Seafish Top 10 Restaurants announced

The 10 contenders in the running for Fish & Chip Restaurant of the Year at the 2020 National Fish and Chip Awards have been revealed.

It comprises a stellar line-up of names including the 2017 winner of Best Foodservice Operator Award, Fish! Borough Market, the sister restaurant to the current Restaurant of the Year title holder, Trenchers in Whitley Bay, and the 2014 Best Newcomer winner, The Cod's Scallops in Nottingham.

The complete list of semi-finalists are as follows:

Fish! Borough Market, Borough Market, London

Fish City Belfast, Belfast

Knights Fish & Chip Restaurant, Glastonbury, Somerset

Malt and Anchor, Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Quayside Gourdon Limited, Gourdon, Aberdeenshire

Saltwater Fish Restaurant, Torquay, Devon

Something Else Fishy, Milborne Port, Sherborne, Dorset

The Cod's Scallops, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

The Fisherman’s Wife, Whitby, North Yorkshire

Trenchers Restaurant, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear

The restaurant category is open to all UK fish and chip businesses with a sit-in restaurant at the main business location.

Entrants were judged on a range of criteria from food quality and sustainable sourcing to staff training and menu development.

Marcus Coleman, chief executive at Seafish, said: “The UK is world-renowned for fish and chip takeaways, but there are plenty of incredible restaurants serving tasty, healthy fish and chips to sit in customers day in day out. We have 10 of these exceptional restaurants represented in this list. Each is a credit to our industry and we wish them all good luck in the final round of judging.”

Alan Pearce, field sales manager at award sponsor Goldensheaf, added: “These top 10 restaurants have proven themselves to be focused on providing the best sit in fish and chips dining experience available in the UK today. Each of them excels in a number of different areas from the quality of food they offer through to their commitment to sustainability and the way in which they support and develop their staff. Any one of them would make a worthy winner, best of luck to them all.”

Judges will make a final mystery dining visit, before crowning the UK’s best fish and chip restaurant on 23rd January 2020 at the award ceremony in London.