As a Michelin-starred chef, Dominic Chapman knows a thing or two about food.
However, his recent broadside on the nation’s favourite dish is likely to face some opposition.
Chapman, whose signature dish is rabbit lasagne, has suggested that the traditional British fish and chip shops are not all they are cracked up to be.
Speaking to industry journal Restaurant, he was asked to name “the most overrated food”.
“Fish and chips from a fish and chip shop,” came the reply.
A recent YouGov survey ranked fish and chips as Britain’s most popular dish, with 86 per cent of Brits having a positive opinion of it.
Chapman does serve cod at his eponymous Restaurant Dominic Chapman in Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, but the fish comes with squid ragu, chorizo gnocchi and purple sprouting broccoli – rather than chips and mushy peas – and costs £28.
Chris Kanizi, 65, the owner of the Golden Chippy, in Greenwich, south-east London, told the Telegraph that Mr Chapman’s remarks were “complete nonsense”.
“I cook with fresh fish, traditional fresh fish, fresh potatoes, fresh oil, cooked with lots and lots of tender, loving care,” he said.
“I think it’s complete nonsense. I think if everyone cooked fish and chips like him, the whole tradition of fish and chips would die. It’s the likes of me and others who try to keep this going, old-school fish and chips.
“What makes fish and chips great is fresh fish, fresh oil, special batter, cooked at the right temperature with loads of TLC.
“There’s not a chance I’ll do what he does. I’m trying to keep the old tradition going.”
However, Chapman admitted his palate does accommodate some types of fast food and he enjoys “a dirty burger” or a Greek kebab and wished he had invented the McDonald’s Big Mac.
He said his favourite fast food restaurant was the Five Guys burger chain.
“Love a dirty burger every now and then, or a No Name gyros pita in Skiathos, Greece,” he said.
Mr Chapman came to prominence in 2013 when he led a group of British chefs who travelled to India to give the locals lessons in curry-making.
Critics at the time described the move, which was said to have left Indian chefs “bemused”, as “the culinary equivalent of carrying coals to Newcastle”.
The multi-award winning chef, with a Michelin star to his name, earned during his time at the Royal Oak in Paley Street, Berks, as well as Michelin guide recognition at The Crown at Burchetts Green in Maidenhead, took seven chefs from British curry houses to a curry festival in Calcutta.
Meals served up by Mr Chapman and his team included popular “British curries” such as chicken tikka masala and Birmingham’s balti dishes.
