The perfect place for seafish and chips is the award-winning Fusco’s of Whitby. Jenny Needham tested its reputation

COD and chips, a seaside staple, the nation’s favourite takeaway. Haddock and chips, a close second. Pollock and chips, anyone? Creatures of habit that we are, a lot of people might baulk at the third offering. Despite the campaign by TV chef and sustainable food champion Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall to end the unacceptable practice of discards – dumping edible, over-quota dead fish back into the sea – and his attempt to get us to try different fish, we are still drawn to cod and haddock.

After all, we know what they taste like. And you know what you’re getting. Don’t you?

Well, not necessarily, according to a recent report.

Hot on the hooves of the horsemeat scandal, comes an altogether fishier fiasco. Food testing has revealed that much of the fish sold in the UK is mislabelled, and that some of the cod we thought we were eating, might in fact have been pollock, or even Vietnamese pangasius.

Fusco’s of Whitby, which was recently voted number one chip shop in Yorkshire and the North- East for the second consecutive year in the Seafish Awards – the only fish and chip shop in Yorkshire to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council – says it knows where each and every fish it batters comes. The family-run firm travels out to Iceland and Norway to meet the skippers of the trawler boats that bring in the Fusco catch.

“We recognised a long time ago that if we wanted to be the best we must use the best,” says Stuart Fusco, frier manager, director of Fusco’s Quayside branch and former Young Fish Frier of the Year. “Quality comes first before price and we never just say fish and chips on our menus, it’s always haddock and chips or cod and chips – it’s named fish so the customer knows exactly what they’re getting.

“We go right back to source to check that our fish is what it says it is: we know the boats that catch our fish and it’s frozen on the boat within hours of being caught.”

The Whitby cod-father is angry that some places are sourcing sub-standard species and selling them as cod and haddock. “Ultimately, it’s not giving consumers the honesty they deserve and that brings the whole industry’s reputation down,” says Stuart.

Fusco’s has built an enviable reputation for its fish products since it opened 50 years ago. Its 100 per cent cod, haddock and plaice is fried in its special- recipe crispy, golden batter and its breadcrumb- coated cod fishcakes and Quayside Fish Pie are made to old (and secret) family recipes that have gained almost legendary status in Whitby.

“We even know which field our Maris Piper potatoes come from,” says Stuart. “It’s this, and our know-how, passion and attention to detail, that are the building blocks of all the food at Fusco’s.”

On our visit, a board outside announced that the day’s cod had been caught in “crystal blue Icelandic waters” by the trawler Gnupur-II; the haddock line-caught in the Faroe Islands; and that the chips were made from “the finest British potatoes”.

AT 6.30pm on a freezing Saturday, the bright and serviceable 80-seater Quayside restaurant, which is attached to the takeaway, was full of people enjoying suppers. It is a familyfriendly restaurant, with child menus, high chairs and baby changing facilities. (Lest we frighten the children, whisper it quietly that Bram Stoker carried out some of the research for his novel Dracula in the building). There are also full facilities for the disabled, plus braille and large-print menus, and easy access with street parking for the disabled right outside.

The menu, short and to the point, was delivered promptly to our pristine table by a friendly waitress, who returned shortly after to take our order.

One cod, one haddock, both with chips and mushy peas, one coke and one beer. A quick scan of the room took in the ubiquitous old photographs of Whitby by Frank Sutcliffe, the busy takeaway next door, and a growing collection of framed awards and trophies for fish and chip excellence.

Directly outside is the Fish Market – so close the catch could almost have flipped themselves out of a trawler and into the fryer, missing out the middle man.

Swiftly the food arrives, a portion perfectlysized for leaving you full up. It’s piping hot and, strangely, there’s barely a trace of grease on the plate. It also smells great, but so often with fish and chips the actual eating of it is disappointing.

Not here. I usually leave most of the batter, finding it too stodgy and filling. Fusco’s formula – their own “special recipe” – was so light it was translucent; you could see the perfectly white fish gleaming through it. I ate every crunchy scrap.

The fish within, served with a good slice of lemon, was a revelation: moist and fresh, perfectly cooked. The chips were proper chunky chips, deep-fried the traditional way in beef dripping, and accompanied by a pot brimming with delicious mushy peas.

Salt and vinegar were in shakers, but – the only downside – the sauces were in mini sachets, the sort that squeeze out barely enough to fill a teaspoon and leave most of that on your fingers. All those empty sachets can’t be very environmentally friendly either, and there was nowhere to put them so they ended up littering the table.

A sweet menu was offered, but who goes to a fish and chip restaurant for dessert. Our meal came to just under £30.

“Fried with passion, served with pride” is Fusco’s motto, and on this evidence, a fantastic job they are doing of it. The fact that they go out of their way to source fish from sustainable, traceable sources makes the Fusco experience even more of a winner.

Food facts

Food quality: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3/5

Value for money: 4/5

Fusco’s Quayside, 7 Pier Road, Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO21 3PU Tel. 01947-825346 whitbyfishandchips.com