The Jolly Fryer

As someone who grew up by the seaside, I have been hard-​pressed to find a decent fish and chip shop in Reading. All that has changed since the Jolly Fryer has opened. According to a PR piece in the local paper, the father and son who run the place were both trained at the highly acclaimed National Federation of Fish Fryers (NFFF) in Leeds. All I can say is it shows! The fish was fresh and delicious and the batter really crispy and tasty and not too greasy. So many fish and chip shops seem to sell grey-​coloured fish in soggy, greasy batter, this was a really nice change. The chips were the good old fashioned chip shop chips I enjoyed as a child and again, weren’t too greasy. The mushy peas and curry sauce were decent and the portion sizes of the fish and chips were great. It’s a little more expensive than other fish and chip shops in the area but I really didn’t mind paying because it was really nice.
To add to it, the place is nice and clean and they seem to take great care over presentation and packaging of the items as well — no yellow polystyrene boxes (that make the fish sweat and go soggy) in sight! They also offer a free slice of lemon and pot of tartare sauce with each portion of fish bought which I thought was a nice touch.
I would definitely buy fish and chips from here again (although it’s a rare treat or we’d be huge!) and would definitely recommend it to others.