A Tale of Two Chippies (apologies to Charles Dickens)

"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.... " Indeed. A hot summer evening.. a Sunday that had seen some weather change from grey and blustery to warm sunshine. What better than a walk down to the Waterfront for a bite and a drink or two? The Viaduct was teeming with people, locals, tourists, all wanting a bit of sun and sea-breeze. The more popular watering holes were already crowded with revellers who looked like they had been there enjoying themselves for a while. Flushed faces (or was it sun?), laughter, music. Lively guitar music emanated from O Hagen's Irish Pub which was bursting at its seams with a very happy crowd. As it looked like we could not get in, we decided on a neighbouring drink spot from which we could hear the music. Sky Sport Bar and Grill had been advertised on local TV as having an amazing range of beers on tap and the sister F&B Outlet of the famous Foodstore restaurant just round the corner. Menu looked decent, usual suspects for a Sports Bar and decent prices too.  Can't be too bad, might even be good.

SkySport Bar and Grill Beer Menu Part 1

Sat ourselves down, took a while to look over the extensive list of beers on tap and I ordered an Epic Armageddon IPA, and Foodie Friend (FF) had a Renaissance Perfection Pale Ale. Beers came quickly, nice and crisp and cold. The way they should be. The Epic IPA was wonderfully hoppy, flowery and bursting with zingy flavour in the mouth. Refreshing, thirst quenching. Made a mental note to look for it in local supermarket. Foodie friend's Perfection Pale Ale was good too. but paled (sorry) in comparison to mine. Was supposed to have toffee notes.. it was sort of caramel-ly, but mine was a better summer drink.

Thirst quenched, we decided on food. That was when trouble started. Sorry, we have run out of beef, lamb and pork. (This was 6pm) Hmm.. that's bad planning on the part of the management. It wasn't even dinner time yet. Never mind, I chose fish and chips ($19.00) and friend chose 3 sliders from the limited chicken or fish selection. Food took about 30min to arrive - which was rather long as there weren't many people eating. Most were still making the most of Happy Hour, amassing un-drunk pints on the table before 7pm. My fish and chips arrived in a newspaper cone, kitsch but acceptable presentation. The portion size was amazing. Amazingly small. I could count the number of chips, which turned out to be just barely cooked, dense and neither crunchy on the outside nor fluffy on the inside. The beer battered fish (what fish ?) tasted fishy and the batter was soggy. And it was smaller than an iPhone. The Worst.

SkySports Fish & Chips

Underwhelmed. FF's sliders - why are they called sliders? Some reference to baseball I'm sure. Sliders are like mini burgers with meat / veg / whatever in between and meant to be a tasty little morsel.

SkySports Sliders

Well, the sliders that we had, the buns - were stale, we could have played baseball with them. The chicken was ordinary as was the piece of beer battered fish. Hmm.. wait a minute, did they serve the portion of fish meant for the slider on my plate of fish and chips? Sad. Quickly ate up, paid and went out into the fresh air to enjoy the lively music from O Hagen's.

Still hungry as we drove home, we decided to stop by The Chip Shop at the Royal Oak Roundabout. This multi-award winning chip shop is consistently good and has been a favourite for many years.
Always busy, and when we arrived the wait was 20min, but that was fine. We strolled to Pak and Save to get us a pint or 2. 1 scoop of award winning chips, a breaded Tarakihi and (horrors!) a fried Mars Bar. All for $10. Cheerful efficient service. Walking back to the car with warm pack of fish and chips - and later enjoying it at home - affirmed our conviction that good food, cheerful service in unpretentious environs beats fancy stuff hands down. The portion of chips was generous, crunchy on the outside and fluffy within, they did not become soggy even after an hour of slow eating. The fish was fresh, with a delicious breadcrumb coating. The Best.

The Chip Shop's Fish & Chips

Fried Mars bar (we wont repeat that again soon) deliciously sinful.

So, as I said, it was the best (of fish & chips) and the worst (fish & chips).