The Cod Father

Never ever, EVER go here. On a hungry whim we went here as we’d seen it had recently been refurbished and the food we received was absolutely foul. This is not an exaggeration, I would not feed my dog this food. Both chips and fish tasted as if they’d gone off. The fish was strangely gooey and smelled rotten. Should have stuck to the fan fave, The Battered Cod, in Withington. Now that’s a good chippy.

It is hard to find a good chippy in Manchester, sadly, The Cod Father does nothing to fill this gap in the market. Given that and the resulting lack of enthusiasm I feel about this place, let’s keep this quick:
What is wrong? A few things. The batter is too salty and peppery, the chips are too small (thus crispy) and aren’t tasty enough.
What is right? You do get an awful lot of fish for your money. A frankly huge piece of cod with about enough chips cost me £3.50, that’s ruddy good.
What’s the problem? Fish and Chips is a very stodgy food, unless it is of a pretty decent quality it just isn’t enjoyable to eat. A meal at The Cod Father is cheap as chips, but I still won’t be going back again.

Ok, I know I said the Battered Cod was the best chippy in Fallowfield but then I went here and it’s so much closer and just as good.
On my way back from drinks in town, I stopped here to get dinner. A large portion of fish and chips with an onion bhaji — so wrong it’s definitely right. It was all delicious. The fish was really fresh and the batter crispy. The chips had just the right amount of salt and vinegar on them and the bhaji was… well. just the right amount of onion-​y.
We had to wait a good while for the food but I suppose that just means it really was very fresh. Fairly annoying when you’re starving though.
A large fish is £3.60 so I think it’s slightly cheaper than the Battered Cod.

The problem with new fish and chip shops, my friend assures me, is that there is not enough built up grease and fat in the fryers — there’s nothing to flavour the batter and the chips with. He’s from Leeds (where fish and chips is treated as a cross between an art, a science and a religion) so I’m inclined to accept his wisdom on this matter. The Cod Father is, in chip shop terms, fairly new and so I went in not expecting very much at all and found that I had still set them too high.
The fish and chips lacked flavour and character and were really not a patch on those available a little further around the corner at the Battered Cod (for admittedly a slightly higher price). Maybe in a few years the grease traps will have enough solid cholesterol gummed to them to make it taste a little better, until then the produce of the fryer here is average at best.
They also commit one of the ultimate chip shop sins and serve pizzas. I am firmly of the position that if you serve fish and chips you should categorically not serve pizza — you will be doing neither justice. Suffice to say The Cod Father does neither particularly well. They do sell pizzas on buy one get one free though making them very cheap. So that’s in its favour. Also the name is pretty funny.

Right, here’s a controversial proposition. The Cod Father is better than The Battered Cod!
Established around a year ago, The Cod Father is the second Fallowfield chippy, only this one is actually in Fallowfield, not half way to the hell hole that is Burnage.
Students have a strange tendency to get attached to one place. Businesses build up reputations in student areas, and people lose sight of what the business is actually like at all. Take the local newsagents and convenience store Gaff’s for example, its literally famous, and you can even buy Gaff’s T-​Shirts and hoodies to show your support. To be fair, Gaff’s is a blooming good newsagents, but there’s no need to make those poor guys who work in Premier feel like Nick Giffin on Question Time.
The same is true of The Battered Cod/​Cod Father situation. Both serve a decent fish and chips, if anything The Cod Father gives you a bigger portion, and it’s a lot nearer to civilization.
Plus, funny name innit.

I have to give this place a star for its name alone. The Cod Father. Genius. Unfortunately, when compared to the Battered Cod, of which I have previously spoken, only the name stands out.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. By no stretch of the imagination could you call it bad. It’s just… meh. The prices are meh, the food slightly better meh… it’s just all round okay. It is open later than the Battered Cod though, and that does mean you get the choice of good old fish and chips as a late night snack instead of kebab.
You can eat in if you so choose, but prepare for a rather eclectic choice of interior décor. It has the standard chippy look, but adds to that with a lot of posters advertising DJ events and raves. It might just be me, but I can’t imagine the two cultures colliding often enough to warrant such ferocious advertising. But then I never did know a lot about dance and its ilk. Maybe they love fish.