Where Honiton's Best Fish and Chips Are Hidden (Locals Spill the Beans)

Fish and chips in a Devon market town hit different to what you'll find back home in Sydney or Geelong. Australian travellers know the drill: grab a paper-wrapped bundle at Bondi or a sit-down plate at a Fremantle harbour joint, and call it dinner. Honiton offers something quieter, older, and frankly a bit more romantic, with its cobbled high street and the smell of vinegar drifting from shopfronts that have been frying since before your grandparents were born.

Set in the rolling hills of East Devon, Honiton has long been a stop-off for travellers heading to the coast or mooring up for the night on the way to Cornwall. The town has more than its fair share of tearooms and pubs, but the real local love is reserved for the chippies. Ask anyone in the pub who does the best cod, and you'll get an opinion as strong as a Collingwood supporter arguing about the Grand Final.

Locals tend to keep their favourite spots quiet, the way Australians guard a good beach break or a tucked-away servo with decent coffee. The list below comes from years of asking around the market square, the antique shops, and the queue at the post office. Some places have been here for decades, others are newer faces that have earned their stripes quickly. All of them do the kind of food that makes you slow down, lick the salt off your fingers, and forget about your emails for half an hour.

Before you head out, it's worth knowing that the original tourist information centre has shut up shop, though work is underway on a replacement service. The town still works beautifully as a base for a few days of eating and exploring, and the high street, the antique warehouses, and the surrounding lanes are easy to navigate on foot.

What makes Honiton's fish and chips worth travelling for

The difference between an average chippy and a great one is rarely the fish. It's the batter, the oil, the potato variety, and whether the owner actually cares about the soggy-bottom problem. In Honiton, the best shops use beef dripping or a clean vegetable oil, change the fryer regularly, and season the chips the moment they come out of the basket. The fish is usually cod or haddock, sustainably sourced from Brixham or Newlyn down the coast.

Australian readers will recognise the same obsession. In Sydney, the holy grail is a piece of battered flathead with hand-cut chips; in Perth, it's flake; in Hobart, the salmon. The British version trades on cod and haddock, and the batter tends to be thicker and crispier, almost like a savoury pastry shell. It's heavier, more comforting, and pairs absurdly well with a pint of ale on a wet Tuesday evening. If you've only had fish and chips from a suburban takeaway at home, the real thing in Devon is a bit of a revelation.

Another thing Honiton does well is the side dishes. Mushy peas, curry sauce, bread and butter, pickled onions, and the local favourite, a dollop of tartare sauce made with capers and gherkins. Some shops even do a Devon-style fishcake, which is denser and more peppery than the Scottish version, often served as a snack between meals. Pair all of that with a cup of tea or a cold cider, and you have the kind of lunch that ruins you for airport food for the rest of the trip.

A historic favourite: The Star Inn

Tucked into one of the older streets just off the main square, The Star Inn is the kind of place your mum would have taken you to as a kid, if your mum grew up in 1970s East Devon. The building has been serving food for generations, and the fish and chip counter sits at the back of a traditional pub dining room. Locals love it because nothing has really changed, and the regulars still order "the usual" without looking at the menu.

The fish is battered to order, and the chips are cooked in beef dripping, which gives them a golden, almost buttery crust. Portions are generous in that very British way, meaning you'll see tourists trying to finish a plate while locals breeze through with a fork in one hand and a napkin in the other. On Fridays, the place fills up with market traders who have been on their feet since dawn, and the queue can stretch out the door by half past twelve.

If you're coming from further afield and want to turn the meal into a day out, The Star Inn is a short stroll from the high street's antique shops, and it's a comfortable walk from the railway station. Many visitors combine it with a drive out to the coast afterwards, since the Honiton base for exploring Exeter and Dartmoor route starts right here. A fish supper, a drive over the moors, and a sunset on the way back to your B&B is hard to beat.

The Dolphin Fish Bar and its family-run charm

A few minutes' walk from the church, The Dolphin is a classic high-street chippy run by a family who have been frying in Honiton for over twenty years. It's the kind of shop where the staff know half the customers by name, and they'll ask about your auntie's hip replacement before they ask how you'd like your fish. The chips are hand-cut daily, the batter is lager-based, and the haddock is as fresh as you'll get without boarding a boat.

What sets The Dolphin apart is the attention to detail. The peas are actually mushy in the proper English sense, not just blended. The curry sauce is dark, rich, and faintly spiced, the way a Bristol or Devon curry sauce should be. They also do a pickled egg, which Australians often find either fascinating or terrifying, depending on whether they grew up near a country pub that served them. If you want to try a Devon-specific side, order a thick slice of bread and butter alongside, and use it to mop up the leftover salt and vinegar.

