The Bay's best chips

This newspaper may well be tomorrow's fish and chip paper but you might want to read it before placing your next order.
In a bid to find the best fish and chip shop in Tauranga, the Bay of Plenty Times put nine "chippies" to the test.
We drove from Papamoa to Bethlehem and munched our way through the good, the bad and the ugly to reveal the most flavoursome fish and the most chip-i-licious chips.
Ordering a scoop of chips and a piece of mid-range fish (in most cases terakihi), our three intrepid taste-testers ranked each outlet with a score out of 10.
Our pick of the bunch was the Fresh Fish Market on Dive Crescent, upholding its longstanding reputation as one of the best in the Bay.
The waterfront eatery, where freshly caught fish is cut on site, scored nine, with crisp, golden chips and by far the best tasting fish with a light, crispy, herb-seasoned batter.
It also served the equal-largest portion of fish (175g) and the second-largest portion of chips (390g).
It had prices to match, with the newsprint-packaged meal costing $7 - the most of all takeaway outlets in our taste test.
Bob Palmer, Fresh Fish Market's owner of 14 years, said the secret of his success was cooking in 100 per cent beef fat with no additives and changing the oil every two days.
But for those of you who haven't tried it, you will have to wait another week as the Fresh Fish Market is closing next week for an $11,000 refurbishment.
A lick of paint and new flooring will freshen up the premises but there won't be any radical changes.
"We want to keep the concept the same because it works," Mr Palmer said.
A surprise from the suburbs was Brookfield Fish and Chinese Takeaways, in the Brookfield Shopping Centre, which we gave an eight for its thick, crispy, salted-to-perfection chips. The batter on the fish was a little thick but still nice and crispy with a generous 150g portion.
At $5.50, the lowest-priced of all our contenders, it sits comfortably with the wallet and the tastebuds.
The chips from Welcome Bay Takeaways tasted like they were from freshly-harvested potatoes (although a little soggy) and tipped the scales at 400g and the massive 175g fillet of fish was thick and juicy. We gave Welcome Bay Takeaways a seven.
Papamoa Domain Takeaways, Mount Fish and Chips, 15th Avenue Takeaways and Cherrywood Fish Supply and Takeaway all scored a pretty average six - palatable but nothing special.
Bethlehem Chinese Fish and Chips scored a low four for its smoky chips and oily fish.
Least appetising was the fare from Greerton Takeaways, which we gave two for its stale-tasting chips and greasy fish.
All but two of the takeaway outlets exceeded the 330g industry standard set by The Chip Group. Bethlehem Chinese Fish and Chips and Papamoa Domain Takeaways both fell short by 15g, while the seven others served between 30g and 70g more.
See today's Bay of Plenty Times for all the details.
CHIP GROUP INDUSTRY STANDARDS:
Chips should be at least 13mm wide
A standard scoop should be 330g
Frying oil should contain a maximum of 28 per cent saturated fat, 1 per cent trans fat and 3 per cent linolenic acid
Chips should be cooked at 175-180°C for 3-4 minutes
Excess oil should be drained off
Oil should be filtered every day