeah, fish and chips is probably my favourite.
00:11Along Kent's coast, the answer is obvious.
00:14Fish is king.
00:16But not everyone agrees.
00:18To be honest, it's a fish supper, but only in Glasgow.
00:20Not in Canterbury or Kent or Whitstable or anywhere else.
00:24But yeah, that's what it is.
00:26So how do you determine where the best cod is cooked,
00:28the chips chopped and the haddock heated?
00:31It's sort of like the Oscars for chippies,
00:33called the National Fish and Chip Awards,
00:35and Newington Fish Bar in Ramsgate is one of the last three
00:38in the race for the Quality Accreditation Champion.
00:42It's meant to recognise fish and chip shops that have higher standards
00:45and seek to improve the quality of their food.
00:47And the owner of the fish bar, Nigel,
00:49says that the greasy, unhealthy reputation that chip shops have
00:53is something he wants to get rid of.
00:55Well, we're in the National Fish and Chip Awards,
00:57which is run by the National Federation of Fish Fryers.
01:01They've been the custodians of this award for quite a few years now.
01:04And we have reached the top three category
01:08in Filter Fryer and Quality Accreditation Champion.
01:12There's 13 categories altogether,
01:14and also the main big one is to take away of the year,
01:17which we've managed to get to a top 20 place
01:20out of the 10,000 shops in the country that are eligible to enter.
01:23So we feel quite pleased, we've done rather well.
01:26Nigel suggested I pick up a spatula and give it a go.
01:28But I was a little nervous,
01:30as my pot noodle cooking skills probably weren't going to help me here.
01:35Well, in order to make some good fish,
01:37I'm going to have to be well-dressed for the occasion.
01:39I'm going to see if I can make some award-winning fish of my own.
01:42Taking some of the fish and putting it in the batter.
01:45I've been warned to not let the oil bite me on the way down.
01:48Apparently, you've got to go really close to the oil.
01:50So here we go.
01:52And it wouldn't be proper fish and chips without, obviously, the chips.
01:55So I've got my chips from my bucket and same deal with the oil.
01:58Just need to pour it in here.
02:05There we go.
02:06Now, I'm quite scared of the oil, but we're going to do our best.
02:08So make sure they don't overcook.
02:11Take them out and just...
02:13Oh, I'm not very good at this bit.
02:15There we go.
02:16I've got most of them, I've got most of them in.
02:19Now, I've had a go at making my own fish and chips
02:21and I thought I did pretty well.
02:22But I'm being told that there's a piece here
02:24that just could have used a bit longer in the oil.
02:26But for my first time, I think it was all right.
02:29In the end, Nigel gave my fish a three out of five.
02:32So no awards for me.
02:33Finn McDermid for KMTV in Ramsgate.