A chippy in Cheshire has been named one of the best in the UK - and now it's revealing the secrets of its success. The Codfather, in Northwich, accepted the accolade in honour of its former owner, who died tragically in a crash two years ago.
The fish and chip shop on Manchester Road was owned by Matthew Orange, who was killed in a road accident in 2020, aged just 46. It is now run by his wife Claire, and she continues to use his traditional techniques to ensure the chippy keeps up his exacting standards, Cheshire Live reports.
And it certainly proves a hit with customers from near and far. On Thursday, customers came from as far afield as Preston to sample its wares.
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Codfather manager Stacey Linegar said: “Matthew introduced us to the frying methods in how to fry fish and chips. We always stick with the same quality suppliers, the fish is from Scotland, which is then shipped to Fleetwood.
"We also have fish from Grimsby from County fisheries, the chips are from Bury and the oil is Frymax sustainable palm oil. The oil is changed and filtered a lot so that helps with the flavour.”
Stacey added: “We also do gluten free, so a lot of people come from as far as Liverpool and places like that for those chips. We get people from all over Cheshire and we will keep entering the awards as a remembrance for Matthew.
Matthew died when his BMW was hit by a drug driver who was on the wrong side of the road in Whitley. Metin Mustafov, 24, was the driver of the other vehicle and also died from multiple injuries.
A teddy bear, made using some of Matthew's clothes, has pride of place on the counter in the chippy.
As well as the most recent award, from industry publication Fry Magazine, the Codfather was nominated as one of the Top 60 independent takeaways in the National Fish and Chip Shop awards in 2017 and 2018, and named among the UKs Top 60 chippies in 2019 and 2020.
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