A largely forgotten chip shop menu item was once hugely popular but only with people who lived in a certain part of Liverpool.
The chippy treat in question was called 'fish toast' and is thought to have originated in one specific chip shop in the city. There are recipes online that offer a variety of different ingredients and methods for creating fish toast, but the original recipe in Liverpool is thought to have been popularised by Lings chip shop in L8.
The recipe for the forgotten treat is perhaps similar to both prawn toast and the old fish cakes you used to get (renamed savoury cakes). Although the exact original recipe isn't known, fish toast was similar to a fish cake but with a bread base.
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Fish toast came out of the fryer as a golden triangle, topped with potato, onion and herbs. The dish itself became synonymous with Lings chip shop on Windsor Street, which was once run by Kenny Ling.
The common belief is that the recipe was passed down from his father, who first ran the shop. However, perhaps due to the popularity of the dish, some other south Liverpool chip shops – including one in Speke – adopted the item on their menus.
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These days it's hard to find fish toast on chip shop menus. However, a Google search does bring up a chip shop in Bangkok now advertising Liverpool's "legendary Kenny Lings fish toast" on their menu.
Recently posts on 'fish toast' and Lings chippy were shared in Facebook groups, prompting people to share their own memories of the dish.
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On the ECHO run Liverpool Memories and History Facebook group, Helen Ball posted a photo of Lings' fish toast, saying: "Lings Fish Toast are a local legend, [I] used to work in the local housing office and it was a Friday treat for us all in the early 2000s."
Eric Black posted his memories of getting strange looks asking for fish toast outside of L8. He said: "Loved fish toasts, [I] got them from the chippy over the road from ours on Upper Parliament Street in the '60s. Moved to Dovecot and the chippy didn't seem to know what I was talking about."
On the Lodge Lane Liverpool 8 Facebook group, more people shared their fish toast memories. One person said: "Oh yes, loved it! Wish you could still get it."
Another posted: "This was our local chippy Lings, and they made the best fish toast ever. In all the years l have never come across [another] chippy that sells fish toast."
On the Best Memories Of Park Road Facebook group, one person said: "Fish toasts were amazing. Such a simple idea, but so tasty."
Another person, posted: "Kenny Lings fish toasts were deffo the original. Cleanest chippy ever too!"
Unfortunately, if you want to try fish toast for yourself you may be out of luck. The ECHO visited Lings chip shop to find it closed with a neighbouring business saying the chippy hadn't been open for a long time.
They said it had changed hands, which Company House records appear to confirm, and that the premises is set to reopen some time in the future as a takeaway.
Do you remember fish toast? Let us know in the comments section below.
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