Union Square Fish & Chips Shop

After many years of living in Fitzroy, and a lot of disappointing fish and chips, I finally found a reliable fish and chip shop in East Melbourne (Kiwi Fish and Chip). Their fish was fresh, batter crisp and chips perfect. Unfortunately now that we live in Brunswick, East Melbourne is a long way to go when the craving for F&Cs hits. So a new search began. There was a recent article in Time Out about the best F&Cs in town and lo and behold, one of them was close-​ish to us. This is Union Square Fish and Chips. Therefore it was essential that this place had to be sampled. So, whilst the wife was away off I went to get the ‘old school fish and chips of my childhood’ (so the article says). I went for a basic battered Flake with a ‘small’ chips. Lucky I didn’t have the medium or large chips as there were hundreds of them in the min size! OK the fish was cooked OK and the batter was not too bad and there was a copious quantity of chips. Overall review: it was alright. Nothing to go ‘wow’ about but not bad either, just alright. Will I go back? Probably not. I think the search for the holy grail of take away fish and chips in the Brunswick area will continue elsewhere. Once you’ve had the fish and chips at the Terminus in North Fitzroy it’s hard to accept lesser specimens. Oh, they also sell Burgers and Souvlaki (Union Square that is).

Oh no! It looks like the Union Square Fish and Chips shop is being run by new people. There are no sign saying anything about it, but there are definitely new people behind the counter. The place was empty when I placed my order for a burger with the lot but no cheese, and a fisherman’s basket. I could see the new lady working the hotplate referring to some notes outlining what burger contains what. She was quick and had the burger done and wrapped in no time. Unfortunately the guys on the fryers weren’t as efficient. When I finally got my food, the burger was still warm but contained cheese. Not a huge problem though. The fisherman’s basket on the other hand had a few problems going for itself. The scallops were way over cooked and rubbery, even parts of the batter verged on being burnt. The calamari rings were way undercooked and the batter was almost raw. The flake wasn’t nearly as crispy and light as usual, but the chips were fine. I hope this was only a rare minor hiccup caused by early days in a new shop. I just hope that they’ll be able to reach and maintain the quality and standards of the previous owners.