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The Magpie Cafe: the prospect of Whitby

19/10/2012

5 Comments

 
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With a stopover in Whitby, it had to be fish and chips, and when I asked Twitter the question: who serves the best fish and chips in Whitby? the answer came back by an overwhelming majority The Magpie Cafe.  

Whitby itself is a small but famous fishing town and there are multiple fish and chip shops on every street it seems. Outside of fishing, tourism is its main industry and with fish and chip shops able to tell you what boat and at what time the fish was landed, Whitby's fish and chips have become legendary. The classic combination here is cod/haddock and chips with mushy peas and bread & butter, usually priced around the £10 mark (cheaper if you take away). Of the fish and chip shops, about half offer an 'eat in' option.

The Magpie Cafe however is legendary even by Whitby's standards, with the result being both an entry in the Good Food Guide and a queue outside the door for the sit down restaurant, for they don't take regular bookings. At 6:30pm on an October Saturday night, the queue was about 30 deep, by 8:30pm it had fallen to about 6 people which seemed okay and we joined it: even then it took around 15 mins to get a table.
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the beach at Whitby
Ignorant of Magpie's Cafe before arrival, I had expected mostly a normal fish and chip shop with a few thrills and a few seats, but it is in fact a fully fledged fish restaurant serving a wide variety of fish including skate, ling, pollock, woof, lemon sole, halibut, monkfish and more. There's shellfish and crustacea too and I even saw a whole lobster thermidor on the menu at a very reasonable £23. I was even more tickled to see 'orange juice' listed as a starter at £2.45, sandwiched between kipper pate and soup of the day.

In this sense, we really can't pass comment on what Magpie's really does as the menu is pretty huge and we turned up simply for the fish and chips, and were then too full to even try pudding.

That said, I would guess that the majority of people go here for the classic fish and chips. The restaurant itself, when we went, was a boisterous affair, and on the night of our visit played host to families with loud children, a lively birthday party of young adults and what must have been a stag do (unless Whitby men usually wear grass skirts and no tops in October). With tables shoe-horned into every corner, eating there is a community experience. Against that backdrop, to order dishes like lobster thermidor, or one of the day's special such as pan roasted pancetta wrapped hake fillet would be like wearing a ball gown to the Jolly Sailor pub down the road.

As for the fish and chips, they were great. The cod was beautifully white in lovely crisp batter and the chip shop chips were chunky delicious, with nothing being at all greasy. My only complaint would be that of two identical plates ordered, one fish was twice the size of the other, mine possessing no depth so making you believe that cod might even be a flat fish. In turn, there was disproportionately too much batter; fortunately it was nice batter, but even so, can't help but feel that my cod fillet should have been for the fish pie pile rather than the deep frying pile; just a good job I wasn't that hungry.
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the famous fish 'n' chips
On our very limited sampling then, great quality fish and chips but for us, too many boisterous kids and other parties to be a properly congenial atmosphere. Would return there for sure if there were no queue, but in the event there is one, I would be trying Quayside next door. 


Visit The Magpie Cafe website


Previously I visited: Raby Hunt, near Darlington

Next stop: Morston Hall, Norfolk


The Magpie Cafe location map
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5 Comments
Lee
25/10/2012 04:48:46 am

Ah, fish and chips. So simple, yet so many ways to get it wrong.

My girlfriend and I made the "pilgrimmage" from Newcastle down to Whitby to sample the Magpie Cafe's offerings a year or two back, but were sorely disappointed: massive portions, but dry fish and uninspiring chips. And for a tenner?! Probably harsh to judge a chippie on one visit, but our hopes had been high. If, you're ever in this part of the world again, go to Colmans in south shields. I must've been ten times and it's flawless every time. Plus, you can get a bottle of Gusbourne English sparkling for only about £25, as well as the obligatory builders tea!

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David
12/5/2013 07:55:44 am

I'm surprised you needed to ask where to go for fish and chips in Whitby!! The description of your fish, and the clientele has put me off completely.

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Whitby Lover link
26/5/2013 08:35:35 am

Hadley's do beautiful fish & chips. I've always rated them better than the magpie.

Also, search "Fish & Chips at Whitby Goth Weekend" on youtube for the hilarious classic song about eating fish & chips at whitby goth weekend.

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Allen Bracchi
24/6/2014 10:42:15 am

The chips should not be yellow and dull, they should be golden brown and still 'shine' when they reach the table. Both fish and chips best cooked in lard. I worked in my uncle's chippie in Rhyl in the early 80's, I have never since tasted better Cod and Chips, both were always fresh, firm to touch but melting in the middle, a nutty golden brown in coulor, when you broke the batter the smell of the fresh cod was better than my Brute aftershave which I would put on after work to go clubbing. Good days.

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TCC
24/6/2014 02:19:08 pm

thanks for the comment Allen. your uncle's fish and chip sounds wonderful.

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