For many Australians, it’s simple: summer means fish’n’chips. And whether you prefer yours crumbed, grilled or battered, there are few pleasures that rival opening up a tightly wrapped parcel of golden fillets and perfectly fried chips that break with a satisfying crunch. Add a couple of lemon wedges, some tangy tartare sauce and a trademark Adelaide sunset and you’ve got the perfect summer evening.
From old-school beachside joints to a pub front bar and a busy shopping precinct, here are some of the candidates for Adelaide’s best fish’n’chips.
Fair Seafood – Baine Stubbs, Station Road
Born in New Zealand, Station Road head chef Baine Stubbs worked as senior sous-chef at Melbourne’s Vue de Monde before heading the kitchens at Parisian restaurants Ellsworth and Clamato. His pick for the best fish’n’chips in Adelaide? “I love Fair Seafood in the Adelaide Central Market. The fish is always fresh and I love eating in the market.”
Kuti Shack and Fish Out Of Water – Victoria Lennard, Restaurant Botanic
Restaurant Botanic pastry chef Victoria Lennard can’t quite pick a favourite when it comes to fish’n’chips. She loves Kuti Shack on the sand hills of Goolwa Beach – particularly the lemongrass-and-warrigal-green pipis – and Fish Out Of Water for the “barramundi grilled with garlic, butter, parsley and lemon, served in a little foil parcel with sweet potato fries with chicken salt.”
Joe’s Kiosk – Benjamin Liew, Paper Tiger & Makan
Before he opened Paper Tiger and Makan Wine Bar Benjamin Liew did stints at Rockpool, Madame Hanoi and Minimono, so he knows good food. When it comes to fish’n’chips, Joe’s Kiosk at Henley Beach is his go-to. “Eating fish and chips by the sea with views of the ocean? It can’t get more summer than that,” Liew tells Broadsheet.
Sotos Fish Shop – Ashleigh Lindner, Ela
Before Ashleigh Lindner started as head chef at Ela, she cooked in regional NSW and on the Gold Coast. Having spent a lot of time by the water, it’s only fitting that Lindner has strong fish’n’chip opinions. “It’s an old-school family favourite. I remember, as a child, arriving in Adelaide late at night and always picking up fish’n’chips on the way through to share with the family. It’s exactly the same now as it was then. Sotos uses the freshest and best quality ingredients, and no one makes chips like this place does.”
Flying Fish – Justin James, Restaurant Aptos, ex-Restaurant Botanic
Detroit-born chef Justin James’s resume is a global smorgasbord: New York’s Eleven Madison Park, Noma in Copenhagen, Vue de Monde in Melbourne. Since he took the reins at Restaurant Botanic in 2021, he’s turned the Adelaide Botanic Gardens restaurant into a destination diner with people travelling far and wide to experience his four-hour degustation. But where does James go to get away in the summer?
“I spend a lot of my time in the city so when the opportunity arises I will drive down to Port Elliott and go to the Flying Fish. The view is worth the drive and the seafood is always fresh,” James says.
Pearl – Callum Hann, Olive and Roma
Masterchef star, chef and cookbook author Callum Hann is “a big fish and chip guy”. And when the weather is warm and he’s not on the pans at his Pirie Street restaurant Olive, he loves “grabbing a serve from Pearl in Aldinga. Eating it on the sand with my kids is perfection,” he tells Broadsheet.
Sotos Fish Shop – Daniella Guevara Muñoz, La Popular Taqueria
Before Munoz was one of Adelaide’s favourite chefs, she was a marine biologist in her native Mexico. She swapped that profession for a chef’s life in her adopted country, but she’s still a big fan of all things from the sea. “Luckily enough, we live in Semaphore, and within walking distance of our house is one of the best and oldest traditional fish’n’chip shops in Adelaide: Sotos Fish Shop.”
It’s been operating for seven decades now, and is regularly listed by chefs as their fave place to go for fish and chips. Munoz says the hype is justified. “First of all, the Sotos team makes and handcuts its own chips. We get one large bag with just normal salt. Kor [Daniella’s husband and co-owner of La Popular Taqueria] is Dutch, so he needs his chips with mayonnaise and curry gewurz ketchup. The fish order is always garfish, two large whiting and some calamari rings. We eat it, using the paper as a tablecloth, on our deck on the Esplanade overlooking Semaphore Beach.”
