Reviews

Colmans

BBC Olive Magazine
May 2008
Tony Naylor

Tyneside's award-winning chippie not only uses sustainable fish and local day boats for much of it's catch but is fantastic value too.

Not many chip shop owners are called upon to advise Her Majesty's diplomatic service. But, then, Richard Ord is no ordinary fish fryer.
Colmans, his South Shields fish 'n' chip shop, was crowned Britain's best takeaway at the 2007 BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards, and since then Richard has found himself in some unusual situations. He's served seafood canapes in a Birmingham art gallery; spoken along side Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens at a Greenpeace campaign launch; and, on the morining of Olive's visit, he had just received an email from the British embassy in Guatemala. "They're having a garden party and want advice on how to serve fish 'n' chips. We're a global brand now", laughs Richard.

Colmans is legendary on Tyneside. In summer, Mackems (from Sunderland) and Geordies flock to the pretty little seaside resort of South Shields to get their hands on its spankinlgly fresh fish and chips.

Richard's great-grandmother opened the original Colmans in 1905.

Then it was a hut on the beach. Today, it has double fronted premisis on the Ocean Road where most days you'll see queues stretch out of the takeaway door and a full house in the cosy downstairs cafe. The ceiling is strung with fishing nets and driftwood, the walls lined with historical Colmans memorabilia and photos of famous customers such as Tony Blair. Eating in, it's £6.95 for cod and chips, but more adventurous diners can tuck into real scampi - beautiful, sweet langoustine tails - seared scallops, or for £9.95, Maryland Crab Cakes with wasabi mayonnaise.

"Frying fish," says Richard, "is a very underated skill." In order to produce a premium deep-fried fish fillet - in which the fish, completely encased in a thin batter, steams from within rather than actually frying - there are several crucial, and rather technical, factors that come into play. The fillet must be totally dry (otherwise steam will break the batter), the batter must be almost freezing cold and the frying oil must be fresh and maintain a constant 185°C.

Richard's skills are traditional but he's also an enthusiastic moderniser.

Not only is all used cooking oil dispatched to be recycled into bio-fuel, but for the last seven years Colmans has been sourcing all its fish from sustainable, well-managed stocks. No farmed fish is served, cod (about 80% of Colmans trade) is line-caught off Iceland, and local day boats supply more specialist goodies such as gurnard, ling, crab and lobster.

"It's everyones duty to protect the planet and as a landmark business, we have to lead the way," says Richard. "We're keeping our traditional image but cooking in a modern way. It's fish and chips reinvented for the 21st century."