There’s nothing like authentic British-style fish and chips. This is because the British invented fish and chips, and they would know all the stuff to incorporate into the dish to make it perfect. The freshest white-fleshed fish fillet, coated with beer batter and deep-fried into a light, crunchy, golden brown crust, served on a bed of lovely potato chips or fries.

In the metro, ask any legitimate foodie where you can get classic British-style fish and chips, and they’ll lead you to a place called CargoFish at Uptown Mall, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. With one authentic Briton, chef Matthew John Hornsby-Bates, at the helm of the kitchen (the other owner and chef being Filipino-Chinese Matthew Kenneth Chan Lim), CargoFish consistently churns out British-style fish and chips every day — and in grand style, too.

A unique feature of CargoFish’s fish and chips is that it is a build-your-own-fish-and-chips kind of concept. As a customer, you get to choose the kind of fish that you want for your fish and chips, with cream dory, tilapia, cobbler, cod, salmon, even chicken and sausage as the choices. Your choice will be coated with the restaurant’s signature beer batter and cooked into a delicious, crispy beer-battered fish.

Now, for the “chips” part, you also get to choose two sides from among sweet potato chips, onion rings, proper chips (triple fried hand-cut potatoes), slaw salad, and Cargo Rice.

Then you also get to choose a sauce from Seafood Barbeque, Curry Mayo, Honey Jalapeño, Tartar, Chip Shop Curry, Mushy Peas, Lime Chili Cilantro and Roasted Garlic.

With all these choices, customers really find their craving for fish and chips satisfied, which is particularly timely now that we are in the thick of the Lenten Season. The build-your-own-fish-and-chips concept of CargoFish actually comes from the two chefs behind the brand. They met at work in 2013 in a restaurant, where the former worked as executive chef and the latter served as executive sous chef.

“After four years of working in a company for others, we decided that it was time for us to open our own restaurant. Thus, CargoFish was born on 4 April 2017. It’s the first brand in our company,” explains chef Matthew, the Brit.

Then came Burnt Bamboo, whose main menu consists of Filipino barbecues and, finally, Boudica Café Bar, which specializes in Neapolitan style pizza. Since CargoFish’s fish and chips has become very popular and Boudica’s space was originally CargoFish’s, the café bar also carries the classic fish and chips (choice of fish among dory, cod and salmon) with two sides and three sauces.

So, meet CargoFish’s authentic British-style fish and chips, winner of the recent Ultimate Taste Test 2022 as the Best Fish and Chips in Manila.