The Stunned Mullet – Jessie Spiby, My Grandma Ben
With a busy restaurant, My Grandma Ben, and a young family, the last few years have been busy for Masterchef alumni Jessie Spiby.
So it’s been nice to have some traditions that remain unchanged, like fish’n’chips at Henley’s Stunned Mullet. “Living in Brompton, that’s my closest beach and whenever I have fish’n’chips I have to eat it on the beach, so I usually take the dogs down and have it on the foreshore.”
You won’t find mullet on the menu, but there are plenty of other options. “They generally work with eight different types of sustainable local fish and say when it's caught and where it’s from, which I really like.” Spiby describes the shop as “one of the forerunners in sustainable fish’n’chips”. “It’s a husband-and-wife duo and they’ve been in the business for a long time now. It’s hard to keep to your morals and ethics in this industry and they’ve influenced what a lot of other people are doing. But they’re not trying to be super cool. I like that they’ve kept it as a traditional fish and chippery, it’s still family-friendly.”
Sotos Fish Shop – Krish Dutt, Tunki
Before he started a globetrotting career that had him cooking for Jordan’s royal family, Krish Dutt spent years as a chef in New Zealand.
“The way they serve fish’n’chips there is quite rustic and I was reminded of that by way everything’s wrapped at Sotos,” he says. “I really liked that.” The multiple layers of butcher’s paper are in keeping with the low-key nature of this suburban icon – a place Dutt discovered entirely by accident.
“During the covid lockdown I was walking my dog through Semaphore and I saw a massive line of about 40 people. I asked what was going on and they said they were waiting for fish’n’chips so I decided to get some.” Three quarters of an hour later, he was tucking into a fillet of gurnard with chips that had been cut that morning before being doused with a house-blended chicken salt. The verdict? “It was worth the wait.”
Fish Out Of Water – Ragini Dey
Ragini Dey is no stranger to experimentation, having introduced Adelaide to dishes like the “silly but delicious” naanchos at her Hutt Street eatery Naancho Naancho Man.
And when she gets fish’n’chips, having plenty of options is more important than feeling the sand beneath her toes. It’s why she recommends Fish Out Of Water, tucked between the homewares stores and salons of King William Road.
Fish’n’chips may never be a truly healthy dish, but this is as close as it gets. “I like that there’s a great choice of fresh, colourful salads,” she says. Other options such as chargrilled fillets and gluten-free batter cater to the Hyde Park crowd. The menu has some unusual options including barramundi and Atlantic salmon, but Dey usually opts for something more local. “I always like to see if there are specials, something that’s South Australian and fresh.”
Coorong Cafe – Brendan Roach, Kuti Shack
Running the kitchen at Goolwa’s laidback seafood diner Kuti Shack means that Brendan Roach knows a thing or two about fresh, local seafood. And he’ll be serving plenty of fish’n’chips from the restaurant’s newly opened kiosk this summer. But when it closes on Wednesdays he’s free to head down to Coorong Cafe at Sugars Beach on Hindmarsh Island.
“Like us, it only uses fresh local produce and it’s just a little food van,” Roach says. But despite that, “It has a lot on offer: scallops, prawns and plenty of types of fish like Coorong mullet, mulloway, whiting and flathead.” Even better, everything Coorong Cafe sells is from South Australia, down to the ice creams.
It’s one thing to ensure there’s local seafood on the menu; at this bright blue van opposite the Murray Mouth, you can just about throw a line in and catch your own. Located right on the waterfront, there’s a great atmosphere with live music on Saturdays during summer and $5 drinks from 3pm to 5pm every day. “If it’s full, you can even take your own chair over to hang-out and enjoy the view.”
La Popular Taqueria – Sav Sexton
As Good Gilbert’s Sav Sexton rolls into summer, they’re thinking of something a little different than straight up fish and chips. “Fish and chips isn’t usually my first go-to when I’m heading to the beach, but La Popular Taqueria in Port Adelaide does a mean Baja fish taco,” Sexton says. “Get the corn chips with guacamole and a tequila flight on the side.”
This article was originally published in 2022 but was updated on December 13,2024.
