Boat Haven Fish and Chip Shop, Robe, South Australia

As a teenager in Melbourne i recall the ebbing, glory days of an Australian fish and chip culture.  Everything that could be hand cut was, indeed, hand cut.  The batter was good and to fry ever involved some kind of animal fat.  Everything was wrapped in newspaper-sized sheets of paper, perhaps with some oil-absorbent lining hidden beneath the steaming chips.  It went without saying that one would receive extra chips and extra potato cakes.  These glory days involved many old Greek immigrants, and they took pride in their product.  But such days are, alack, long gone, and fish and chip shops that cut chips and potato cakes by hand are as rare as Bush Thick-knees on Sydney streets.

One of the few exceptions to this degradation of fish and chips towards boxed and frozen, mass produced products cooked in the cheapest vegetable oil is the Boat Haven Fish and Chip shop, by the harbour in Robe.  Like the main streets of too many seaside towns, there are several over-priced take-away joints in robe plying their lovelessly cooked, pre-frozen product.  But escape the main drag and behold, where the fishing boats unload one can have fried freshly caught fish, hand cut chips and beautiful, crispy, handcut potato cakes.
Hence, at the beginning of our journey to Darwin, we took time out in Robe, specifically to relive the memory of our last feast at Boat Haven.  Alas, being the middle of winter, the shop was closed.  In fact, it only opens in the warmer months.  But, for memory's sake, we thought we'd post up photos of what is very much a dying breed: a fish and chip shop that takes pride in its hand-cut product.