Dining Out: Papas Fish and Chips, Scarborough

With plenty of options, to eat in or take away, we are spoiled for choice.

Papa’s Fish and Chips, just off Dunslow Road near Morrisons, is a relatively new kid on the block, having opened at the end of 2016.

However, the family firm has made a big impact, opening the biggest fish and chip restaurant and takeaway in the world (first in Scarborough, which was then taken over by the new Cleethorpes branch) and being named the UK’s number one fish and chip shop as part of the BBC’s ‘Britain’s Best’ series featuring star chef Tom Kerridge.

With such accolades, expectations of our meal were pretty high.

The restaurant is huge, so finding a table was not a problem, even though there were already quite a few diners inside.

The menu is printed like a newspaper, with facts, figures and historical information about the family business, which was a nice touch.

It took a while for the staff to take our order, but they were polite and friendly.

The menu has a good variety of options, with all you’d expect from a fish and chip restaurant, plus other unexpected additions such as battered halloumi drizzled with honey (£4.29) and mushroom and spinach pie with chips and peas (£8.99).

I ordered a medium haddock and chips (£7.29) with garden peas (99p).

Also, in the name of research, I ordered the battered halloumi, which the menu tells me was made famous during the BBC show.

My dining partner went for chicken, ham and leek pie, served with chips and garden peas (£8.99) and an extra serving of gravy (99p).

The food arrived pretty promptly and was really appetising and well presented.

The fish and chips were delicious – the chips were tasty and golden and the fish was perfectly cooked and coated in a light, crispy batter.

The halloumi bites were lovely and would make a decent main if ordered with a portion of chips.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach in this case and I had to leave a couple!

The pie, I’m told, was very tasty and satisfying, full of large chunks of chicken and ham.

My only quibbles really were the gravy, which was so thick you couldn’t really pour it, and that our tartare and tomato sauces were brought out in plastic pots (more takeaway than restaurant).

Even though we were pretty full, we found a scrap (pardon the pun) of room to squeeze in a lemon meringue pie and ice cream to share (£3.99), which though startlingly bright yellow was actually really enjoyable and quite moreish.

We were impressed with the food and would definitely return.