Tokyo//food: Malins Traditional Fish and chip shop.
- Alanna K
- Oct 26, 2014
- 2 min read
About two week ago on a Wednesday, craving pie. I convinced Ksk to come and try Malins Fish and chip shop in Roppongi with me (actually didn’t require any convincing).
They had popped on my instagram a few times, and a few friends had mentioned them. Actually I am not a big fan of traditional fish and chip shop’s Fish’n’chips, so to be honest, I was swayed because they had pie. I love pie. It’s a comforting food to me, combing gravy and pastry. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but each to their own. So we agree to meet in Roppongi around 7pm. An immediate con for me is that it is in Roppongi, I hate Roppongi with a passion. Mustn’t prejudge though. Malin’s is styled as a Traditional British Fish’n’chip shop, and it doesn’t disappoint. Nestled in-between some other building housing restaurants and cafes, it’s could be easy to overlook if it wasn’t for the big sign out front saying ‘Fish and Chips” and the fact their staff are out on the street if it’s quiet enough.
The food was exactly like a British Fish’n’chip shop, which is both good and bad. The good
If you love traditional fish shop’s fish’n’chips, you’ll love it.
If you’ve never tried it and really want to, this is a good opportunity to try the authentic deal.
It really captured the flavour and the feel of a real chip shop.
I loved their drink selection! Nice to see Belvoir cordial in Japan.
The food was good, fish was cod and nicely fried. Chips were standard fish shop chips, which I hate but many love. Keisuke liked the chips a lot.
The staff are very friendly.
Restaurant was clean, bright and had a good atmosphere.
The bad
Personally, I don’t like traditional fish’n’chips food…haha.
I was disappointed they didn’t try to liven it up or reinvent it a little. Maybe a beer batter fish? or something to distinguish them. But then I guess, being traditional is their distinction.
It was expensive. Especially considering it’s suppose to be fast food . We got 2 meals and 2 drinks for 4,000 yen.
The pie was not a flaky pastry pie (cue many unhappy faces). This is probably a personal thing too, but flaky pastry pies are by far the best pie. All other pies are inadequate wannabe pies. Yes, I feel this strongly about pie…it’s a passionate subject to me. Although the filling was delicious, as it was not a flaky pastry pie, I was sad. The pastry was far more like that of a quiche or a pork pie, which I only like on quiches and pork pies. All other pies must be flaky.
Their union jack was incorrect… pedantic I know but if you going to style yourself as a traditional British eatery, it’d be a good idea to have the correct flag.
The undecided
The mushy peas.
I will eat most foods, but I really dislike peas and liver. So ordinarily I avoid mushy peas like the plaque. Ksk likes mushy peas, so he was excited about trying these. The verdict: he was disappointed and I was converted. In his opinion, the mushy peas, were not luminous enough nor pea flavoured enough. So naturally, me the pea hater, loved them. I thought they were really good. Well seasoned and had a subtle pea flavour, they were great for dipping your chips in :D.
Overall, I’d recommend it. Despite my disappointment, I still think it’s a good experience to have and I think it’s still worth the visit. I, however am not a traditional fish’n’chip fan anyways, so I doubt I’ll go again. But it’s good to know it is there. Ksk on the other hand is a traditional fish’n’chip fan, he loves them. His verdict? He liked the food (except the mushy peas) and was really happy with the experience. His cons? it’s far away for us and it’s a bit expensive for what it is, however he would recommend it too.
Are you a fan of traditional fish’n’chip? Have you been here? What’s your opinion on traditional fish’n’chip?
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