Amazing fish and chips in a beautiful location! (Anstruther Fish Bar (Fife))

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Anstruther Fish Bar (Fife)
Date:	19/08/09 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent food, good prices, lovely location

Disadvantages: None for me

Whilst staying in Edinburgh while Dave is working up here we decided to have a day out on Sunday and headed for the East Neuk where we found a real treasure so I thought I would tell you about it.

The place concerned is the Anstruther Fish Bar and Restaurant.

Where is it?

Well obviously from the name of the place it is in Anstruther and it is on Shore Street which is actually the sea front there. The postcode is KY10 3AQ for those of you using the sat nav.

To get there from Edinburgh we just drove over the Forth Road Bridge and turned right! We followed the road as near to the coast as we could which brought us onto the East Neuk where we visited Pittenweem and then on to Anstruther.

Anstruther

Anstruther itself is a little fishing village with a lovely little promenade and stunning views out over the Firth of Forth. You can walk along and take a look at all the fishing boats and there are plenty of pubs, cafes and little shops along the quayside for a bit of a mooch and something to eat and drink. There is a museum of fishing and also a lifeboat station which has a shop where you can treat yourself and help a good cause at the same time.

The Anstruther Fish Bar and Restaurant is a family run business which stands in the middle of the row of buildings on the quayside road so that, as you eat your meal, you can look out over that wonderful view.

Anstruther Fish Bar and Restaurant

As the name suggests the establishment is split into two separate parts. As we entered there were two separate queues of people one waiting for the takeaway and the other waiting to be seated in the restaurant. We joined the queue waiting to be seated.

The queue for the takeaway wound round the edge of the restaurant and up to the counter at the back of the room where all the food for both the takeaway and the restaurant is cooked. The fish is all cooked to order but the queue was still moving quickly. I noticed that, when the takeaway queue started to get really long one of the waitresses came along with a notebook to ask what people were intending to order when they got to the counter so that she could inform the fryer and he could get the fish ready as the people got to the front of the queue. It is little touches like this that all help get a good reputation.

There is seating in the restaurant for about 50 people at tables of two, four or six. As soon as a table was vacated the waiting staff cleaned it immediately, incidentally the whole place was spotlessly clean, and seated the next group in the queue so we didn't have to wait very long.

We were seated and given a few minutes to look at the menu. The waitress came and took our order for our meal - we ordered haddock and chips which came with bread and butter and a choice of tea or coffee. As I have already said the food is cooked to order but we didn't have to wait unduly long for our meal.

The meal was served in a specially made cardboard tray which advertised the many awards already won by the fish bar. This of course means less washing up for the restaurant and thus faster service.

The haddock was advertised as having their 'secret recipe' light crispy batter and it was certainly that! I have found that, since I have been eating a lot of fresh food, if I eat too much of anything greasy it makes me feel ill, but I happily ate the haddock and chips and enjoyed every mouthful with no ill effects because the batter was so light.

The fish is caught fresh every day and is landed just across the road in the Anstruther Harbour so you can't get any fresher than that can you? This also means that the 'catch of the day' specials board changes daily according to what has been caught.

The Prices

The cost of my meal was £7.60 in the restaurant and would have been £5.40 from the takeaway although having said that the meal in the restaurant did include the tea and bread and butter.

Other meals include lemon sole, Pittenweem prawns, hake, crab and fish cakes plus pies and burgers to name just a selection. The prices range from £4.70 (or £6.90 to sit in) for fish cakes and chips to Prawn and Hot Smoked Salmon Salad at £7.90 (or £10.10 to sit in).

Awards

The restaurant has received many awards including the best in Scotland for 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2008 and it is easy to see why! They also got the Les Routiers award for the Cafe of the Year 2005.

There are numerous others too but it would be a bit boring if I just list them all!

Ice Cream

On the way out of the fish bar you walk through their small shop selling traditional and modern sweets and homemade ice cream, all of which looks delicious but we didn't have the tummy room to try anything after eating our meal!

Conclusion

I have to say that these were amongst the nicest fish and chips that I have ever tasted! The restaurant was very clean, the service was efficient and friendly and the price was reasonable - what more do you want?

It is about an hour's journey from Edinburgh but I am sure that, when I am up here with Dave again, we will be paying them another visit - it will be well worth it!

If you are interested in finding out a bit more about this place they have a web site at www.anstrutherfishbar.co.uk which will tell you all about the fish bar and also a bit about the surrounding area which is a really beautiful part of Scotland.

Summary: Well worth a visit!