Hip Chip

Reviews

• Wendy C.

  star star star star star 15 September 2026

  I think I've died and gone to fish heaven. This place serves fish and chips on its own level - well, the fish anyway.
  
  So I'm going to review this like every tourist wants it reviewed - as a compare and contrast with the very obvious competitor across the street flash in the pan. And of course like the good yelper I aspire to be, I had to try both.
  
  If I could have create my own ideal meal, I would chose:
  - cod fish from Flash in the Pan
  - batter and frying from Hip Chip
  - chips from Flash in the Pan
  - tarter sauce from Hip Chip
  - indoor seating go to Flash in the Pan
  
  Also, if you want pizza for whatever reason you should go to Hip Chip which has that as a unique offering on the menu for whatever reason. Both also serve burgers and chicken goujon which is basically fried chicken fingers served with a dipping sauce. Hip Chip also has a fish sandwich unique to them.
  
  To be completely honest, I could care less about wedge fries which is the traditional chips in this dish. I prefer the thinly sliced McDonald's fries, on the super crunchy side if possible.
  
  So if I had to chose, I'm a big fan of the fish in fish and chips. And even though in an ideal world I would have opted for the thicker juicier fish from Flash in the Pan, the fish from Hip Chip is still certainly one of the best I've had. So for that reason, if given a third fish and chips meal, I'd go back to Hip Chip. They also seemed to specialize more in Fish and Chips  based on the very small sample of customers coming and going while we ordered our food.
  
  The batter at Hip Chip was better because it was more robust, had more structure and crunch standing up to both time passed and also any vinegar or tarter sauce you might want to put on top. In contrast, flash in the pan's batter got soggy immediately after vinegar was added even if you literally hurried to put it in your mouth. The only thing slightly inconvenient with the Hip Chip batter is that it was more likely to separate from the fish if you broke pieces off the fish to eat with your hands. Of course if you just bit into it, you wouldn't have this problem. And it's not difficult to put both fish and fallen beautifully crunchy batter in your mouth separate for an all in one bite even with a little separation in going from plate to mouth. This mainly happened as I was trying to dip sauce onto the piece of fish.
  
  The tarter sauce at Flash in the Pan came out of a premade packet. Hip chip had home made tarter sauce with a whole lot of flavor, a bit of vinegar taste and very creamy base of probably mayo. Way yummier by far and for me, this pushed Hip Chip over the edge.
  
  With both restaurants, you really can't go wrong but in the end, I fall firmly on the side of Hip Chip if I had to do it all over again due to more and better flavor of the fish part of the fish & chips meal. And to be fair, it's not like their chips was bad at all. I'm just not as much a picky chips kinda gal. Enjoy!!

• Nathan D.

  star star star star star_border 10 September 2026

  After a little tour and whiskey tasting at Bushmills Distillery, we walked through the town around 3pm looking for our first taste of real Fish and Chips. We were sad to see so many vacant buildings and like many of the other tourists, actually went up to several pub doors just to walk away realizing it'd gone out of business some time ago. We walked past a few "take-away" only places and at first dismissed it, but then upon not finding any other options, settled on The Hip Chip.
  
  We ordered two Cod and one Chip. Everything was cooked to order right in front of us and took about 15 minutes. The service was very friendly. When we received our fish we suddenly realized we got quite an amazing deal for our money; each of us got about 1lb of fish in addition to a good helping of chips.  The fish was enormous and very good. The batter was flaky and seasoned well, much more than the standard salted seasoning. The fish tasted very fresh and wasn't overpowered by the batter, although it did start feeling a bit heavy after about 1/3 of the fish, but that's also because it was extremely filling.
  
  Definitely set the bar high for our first European fish and chips experience!

• Travis W.

  star star star star star 10 September 2026

  Fish and chips are fire!!  super clean restaurant and pretty large menu for how small it is. Nice people it's the prefect place to get a to go order!! Was also the busiest place on the street and it was for a good reason!!

• Leanne F.

  star star star star star_border 9 September 2026

  We regularly stay up at the north coast and always used to go to Flash in the Pan across the road from Hip Chip. A couple of years ago we decided to give Hip Chip a go for a change and we have always gone there since.
  We grabbed a couple of burgers, chicken goujons and chips on Friday evening. The burgers and goujons were great but some of the chips were a bit underdone for my liking which is why I havent given a 5* review. Im hoping this was just a one off though as they were very busy when we were in.

• Patricia P.

  star star star star star 7 September 2026

  Amazing Fish and Chips !!! All fresh and delicious. We ordered a Cob Super with a garlic dip.