Tania, Ben and Rosie from Rosie’s Fish and Chips. Photo: Rosie’s.
Who are you?
I’m Tania. I grew up here in Wollongong in Woonona.
I’m Ben. I grew up in London and met Tania when she was traveling in England. She brought me back about 10 or 11 years ago now and we’ve been here ever since.
What’s your business?
Ben: It’s called Rosie’s Proper Fish and Chips; we’re located in Coledale just by Sharky’s Beach. It’s named after our daughter. We were toying with lots of different names – this is the one that stuck. We loved the feel of it.
Ben, tell us about the fish and chip scene in the UK?
There’s great fish and chip shops everywhere in the UK – lots of hand cut chips cooked in beef dripping. So that’s very much where we got some of the concepts for here from.
Why did you become a chef?
I kind of got pushed into catering college (chef school) by my mum and ended up really enjoying it and just caught the bug and didn’t stop. My first full-time job was at Gordon Ramsay’s. It’s all I’ve ever done since I left school. Next year will be my 20th year, full-time cooking. I’ve been very lucky, working over three continents, mostly London, a little bit in New York and Sydney.
What do you enjoy about cooking for other people?
It’s probably one of the first things that I felt like where I was starting to be good at something, I could do it; that was a big sense of achievement. It’s one of those jobs where you get immediate feedback and recognition from a customer. It’s a team thing as well. I’ve always enjoyed playing team sports; it’s teamwork to get the job done every day.
Tell us about your Sydney restaurant
Tania: Ben landed a job in Sydney, but we decided that we wanted to try something for ourselves. So, we started a little food business called Banh Xeo Bar. Vietnamese pancake is our specialty; it’s modern Vietnamese. We started at the markets in Paddington as a little pop up and it’s at The Cannery in Rosebery.
For this business (Rosie’s) being new, we’re really focused on committing to doing what we want to do. There’s lots of fish and chips stores around, but we’re really focused on the quality of ingredients and I think that’s differentiating us from other places.
What makes Rosie’s at Coledale different?
Ben: The quality of the ingredients, first and foremost. Our chips are all made in-house from Australian potatoes. We wash and peel them, then we chip them and soak them overnight, then the next day we steam them. They are then cooked twice in the fryer, we blanch them at a low temperature and then they’re ready for that final cook, which is when someone orders chips.
We also have one fryer which is filled with 100 per cent grass fed beef fat. It’s not only better for you, it just gets the most amazing flavour as well.
What type of fish do you have?
Ben: It varies according to availability. Fish that we’ve used include pink ling, different types of flathead, dusky tiger, snapper, sea bream. We’ve got a lovely octopus dish – we slow cook the octopus in olive oil for two hours then finish on the grill. Through the colder months I’ve been running my fish pie on the menu, which is something I grew up on. It’s got a mashed potato top and lovely fresh parsley and dill. We eat it at home quite a bit. It’s a winter warmer!
Do you source your seafood locally?
Ben: The fish is wild caught in NSW and the Illawarra where we can; it’s never frozen, imported or pre-battered. Fish and chips are one of the simplest dishes, but it’s become the norm over the years for it to be accepted to use frozen reconstituted chips, and imported frozen fish or pre-battered fish.
Tania: At the end of the day, it does cost a little bit more but you’re paying for the quality as well. There’s not many places that are doing that now, which is also a shame so that’s why when this spot came up, we’re like, we’ve got the idea, let’s just go for it.
What about other ingredients?
Ben: We try our best to source as much as we can locally. Like the beer we use for the beer batter which we make daily is from Principle Brewing in Fairy Meadow. The beef dripping (beef fat) we get from Cleaver and Co Butchers in Gwynneville. There’s a fisherman down at Ulladulla that we buy the blue mackerel from and we get a lot of our other fish from Shellharbour Square Fish and bread for the burgers from Balgownie Bakehouse. And everything’s made in-house including the sauces and gravy.
What do you hope customers will take away from Rosie’s (besides their order)?
Ben: I just hope they really enjoy the food. People can take it down and sit on the grass overlooking the ocean at Sharky’s Beach and I really hope that people just enjoy the effort that we put into making the fish and chips and want to come back.
Do you cook at home? Do you share the duties?
Tania: Yes, we do. We just have a shared love for food in general. We take turns.
What is the perfect accompaniment for fish and chips?
Tania: Salt and vinegar, tartar sauce and lemon is the way to go.
Rosie’s Perfect Fish and Chips is at 757 Lawrence Hargrave Dr, Coledale. Rosie’s is open from noon – 7 pm, Wednesday to Saturday and from noon to 5:30 pm on Sunday. Follow Rosie’s on Instagram or visit the website.
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