A well-loved and family run Edinburgh chip shop was crowned the best in Scotland at the Scottish Food Awards on Monday night.
Pierinos, owned by the successful Crolla family, have been serving up classic Scottish favourites to the locals of Leith for decades and have been rewarded for their incredible consistency and packed menu, consisting of your typical chip shop classics, as well as a range of calzone's, kebab's and desserts.
So, after being named the best in Scotland, there could be no bigger motive for us to try it out and rate it against those in Edinburgh that we've experienced in the past.
READ MORE: Well-loved Edinburgh chippy win best fish and chip shop in Scotland
Sticking with tradition, I thought it was a given to order a fish supper as after all, that is the staple of every chippy, although a growing trend for such establishments is to offer kebabs and handmade pizza's to offer as much variety as possible.
Nonetheless, my first job was working in my local chippy, and a fish supper was the most popular choice by a mile, so that is what I opted for. It must be said that I'm no stranger to a chippy pizza. I typically find them more tasty than the likes of Dominos or Pizza Hut. With that in mind, I ordered a pizza with pepperoni, chicken, bacon and sweetcorn - an almighty combination.
The cost of the fish supper was £9.90 and the pizza was £13.30 given each topping was £1 each. On top of that, there is of course a delivery fee. On this occasion, it was £3.50.
Sadly, on this occasion I had to order from Pierinos and couldn't go into the shop. What I've found with ordering fast food is that it is never as good as being served it straight from the fryer, it's typically not as hot or as well presented, although this usually can't be helped. It's hard to keep up your impeccable reputation with the food being transported across the city on the back of a bike.
After a slightly longer delivery time that I'd hoped, the food arrived in all its glory. The first thing I noticed after opening my fish supper was the sheer size of the fish. I'm sure most chippy's in Edinburgh will have people complaining that the fish is too small, or the batter is too thick, but Pierinos got it bang on in my opinion.
The second thing I noticed, unfortunately, was that they forgot to add my salt and sauce - something I can't ignore and have to take into consideration in my overall verdict. That being said, in my past experience the size of the fish is often used as a decoy to get away with just a handful of chips underneath. On this occasion, the fish was propped up by a small mountain of them that I struggled to finish in the end.
Luckily, I had my own salt and sauce, so after adding that, I tucked in. The batter was thin and crispy, and the fish tasted nice and fresh. As mentioned, the quality of ordering such food is never the same as being handed it in the shop so it wasn't as hot as I'd have liked, but it wasn't a huge issue.
As for the pizza, there was plenty of each topping and it wasn't too greasy which is sometimes the case with a chippy pizza. It was probably hotter than the fish which was a nice surprise, and it was pre-sliced properly meaning I wasn't forced to tear each slice free individually. It also had the addition of a plastic topper which meant I didn't have to scrape some of the topping from the cardboard box either. Those things make all the difference.
To finish, I also ordered one of their dessert options which I couldn't resist after it caught my eye. Six Nutella-filled mini doughnut balls would round of my meal just nicely, although I think I made the mistake of leaving them until they cooled or not re-heating them as by the time I recovered from my mammoth fish supper and pizza, the soft dough had hardened a little. Nonetheless, they went down a treat.
Overall I'd say the positives were definitely the size of the portions and the tasty fish. The negatives would have to be the forgotten condiments and general heat of both mains, although this can't always be helped when ordering such food. It may be because I don't buy them often, but just under £10 for a fish supper is also quite steep, in my opinion.
With all that considered, I'd say a 7/10 is probably a fair reflection of my experience, although I would be tempted to go directly to the chippy and collect rather than get my food next time in order to compare both orders.
To view Pierinos stacked menu and to download their app, you can visit their website here.
READ NEXT:
Edinburgh Airport passengers evacuated as fire crews race to restaurant blaze
Edinburgh man caught with 700 sickening images of young girls on his computer
Edinburgh cat tragically put down after becoming impaled on rusty fence
Edinburgh Christmas party guest lobbed trifle before biting police officer
West Lothian bottler captures stunning pictures of wild animals at local river
