Fish 'n' chips with a twist

On a rainy autumn evening fish ‘n’ chips has to be my favourite takeaway. We recently discovered our new local ‘For Cod’s Hake’, which opened at the end of last year in Boxpark.

I can’t resist a pun name, and it matches their menu as the dishes are a contemporary twist on your traditional chippy. Founder and head chef Paul Davies was inspired by trips to the Aussie seaside, so he has created a menu which fuses British chip shop classics with seafood, Eastern Asian flavours and Aussie pies. And with Paul your taste buds are in safe hands, as he had a string of sous chef and head chef roles across London under his belt, before taking the plunge with ‘For Cod’s Hake’.

For our first order, we played it safe with our mains (cod and chips of course) but ordered lobster mac and cheese bites as an extra. We were given an array of sauces from the usual tartare, to the slightly more unusual katsu curry sauce, sriracha ketchup, and Japanese mayo which contributed a kick to one of our favourite dishes. Adding a squeeze of lemon to our cod, the outer batter was light and crisp, which meant we weren’t left feeling heavy and full like we often are with takeaways from more traditional chippies. The chunky chips seasoned with rock salt were a perfect accompaniment.

As for the bites, these were both fun finger food and satisfying comfort food (I’ll be back again for these when I need a hangover cure). The creamy cheese sauce was subtle, serving to underline the taste of the lobster, and the two textures of the macaroni and the bread crumbs mingled pleasantly in the mouth at each bite making your taste buds yearn for more. So we’ll be back!

Other tempting dishes on the menu that we’ll be trying next time are Korean Fried Calamari or KFC – see what they did there (above right), tempura prawns (below left), and the fillet of fish burger (above left). I can’t believe we forgot to order mushy peas this time around, but there’s always our next fish ‘n’ chips friday…