The best time to get a true picture of service from a takeaway food establishment is to go when they are busy.
So, one Friday at 5pm, we headed to Dougie’s Fish & Chips on King Edwards Drive in Harrogate. As we walked along the street we could smell the delicious aroma that told us we were very close to our destination. There was already a queue of people there ahead of us, illustrating the popularity, but this gave us time to look over the menu and make our choices.
The menu is large, offering fish & chips, fish cakes, sausages, mushy peas and curry sauce from the usual menu and the ‘ to order’ menu offers special haddock, chicken breast, light bite fish & chips, chicken nuggets, scampi, burgers, pies, gravy, beans, onion rings & mini bites, they also have one day a week where a gluten free option is available, for us, the choice was easy as we always stick to the good old traditional ‘fish & chips’. The friendly staff dealt quickly and efficiently with the people ahead of us and soon it was our turn to order. The fish & chips were placed in a cardboard box (ideal for recycling once we got back home) and salt & vinegar, was added at our request. We paid by cash, the preferred method of payment and made our way out of the still very busy shop.
We ate in the car, now really hungry from the smell escaping from the packages…
On opening our boxes, we were impressed to see a very large fish and a very generous portion of chips. We tucked in, enjoying the deliciously light crispy batter & the sweet succulent fish. The chips too were cooked to perfection. If I have one comment to make it would be that I would have liked more vinegar on my chips. The assistant had put it on for us, which seems to be the way that they do it and from a hygiene point of view this is excellent as only one pair of hands were touching the containers but maybe we could have been asked if we wanted a little or a lot. However, this did not detract from the quality of the meal which was excellent. Each morning. the team select and prepare the potatoes, so you know you are getting lovely fresh chips & the MSC certified fish is carefully and skillfully filleted.
Dougies have been awarded The National Federation of Fish Fryers Quality Award and proudly display a food hygiene rating of 5 which they have consistently held since the scheme began.
Dougies Fish and Chips, 66 King Edward’s Dr, Harrogate HG1 4HN
Pop down and see them, pre-order on 01423 530942 or visit them at www.dougiesfish.com
Open: Monday 4:30–7pm, Tuesday 4:30–7pm, Wednesday 11:30am–7pm, Thursday 11:30am–7:30pm, Friday 11:30am–8pm, Saturday 11:30am–7pm, Sunday Closed
