When I was a kid, my family lived above our restaurant in Caulfield, southeast of Melbourne’s CBD. On Saturday mornings I would be on bottle duty, which meant emptying all the bottles from the night before into the big bin in the back alley. Dumping bottles is super noisy and it would always wake up the neighbours who lived on the other side of the alley. Instead of getting grumpy, they would call me in to turn all of their lights on. I would race in and out, never thinking much of it. My mum later told me they would ask me to do this for religious reasons – being Jewish Orthodox, they observed the Sabbath and refrained from turning on electricity during this time. I remember at the time thinking, ‘How do they cook? What do they eat?’
Ten years later, I was really getting into bagels and blintzes and I would head to the bagel shops in seaside St Kilda in Melbourne. Apart from the bagels, I always bought the cold fried fish. I loved it with just a little salt. I realised recently that cold fried fish is traditionally eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and I wanted to build a meal around it. I call it ‘fish ’n’ chips’ cos it rings well, but really the potatoes are just roasted potatoes. This dish is great in summer and can obviously be prepared beforehand.