If there's one topic of conversation that is going to cause arguments no matter where you live in Wales, it's which is the best chip shop in the given city or town where you're based. Most people have their differing opinions, and it's no different in Swansea, where people are often tribal over the best place to pick up their weekend takeaway, from Roma Fish Bar to Eaton Road, The Bay Chippy, Rossi's and everything in between.
But although it is a very divisive question which you will never get everyone to agree on, the general consensus among people living in the city these days is that there is only one chippy which deserves the crown - and that's Hiks. In Swansea, the legend of the Llangyfelach Road, Brynhyfryd eatery precedes itself. And that is backed up by experts over the course of many years, as it has received award after award - with them currently ranked as Wales's number one takeaway of the year, number one Swansea takeaway of the year, among the top ten fish and chip shops in the UK, and among Fry Magazine's prestigious Top 50 in the UK.
So what exactly is the secret behind its success? We decided to pay the chippy a visit and see for ourselves, fully anticipating that it would be purely down to the food when it came to earning the restaurant its superb reputation. But it was clear moments after stepping in through its doors one of the things that makes the venue so popular. Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.
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A welcoming voice could be heard straight away acknowledging customers and making small talk about their days: "Hi, how are you? Is everything alright with your food? The weather's gone a bit cold recently hasn't it? How's your family doing?" It was that of Emir Hikary, the man behind the success of the restaurant who has quite clearly not forgotten the importance of keeping his customers happy, despite the countless accolades which sit proudly on display on the counter.
Mr Hikary started his career in 2004 when he saw a chip van up for sale. Although he had no real experience or funding behind him, he had always wanted to move into the industry, and decided to give it a try in a move that was to be the very start of the now Swansea culinary institution.
He wasn't scared of hard work, and in the beginning, would sit in the garden shed at home peeling potatoes, stocking up his van before drive around a few destinations in Swansea hoping to generate business. It would not be without its trials and tribulations from time to time, as his early days would always be filled with issues from things like gas leaks, burning his feet with oil and even losing his eyebrows when he lit the Range.
At the end of the day, it would be routine to see Mr Hikary's to park the van opposite a local pub his brother ran, once called The Three Feathers. And only a few years later in 2008, he renovated the property next door with his brother, Ouday, turning it into Hiks, opening two years later. They made a real success of it as a takeaway business for three years, before Ouday decided to leave and run Hikary's Fish Bar in Briton Ferry in 2013. Mr Hikary continued the Brynhyfryd venture by himself, and began looking into ways to set Hiks apart from other chip shops, which included their cooking methods and refurbishing the shop.
And it was a good move, as demand increased. Two years later, in 2015, The Three Feathers, which became The Three Compasses, was bought by Mr Hikary having once been owned by his father, Nabil, and used to extend the chip shop into a 42 seater restaurant, a place which has become a haven for the local community to sit down, visit and enjoy their food both daytime and evening.
"All the rest of my family are doctors, my father was a gynaecologist, me and Ouday were the black sheep of the family!" Mr Hikary said. "I started off with the chip van, and it was a different game back then. If I got £30 or £40 a day I thought I was rich. It was hard work, and the van was often unreliable, there used to be gas leaks and I didn't have any eyebrows anymore when I used the Range for the cooking! My parents once ran Hillside Nursing Home and I worked there some time as a care assistant, but it wasn't for me and I wanted to give this a try.
"Friends of my brothers have got a chain of chip shops, Romas, Nicky and Roberto Romanello, and they helped me a lot. I worked from the bottom and learnt the trade with them. We were told on the first day we opened the restaurant that if we got it wrong on day one, people would always think of the place in the same way. The boys came down and were with us on the first day and really helped us. My brother left the business to open Hikary's in Neath, and my sister, Jaine, who was also working with us at the time, left to focus on her family.
"Everything was going well and I saw an opportunity to expand the business. For me it was a safe option to expand next door as we already had the clientele from the takeaway. Where we differ from other chip shops is the ingredients we use, and we train staff customer service. It is not just about making money but it is about giving customers a great experience so that they won't hesitate to come back. I talk to some customers as if they were best mates or a next door neighbour. If you make a customer feel welcome coming in, whether it's me or a member of staff, I think people will come back."
Mr Hikary firmly believed in the vision of the chip shop, so much so that the first day he began operating he was £19,980 into a £20,000 overdraft, something he acknowledged was a "big gamble" and "important for it to all go well."
And go well it did, with the chip shop receiving streams of accolades, awards and national prestige. But despite the consistent UK-wide recognition, it was the first award they received in 2017 which Mr Hikary said was considered one of the most special to him personally.
"It was from the local scouts (Apollo 7 ESU 7th Swansea Scout Group in 2017, they gave us a certificate for Best Chip Award, that meant a lot as it was something from the local kids and the local community which keep us in business," Mr Hikary said.
"We started off with four people working here, now we have 20 or 21, we've come a lot way. My sister is a gynaecologist working away from Swansea, and sometimes she has people who she tells she is from Swansea, and Hiks comes up in conversation. The last time I went on holiday, to Egypt, I saw some customers there. It's just mad. I'm not saying I have got a multi-million business, but it is nice that I have got something here which I started from nothing. It has been hard work and hopefully it will be something that will still be around when I retire and maybe my kids could take it on.
"My father, Nabil, passed away three weeks ago aged 84. He was such a clever man and showed us the way of business which I still use to this day. I know he will have been proud."
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