Not all chip shops are created equal. Not many of them share a party wall with a Michelin starred restaurant, for example. But Ancoats’ Hip Hop Chip Shop does.
And it’s really not like other chip shops, not least because this week it was named the second best chippy in the whole of the UK, only being pipped to the top spot by some place in Mayfair.
It scored the accolade thanks to the crunching of a host of complex data, from Tripadvisor reviews to Instagram hashtags. But can data translate into a decent dinner?
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The short answer is yes. But if you’re hoping for your usual chippy experience, prepare to have your life flipped upside down, as Will Smith once said to Jazzy Jeff.
While having eaten from its travelling van on a few occasions - it’s done up to look like a huge tape deck, and is currently to be found at the Carlton Club in Whalley Range - I’d shamefully never ventured into its shop in Ancoats, despite passing it dozens of times (it opened in 2018).
Perhaps joining a few other Johnny Come Latelys last night, it was busy as it approached closing time at 9pm, but a table was grabbed and a menu scoured. For hip hop fans, you’ll be treated to a confident and authoritative playlist - spanning Gangstarr and Slum Village to Nas and Lauryn Hill (though there is some effing and jeffing if you’re offended by such things).
The wallpaper on one wall is back issue covers of the iconic Hip Hop Connection magazine, gig posters cover another and the front window is covered in decals to look like the spines of classic albums from the Jungle Brothers’ Done By The Forces of Nature to Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde.
They’ve gone all in on the theme. Let’s hope that the food is up to snuff.
First up, it’s skirting around the top end in terms of pricing, but every chip shop has had to pass on some of the ludicrous costs they’re experiencing to the customer, so we all need to bear that in mind. My ‘Feastie Boys’ meal is £13.50 - fish, chips, mushy peas - though the kids meal is £7 (and they do a £7 lunch deal too).
But the process here is what you’re paying for. Everything is considered, and then elevated. When it arrives, the fish is cut into three big chunks, not your standard one. While unorthodox, this means the same amount of fish but more batter.
And when the batter is this crisp, no one in their right mind should be complaining. A deep, dark brown, it's first rate batter, and inside the fish is just right.
The potatoes used for the chips are in the right place between fluffy and waxy, and they are skin-on, fried to a deep, comforting brown. The extras are also superb.
The chilli batter fried onion rings (£4.50) are shatteringly crisp, and you get a big old dish of them. Same with the fried gherkins - slices, not the whole pickle, is the way forward with this delicacy (also £4.50). The curry sauce is a straight 10 out of 10, and as is the homemade tartare.
Is it the second best chippy in this fair land? That’s subjective. As well as Irn Bru and Dandelion and Burdock, you can get beers, so for many, that might find its way into the plus column too. Also, some of the other extras will demand a revisit - notably the battered sausage, with comes wrapped in bacon (there are vegans options too, it should be noted).
For some, this with its lack of white tiles, chip shovels, mesh trilbies, non-brewed condiment, neon menu signs and the sound of the Wu-Tang Clan over the crackle and pops of fat frying, it could jar a bit. For me, I was in hip hop chip shop heaven.
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