Fin,
Trademarket,
14-16 Dublin Road,
Belfast,
BT2 7HN
HAVE you seen the price of a fish supper these days? I remember when you could get a bit of cod the length of your mantelpiece with enough chips to do you from Friday to Sunday without having to look for paper money.
Glory days. Also, a long time ago.
Everything is getting more expensive, with things getting more expensive very slightly less quickly now qualifying as great news. The fish supper is a case in point. The cost of the fish, the spuds, the stuff for cooking them in, the power to cook them with, has gone through the roof to the point that every so often a glut of "is this the end of the road for chip shop?" articles and news pieces appear.
Those that have managed to survive have had no choice but to pass on the costs to the customer – as well as the UK's outsized hospitality VAT, but that's another issue.
So, what you're left with is a fish supper far more likely to be troubling double figures than the handful of change you used to have in your pocket before the world went contactless.
Fin originally opened in the north Belfast but a move to somewhere with bigger footfall was needed amid those spiralling costs. It's found its spot, as a little stall in Trademarket, the outdoor foodhall on the Dublin Road in the city.
Read more:
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A fish supper at Fin will set you back £11. £11 for a fish supper both is and isn't expensive. It's a lot of money, but it's round about what you'd expect to pay, certainly in Belfast, and well below its cost in restaurants.
That's not a like-for-like comparison, as Fin doesn't have the overheads of those places, from the rates to the staff to the tables and chairs, but what it does have is the food.
And even when compared to something you'd find somewhere with little plaques from the AA or Michelin or wherever on the door, you will not get better than this. You'll find it hard to get remotely close.
Fin, as anywhere selling fish and worth its salt and vinegar should be, is beholden to what sustainable treasure comes in off the boat. So there's an element of luck and, truthfully, the first visit could have been luckier.
The menu, which can feature shrimp burgers, calamari, deep fried broccoli, smoked coley arancini and pea and courgette fritters, was at its most stripped back, with just haddock and monkfish available: the former in a simple supper, a sandwich or part of a chilli-dusted spice bag, the latter as a 'scampi'.
Still, it focused the mind and provided the excuse of a return visit in the name of unwavering professionalism.
A piece of haddock the size of a surfboard comes out perched on a field of golden chips so perfect it feels uncouth to disturb them. But disturb you must, because there's bowls of both curry sauce and mint-flecked mushy peas demanding to receive them.
A chunky, bruising tartar sauce is there too, but its robustness is better matched to the fish, with can't be faulted.
The splintering batter does both its original job in the dish of protecting the pearlescent fish and letting it steam to just-doneness, and the more modern role of glorious, fully flavoured, munching counterpoint.
I take pictures of what I eat for reviews, not to post online with captions muttering about "filth" and whatever "nom" means, but as an aide memoire – especially at places with lots of ingredients going on.
This one of just fish and chips, which you have just seen, is simply too good not to share. I may hang it above the fireplace.
Monkfish used to be passed off as scampi instead of prawns because it was so cheap, but Fin leans into it, producing little boulders of the sweetest, firmest chunks of tail, in more of that batter, with more of those chips.
The return trip brought southern-fried sole. Beautiful lengths of fish barely dusted with the lightest, both in texture and seasoning, coating. The deftness is remarkable.
So much respect and skill – and chips. Priceless.
THE BILL
- Haddock supper £11
- Monkfish scampi supper £11
- Southern fried sole supper £11
- Mushy peas £3
- Curry sauce £3
- Tartare sauce £1
TOTAL: £40
CORRECTION
The telephone number listed in the review of Frae in Holywood which appeared two weeks ago was incorrect – the correct number is 028 9578 8143.
Apologies for any inconvenience or confusion.