The shop gets busy on Saturdays, especially during the antique fair weeks, when collectors roll in from London and the Midlands. Locals have a quiet tip: turn up just before five o'clock, when the lunch rush has thinned but the oil is still clean, and you'll get a fresher batch. It's the same timing rule that Australians use for grabbing a late arvo coffee before the shops shut, or queueing for fish and chips at Coogee before the sun drops.

Kings Fish & Chips for the traditionalists

On the northern edge of town, near the road that leads out towards Taunton, Kings is a no-frills shop that does one thing extremely well. The menu is short, the seating is minimal, and the food is consistently excellent. This is the chippy that locals recommend when you ask for "the real one, not the tourist one." It's run by a couple who previously worked in the trade in Plymouth, and they brought their recipe for crispy, almost crinkle-cut chips with them.

The fish is filleted on site, which is rarer than you might think in a small-town chippy. The batter is light, almost tempura-style, and the haddock flakes apart the moment you press your fork into it. They also do a large jumbo sausage that locals swear by, though it has nothing to do with fish. It's the kind of place where you can take the kids after a long day of walking, and the grown-ups can enjoy a decent portion without feeling like they've ordered a child's meal. Speaking of kids, if you're travelling with your family, the family activities round-up has practical tips on keeping everyone fed, watered, and happy on the road.

A useful insider note: Kings closes earlier than the other shops, often by half past eight, so plan your evening accordingly. Locals tend to ring in their orders if they're picking up after work, which is a habit Australian readers will recognise from calling ahead to their local Thai takeaway on a Friday night.

The Chip Shed brings a modern approach

If you fancy something a little different, The Chip Shed is the newer kid on the block. It opened a few years back in a converted outbuilding near the car park, and it has a slightly more contemporary feel: bench seating, reclaimed wood, and a menu that plays with tradition. You can still get classic cod and chips, but there are also options like halloumi and chips, sweet potato fries, and a rotating special of the day, which might be pollock, sea bass, or even a Devon oyster po'boy.

The owners spent time in Australia before settling in Devon, and the influence shows up in the seasoning. The salt is a seaweed blend, the vinegar is served on the side, and the chips come with a choice of aioli or traditional curry sauce. It's the kind of place where vegetarians and pescatarians feel properly considered, which is still rare in a Devon market town. If you're used to the diverse food scenes of Melbourne or Fitzroy, The Chip Shed scratches a similar itch.

It's not a replacement for the old-school chippies, but it complements them. Locals tend to go to The Star for nostalgia, to The Dolphin for reliability, to Kings for the classic chip-shop experience, and to The Chip Shed when they want something a bit lighter or different. Travellers who like to mix it up will appreciate having all four within walking distance of each other, which is not something you get in most English towns of this size.

How to enjoy your meal like a local Devonian

The first rule is timing. Avoid the peak dinner hour between six and seven-thirty, especially on Thursdays and Fridays, which are traditionally the busiest nights in British chippies. Either eat early, around five, or late, after eight-thirty, when the oil has been refreshed and the queues have died down. The same timing logic works in Australia, whether you're dodging the after-work rush at a Sydney fish market or queuing for a takeaway in Fremantle.

The second rule is the order. Don't overcomplicate it. Cod or haddock, chips, mushy peas, and a pot of curry sauce is the classic combination. Bread and butter on the side, and a pickled onion if you dare. The third rule is to eat with your hands if you're in a takeaway, or to use a knife and fork if you're sitting down in a pub. The English get quite particular about this, and you'll get a few raised eyebrows if you try to eat a sit-down meal with your fingers in a place like The Star.

The fourth rule is to walk it off afterwards. Honiton is small enough to wander, and the surrounding countryside is some of the prettiest in the southwest. After a heavy meal, a gentle stroll up towards the outskirts of town, or out to the public footpaths, will sort you out. If you're on a longer trip, Honiton makes a sensible base for day trips to the coast or to Exeter, which is only about twenty minutes by train or car. Australians used to planning road trips up the Great Ocean Road or down the Coral Coast will find the distances in Devon charmingly short by comparison.

Comparing Honiton's chippies and planning your visit

Shop Style Best For Notable Detail Approx Price (cod & chips)
The Star Inn Historic pub counter Traditional sit-down meal Beef dripping chips, pub setting £12–14
The Dolphin Fish Bar Family-run takeaway Classic Devonshire experience Hand-cut chips, mushy peas £9–11
Kings Fish & Chips No-frills takeaway The purist's choice Fish filleted on site £8–10
The Chip Shed Modern, casual Vegetarians and variety Seaweed salt, aioli options £10–13

Practical tips for fish and chip lovers in Honiton

If you're ready to plan a proper Devon food trip, the best starting point is the about Honiton page, which lists accommodation, transport, and what to do between meals. Book a few nights at a local B&B, work your way through the chippies, and you'll have a story worth telling when you get back to the barbie at home. Just promise us one thing: don't drown it in tomato sauce.