'I tried the award-winning chippy that has queues around the corner'

What with the 2023 Michelin stars being handed out last week, it’s worth considering what the stellar accolades from the renowned tyre company actually mean. One star denotes ‘a very good restaurant in its category’. Two stars means ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour’. The maximum three is given for ‘exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey’.

I’d argue that Chips @ No. 8 in Prestwich is all of these things. Firstly, the fact that it got down to the final 20 in the ‘chippy world cup’ in January strongly implies that this place is ‘very good… in its category’.

The awards, from the National Federation of Fish Friers, are the most prestigious in the chip shop industry. So that’s surely the very definition of a one star establishment. Tick.

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Secondly, the fact that I took a 26 mile round trip on the 60 to get there, I’d call that a detour and a special journey in one. Tick, and tick. So that’s the criteria for two of three stars nailed on too.

It will likely be a cold day in the fryer when this place boasts three stars on the door, but I don’t make the rules. If I did, Chips @ No. 8’s owner Dan Edwards would have been up on stage at Silverstone this week and being handed a red plaque and a spiffy new chef’s jacket.

This is an exceptional chippy for a number of reasons, one of which is apparent before you even get in the door. The side of the building is blessed with a two-storey mural of the magnificent Mark E. Smith of The Fall, a Prestwich resident up to his untimely demise in 2018.

The legend