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Proper English Fish and Chips…in Bukit Timah

By Changmoh • Monday, 6 August 2012 • Brit Stuff, Food & Drink, Restaurant Reviews

Perhaps it was just that all the key components were right: very crispy battered fish, ‘fat’ hot homemade chips and torrential heavy rain…but we had a very successful (not so much for the waistline but for nostalgia) and relatively good value dinner on the wet and blustery Friday night that heralded the start of this weekend just passed. 

Fish and chips plus rain almost always makes me think of England (in particular a trip to the seaside – the one time you can guarantee it will pour and you end up sheltering under a leaky pierside eating fish and chips of varying degrees of deliciousness).

I grew up in Scotland though. We have beaches and boy, do we have rain, but fish and chip shops were never a feature of my childhood and are, to me, uniquely English and strictly reserved for (rainy British) holidays.

So we braved the tropical downpour on Friday and headed to near by Bukit Timah to eat what Smiths purport to be ‘Authentic British Fish & Chips’.  I’m not such a die-hard fan that I’d have wandered in here off the street, but we’d been recommended this place by a few different people recently and felt we should try it.

As soon as you walk in, you feel like you are in England. Decor is classic up-market caff: glossy white brick tiles, black framed prints and giant tins of all-things-Heinz stacked on groaning shelves interspersed with strings of British bunting (I’m not sure whether the bunting is a permanent touch or just for the Olympics).

Substitute The New Paper, in the shot below, for a copy of The Sun and this could have been taken in the East End rather than Bukit Timah:

The fish (I had cod, but there was a bunch of things to choose from including plaice which I think would probably have been nicer and not so heavy) was cooked to order in a deliciously light and crisp batter.  Mushy peas on the side? Caaan. What about a good old British picked egg, my man? Also possible although via Tanjong Katong (see picture above, which makes me smile).

The only thing missing was the traditional newspaper wrapping (which wouldn’t translate particularly well out here, now I think about it).  But I’m not even sure that they serve it like that in England anymore, it’s been so long since I ate them, and until I do again, Smiths is more than a substitute.

Fish and flag image courtesy of msn food

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  • 365days2play Thursday, 16 August 2012 at 7:47 PM

    Is Smith really how it is in Britain? I find the chips so horribly mushy and oily! I much prefer how it is in New Zealand. The chips you got look a bit better than the ones I got. http://365days2play.com/2011/07/03/smiths-fish-and-chips/

    Any other great British places you’ve found in Singapore? Would love to try them out.

    • Changmoh Friday, 17 August 2012 at 3:18 PM

      No. There are better chips in Britain but then again…it depends where you go. I never really eat them as I’m always trying desperately hard not to eat carbs. But I think the hands down best place in England that I’ve ever been to for chips has to be Rick Stein’s Fish & Chip shop in Padstow, Cornwall. Yum and worth the calories. Of which they are plenty…he fries them twice in dripping!

  • Sallie Tuesday, 28 August 2012 at 1:59 PM

    Pretty! This has been a really wonderful article.
    Thank you for providing this info.

  • Lynn Wednesday, 14 November 2012 at 1:24 PM

    My husband and I love Smith’s Fish and Chips! A real taste of home, I guess more paramount as we spent 16 years living in the USA before moving to Singapore. When my husband and I arrive back into Singapore from a trip, we call Smiths from the taxi when we are about 10 minutes away, place our order, then we jump out, run in to get our order and then back in the taxi again to head for home! Aargh, so yummy!

    They have two more outlets, one being at Boat Quay, but we like the Balmoral Plaza location on Bukit Tima best. They even have good old BBC radio 2 playing in the shop. Now if we could just get some up to date Coronation Street on the Telly, we would be all set lol!

    • Changmoh Wednesday, 14 November 2012 at 4:01 PM

      Thanks for reading and love the knowledge about Radio 2 playing at one of their branches!
      Happy fish and chipping…
      Changmoh Girl x

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The Chinese Angmoh

The Chinese Angmoh
Why the strange name? Changmoh is an amalgamation of the words Chinese & 'Angmoh' (local speak for Caucasian should you be reading this in a country other than SG) // I'm an English girl living in Singapore and love the local way of life so much that I actually think I’m half Chinese. Maybe even three-quarters // Freelancer writer, author and editor ... you read it here first.

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