Monti’s Ashore, Gosford

A nice and warm sunny Sunday, a perfect day to go fishing… well, fish & chips that is. In central coast, you will have no trouble finding fish and chips shops. Despite there are so many fish and chips shops in the coast, I am still yet to find the best one. Hence, we set ourselves a mission – going to try all fish and chips shops in the coast, in the hope of finding the holy “grill”. Today, we going back to one of our favorite shop, Monti’s Ashore, in Gosford.

Most people will say Monti’s Ashore is conveniently located opposite Brisbane Water. But I’ll have to say, it is actually cleverly located right in front of the traffic lights after Blue tongue stadium. Most cars coming into Gosford from Sydney, will very likely to get stopped by that traffic lights and all you can see is a freshly painted white building right in front of you, with a big weather cock fish on the roof top, and the not-so subtle writing of “FISH & CHIPS” on the wall just too hard to miss.

When we arrived, there’s already a crowd sitting outside the shop. Some are happily enjoying their meals, but some are still waiting patiently for their numbers to be called. One by one, all the hungry faces went inside the shop, and came back out with a gleeful smile, holding a stack of paper-wrapped fish-n-chips with both hands. 20 mins passed, we finally got our hands on the fish, and decided to enjoy the meal at the nearby park.

I was hungry, it was unwrapped in no time. Fish and chips is no rocket science really, oily fish – no, no; soggy chips – no, no. The first impression, chips looks golden brown (tick!), fish looks nice and crispy (tick!). Firstly I had few chips, nice and crunchy, not soggy (tick!). It definitely doesn’t have fishy taste (tick!), which I assume they don’t fry the chips and fish in the same fryer. Then I spread some tartare sauce on the fish and with bit of lemon juice, cut a small piece with my fork, it is always a good sign when the fish and batter stay in one piece, and not after finishing eating the fish, the oily batter still stick to the bottom of the box. The first bite, nice and crunchy batter (tick!), the white flesh is soft and moist (tick!) and not too fishy (tick!).

After finishing the meal, there is no oily taste linger in the mouth which is a good thing. The box is stained with grease at an acceptable level. (I’ve had once elsewhere which comes with a layer of oil at the bottom, that probably can be used to fry another round of fish and chips) Overall, Monti’s Ashore does do good fish and chips, while you can enjoy it overlooking Brisbane Water, seriously can’t complain.

Monti's Ashore Fish & Chips
65 Masons Parade
GOSFORD, NSW 2250
Australia
02 4324 3366

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