Magpie Cafe (Whitby)

Long-standing fish and chip eatery in Whitby, Yorkshire

After a long look at the options to try on a day visit to Whitby, I settled on trying here for lunch as was not only recommended by several sources but is also the oldest fish and chip venue in Whitby operating since 1938.  All produce is caught locally in Whitby Bay, landing in Peterhead, using sustainable methods.  I learned that only one place in Whitby actually uses nothing but vegetable oil, whereas here and everywhere else uses beef dripping.  James Martin was right then that this is the epicentre for beef dripping fish and chips in the UK(!).  The haddock here with skin left on was juicy and with supreme batter, although I was surprised that the fish itself had slightly less flavour than I was expecting.  It was still very good and the scampi, whilst having quite a hard surrounding batter were huge and lovely to have.  The homemade tartare sauce was good but I would say overall, Trenchers had the edge on this and the fish flavour.  Both do small portion sizes of everything which is great and this has much more of an established cafe feel with large, leather seats, albeit with staff a little hard to track down and seemingly in a rush even when not that busy inside.

Food Grade: 65%

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