A quest to find the perfect Fish and Chips - Fountain Fish Fry

Fountain Fish Fry - Fountain Park 
Price: £6 (Supper)
A mere 5 minutes from my work, the newly refurbished Fountain Fish Fry sits.  I had been in here previously and came back to see if there was an improvement with the refurb.  I was not to be disappointed.  The presentation of the shop is now very clean and professional.  The staff did not chat much but seemed to know the locals.

They offered my food in a cardboard box which is a vast improvement to the polystyrene tray they offered before.  Edinburgh Brown Sauce is on sale there a mere £1.  There was nowhere to sit so we alighted to my friends flat to enjoy our meal.

Sadly this was where the shop fell down.  The fish was nice but a little oily and there was more batter than at the Euro 2016 Cup.  A lot of the chips were sadly burnt and the whole meal was very oily.  I couldn't finish my meal and a lot of the chips ended up in the bin.

I am yet to find a nice chip shop at Fountain Park, however my quest will go on.

On average:
6/10

A quest to find the perfect Fish and Chips - Toni's Fish and Chip Bar

Toni's Fish and Chip Bar - Niddrie Mains Road
Price: £6.80 (Supper)
This evening took me on a journey to a chip shop nearby my flat at Prestonfield.  Historically this area was farmland before the city council began building public housing on the state.  Up until 1960, there was a creamery and at least 6 breweries on Niddrie Mains Road.  This area is seeing huge regeneration efforts recently.

I walked up on this beautiful evening and sampled the fish and chips from this shop.  It took about ten minutes for us to be presented with our meal in a cardboard box.  The shop was quite cleanly presented and the staff were quite pleasant, although there was no seating on offer.  They do offer a lunch menu and are available on Just Eat.  They also sell their Edinburgh Brown Sauce for £1.80 a bottle.

Not to be deterred we sat outside on the public benches facing the new Community Center.  I was a little disappointed with my fish as it was quite greasy and oily.  It was I would say average, nothing special.  The chips were mediocre as well, although had a bit of a twang to them with the vinegar.  It is often the vinegar that makes the chips so this went in their favour.

Altogether this was a mediocre shop, which offered nothing out of the ordinary.

On average:
6/10

A quest to find the perfect Fish and Chips - Dinos

Dinos, Craigentinny Road
Price: £5.90 (Supper)
After a few wrong turns and wandering past many interesting looking taverns, we ended up at Dinos.  It was a short 40 minute walk from Princes Street to here.

I was immediately struck with how untidy the shop was.  The girl behind the counter had her dinner lying out on the counter and was wearing a stained top.  She didn't seem that happy to be there overall.  They did offer you the option to order on Just Eat however so their delivery staff might be a little friendlier.

After a ten minute wait, we were given our food on a polystyrene tray.  I was very disappointed with the quality of the food.  It was all very oily and greasy and did not taste good at all.  I scored it a mere 6 on the food count and sadly I felt a little ill later on in the evening.

Overall I might consider going back there at the end of a night out and I was local, however I would not go out of my way to visit this place again.

Overall:
5/10

A quest to find the perfect Fish and Chips - Supperbowl

Supperbowl - Gilmerton
 Price: £6.60 (Supper)
After the drama of the last few weeks, we decided to go on an adventure down to Gilmerton.  A simple 33 bus away and we arrived at this rather large looking shop at the centre of Gilmerton, coincidently near the amazing Gilmerton Cove - a mysterious and wonderful little cave.  It is called Gilmerton's secret for a reason!

The shop is very large and I felt a lot of the space at the front of the shop was wasted.  There was enough room to fit a pool table or indeed some chairs to sit and eat your food at.  They decided to just keep it empty however.

My food was served by a glum looking girl, although she brightened a bit when we commented on the size of the fish.  We were given a cardboard box and vacated to a bench at the other side of the road in order to eat our food.  I believe the place is on Just Eat so you can look it up on there.

Despite it's very large size the fish was largely tasteless.  It tasted like vanilla ice cream without the vanilla.  Sometimes I wonder why some chip shops give you such large portions.  It is very wasteful.  The chips had a tiny hint of a flavour but otherwise were as tasteless as the fish.

I have been told that this is a very good chip shop so I will maybe have to review this later, but I won't hold my breath.

On average:
5/10

A quest to find the perfect Fish and Chips - Central

Central, Potterrow
Price: £6.80 (Supper)
A brief walk from the centre of town took us to the Central chip shop.  We had seen this on our outing to Marchmont so decided to revisit.  I had heard great things about the Edinburgh Chip Shop sauce from this place.

The shop needs a little spruced up as the seating and decoration was past its best.  There was an old TV on the wall that looked a little broken and a model ship that provided something to look at.  My food was served by a man who gave little to no chat and took ten minutes to serve my food in a polystyrene tray.  It was efficient, but not exactly the most pleasant experience I have had.

A discount is offered at lunch time, so if you are in the area, it is worth a visit.  They do sell bottles of their famous Edinburgh Sauce
for £1.60 a bottle.  They are served by Just Eat.

My fish was one of the most delicious that I have had.  It was not too flaky and a little bit meaty.  The chips were a close match to my second rated chippy L'Alba Doras.  One thing that made the food a magnitude better was the vinegar.  I've found that the vinegar can either break or make a meal but this place has learned that lesson long ago.

All in all, if you want to go for some delicious food in the centre of town and do not care about the decoration or what the chat is like then this is the place for you!

Overall
8/10