Bertie’s Fish & Chips, Edinburgh
Hey, Foodwala’s… I am back from my travels, I was in Baku, Dubai, Lahore, Karachi, Beijing, and Singapore and I had quite an adventure, no doubt I will regale you of my eating adventures in future blogs.
I was in the Instagram friendly streets of the old town Edinburgh and some crazy Instagrammers were standing in the middle of the busy street searching for the perfect picture.
“Fur Coat nae knickers” came to mind, in a nutshell this means that Instagrammers are risking life and limb to post a perfect picture, irrespective of the cost and context of the post.
Everything has to look good, Instagram is distorting reality, which in turn is causing a race to the bottom.
Much like Edinburgh itself, It looks nice enough but under the surface its an unfriendly soulless place, whereas on the other hand, Glasgow is the exact opposite, it may not be as Instagram friendly as Edinburgh but it is warm friendly welcoming.
It’s amazing how much difference 50 miles makes.
Another difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh is how people eat their Fish and Chips, in Glasgow and for that matter the rest of the civilised world, Fish and Chips are eaten with salt and malt vinegar, however in Edinburgh, they eat it with salt and sauce, so what is this sauce that the people of Edinburgh so proudly eat.
Apparently it is diluted HP brown sauce! and even the sauce is made in Glasgow, the sauce was a failure in Glasgow but a huge success in Edinburgh.
Fur Coat nae knickers indeed.
We decided to visit the newly opened and biggest fish and chip shop in the United Kingdom, Bertie’s, they apparently serve proper fish and chips.
The restaurant is in an old church and again insanely Instagram friendly, will it live up to its claims?
We kicked off the proceedings with Bertie’s house Fish Pie, the moist fish and prawns were in a white sauce and topped with mashed potato and cheddar crumble, the pie was I felt under-seasoned however the ingredients were nice and fresh.
It was served piping hot with twice-cooked fries and was perfect for the cold outside.
Next up was Bertie’s signature battered haddock and chips, the haddock was fresh, moist, flakey and meaty and the batter was crispy on the outside and wee bit soft inside, we requested our Fish and Chips be cooked in vegetable oil.
The fish was very adequate but it was debatable if it was better than Catch Fish and Chips in Glasgow.
We also opted for the Breaded Haddock and chips, the breadcrumb coated fish was served with delicious creamy mash potatoes, The fish itself was perfectly adequate.
In Conclusion.
Bertie’s was perfectly adequate, not sensational but not bad either, it did what it said on the tin without any fanfare, the location was most definitely beautiful and had a lovely cheery festive feel to the restaurant.
The service was efficient and friendly.
In my opinion Catch in Glasgow pipped Bertie’s in the food stakes.
Halal Rating
Fish and Chips are cooked in Beef dripping, but Halal fish and chips can be requested and are cooked in a separate vegetable oil fryer and avoid cross-contamination.