The inaugural Scottish Fish & Chip Awards 2023 were voted for by the Customer

I was privileged to attend the first Gala Dinner for The Scottish Fish and Chips Awards which were created by the team behind the long established Italian Awards which takes place in 3 countries. They wanted to give a proper platform to the hardworking family businesses who have always been side-lined by many UK and national events in the past. The main sponsor of the event was T Quality, supported by a number of major suppliers to the Fish & Chip trade including McWhinneys, Pukka and Worldpay.

Scotland’s National takeaway is Fish & Chips and they want to showcase this, promoting the product, encouraging businesses to continue to invest in this long established market. By allowing the public to vote for their favourite chip shop gives the venues an opportunity to engage with their own loyal audience. Only businesses with the most votes were shortlisted and were visited by an independent panel to assess the shop, product and service. The scorecards are then submitted with the highest score winning their individual categories.

The evening started with a drinks reception and was expertly compered by Des Clarke, the Scottish stand-up comedian and TV presenter.

There were numerous categories resulting in Gala Final at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on November 13th. The evening consisted of great entertainment, a delicious gourmet meal and presentations to the winning shops and also those “highly commended” in their categories by the judging panel. The Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Angelo Varese of the Blue Lagoon chain of fish & chip shops across Scotland for the contributions of the 3 generations of the Varese family for their work in the industry and community since 1975.

The evening was capped off by the award of Overall Winner of the Best Fish & Chip Shop various categories in the Scottish Fish & Chip Awards were:

BEST CHIPPY - CENTRAL Blue Lagoon - Stirling

BEST CHIPPY - NORTH The Seaforth

BEST CHIPPY - SOUTH Eglinton Diner & Fish Fry

BEST CHIPPY - EAST The Chippy By Spencer

BEST CHIPPY - WEST CATCH Fish & Chips (Giffnock)

BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE Happy Haggis

BEST DELIVERY SERVICE The Kraken Chippy

BEST DESSERT The Kraken Chippy

BEST DINE IN RESTAURANT Bertie’s Fish & Chip Restaurant

BEST FAMILY BUSINESS Alpino’s

BEST FISH SUPPER - CENTRAL Bruno’s

BEST FISH SUPPER - NORTH Deli-ca-Sea Fish & Chip Shop

BEST FISH SUPPER - SOUTH Muirhead Captains Chippy

BEST FISH SUPPER - EAST Cromars

BEST FISH SUPPER - WEST Tony’s Chip Shop

BEST FISH TEA McMonagle’s Boat

BEST FOOD TRUCK Joanna’s Chippy Van

BEST MENU Muirhead Captains Chippy

BEST NEWCOMER Il Pescatore

BEST PIZZA -EAST Dino’s(Haddington)

BEST PIZZA - WEST Quintiliani’s (Larkhall)

BEST TEAM Bruno’s

PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The Wee Chippy, Anstruther