The Hip Hop Chip Shop, Manchester Restaurant Review

A white square plate is topped with crispy fish, chips and two pots, one with mushy peas and one with tartare sauce. There is salt, pepper and vinegar in the background

A beloved street-food crew has parked up and brought a fun, modern take on fish and chips to Ancoats’ thriving food scene.

Who's cooking?

Since 2014 chefs Luke Stocks and Holly Robson have run the kitchen, with fellow director Jonathan ‘Ozzie’ Oswald making up a trio best known for their Stanley Chow-designed 80s boombox food truck. Following a string of residencies in kitchens across the city, this is their first permanent home.

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What's the vibe?

Welcoming and unpretentious service greets diners who come for the homely fug of vinegar fumes and mellow hip hop. The music theme is strong but the concert-poster décor belongs to the discerning eye of a curator rather than a teenage bedroom, so the space still feels smart.

A red boombox with cassette tapes by the side of it in the Hip Hop Chip Shop, Manchester — The music theme is strong but the concert-poster décor belongs to the discerning eye of a curator rather than a teenage bedroom

What's the food like?

A lunch menu of wraps and butties gives way to an evening selection of globally inspired spins on the classics. From the Soyz in the Hood vegan ‘fish’ steaks to the DJ Kool Jerk fish with plantain, there’s an inclusive spread.

A white square plate is topped with vegan fish steaks, chips and two pots, one with mushy peas and one with tartare sauce. There is a glass filled with soda in the background — Soyz in the Hood vegan ‘fish’ steaks

Don’t be fooled by jokey puns, though – this is serious food. Everything is cooked fresh to order; there are different fryers for meat, veg, vegan food and chips; and all fish is sustainable coley caught daily in the North Sea.

The Feastie Boys main arrives as substantial, golden nuggets of battered fish accompanied by a pile of chips that run from crispy scraps to airplane-chock wedges. Inside its coat of crisp, chewy batter the coley is mild with a moist, flaky texture.

There are plenty of other good things here, too, like big and juicy battered gherkins, or vibrant-green, moreish boulders of mushy pea fritters. And, in an aim to be zero waste, all packaging and cutlery are recyclable or compostable.