Haddock and chips @ Byrnes
69 Stuart Rd, Walton, Liverpool, L4 5QT
I’m told my great-grandmother ran a fish and chip shop in the north end, on Sheil Road. My mum can’t remember much more than that. But given her age and the age of her mother — my grandmother — when she was born it’s probably safe to say that her chippie was still a going concern in 1932, the year Byrnes first opened.
Most chippies in Liverpool double as Chinese takeaways (although that’s not quite right; the food served by a Chinese chippy is similar but distinct from the food served at an Anglo-Chinese takeaway). The handful of others tend to be run by Greek-Cypriot families — Steve’s in Aigburth, George and Angela’s on College Road in Crosby — and even these will tend to serve crispy chilli beef and prawn toast as well as pies and mushy peas.
‘Traditional’ fish and chip shops are few and far between in Liverpool, and Byrnes is one of the last. Why have so few of them survived? The reasons are manifold, relate to socio-economic conditions, patterns of migration, a changing national and local food culture. Why is Byrnes still here? Because it continues to serve the best fish and chips in the city.
The menu here contains the usual range of puddings, fishcakes and sausages as well as specials you might not expect to see in a chip shop, like cajun grilled salmon with rice (reportedly excellent). Needless to say, though, the star is the white fish. Haddock, cod, hake and plaice — fresh and also available breaded, floured or poached.
The pick, as it should be in any chippie where it’s available, is haddock. The fillet is beautifully flaky and sweet and just barely encased in a thin, delicately crispy batter. This coating — which has a texture somewhere between tempura and pakora — is neither too crunchy nor too oily. The chips are fat, yellow and as fluffy inside as the best Sunday dinner roasties you’ve ever had. Ask for extra vinegar and it’ll all come soaked, as it should, in a wince-inducing amount of the stuff. Absolutely perfect.
Worth noting that queues here on a Friday can be quite long. A second branch was also opened a few years ago in West Derby but recently had to close due to rising costs.
