A Salt & Battery

Three Contenders for the Best Fish and Chips in Manhattan - Eater NY

"The West Village counter-service spot A Salt & Battery was founded well over a decade ago, and makes some of the most celebrated British-style fish and chips in the city. It is a facsimile of a British “chippy,” with a high counter, a stainless steel shelf running along the circumference of the shop seating eight or so, green tiles with a fish motif, and behind the counter, three massive bubbling vats of fat. The selection of seafood runs to cod, haddock, whiting, sole, shrimp, and scallops, but the traditional cod is the favorite (small $8.95, large $14.95), and the shop sells 80 to 90 pounds of it per day. Feeling peckish I ordered the large size, along with chips ($6 extra). My lunch came in a paper boat, with the chips underneath and a filet of cod so big it flopped across the top. Cod is a big fish, so the filets are often gigantic. The fish benefited from a battered coating of medium thickness — definitely thinner than found in pubs. It also had a slightly rubbery quality, and it was a challenge to keep the coarse-grained and slippery white fish inside its coat. Nevertheless, the fish sported a briny flavor, and the fries — excuse me, chips — were some of the best in the West Village, runty, not greasy, and tasting slightly earthy." - Robert Sietsema