Big in Japan! A fish and chip van on a Japanese island

Big in Japan!

A Scottish chef, who worked at the Ubiquitous Chip, has opened a fish and chip van on a Japanese island

Chef Sam Galbraith, 28, moved to Japan two-and-a-half years ago after working in Glasgow, London, Australia and New Zealand. Originally Sam, who is from Aberfoyle, went to Japan to work during the ski season at Niseko ski resort, he ended up staying longer when he was offered a job on Ishigaki island, Okinawa, near Taiwan, where he met his wife Kumi, 32.

Now the couple work together in their food truck, Bonnie Blue, which is a renovated 1994 Toyota van. Selling fish and chips, Sam and Kumi are offering locals and tourists a little taste of Scotland with traditional fare including a deepfried Snickers, as Mars bars aren’t readily available.

The island is traditionally a tourist resort but has been deprived of international visitors due to covid.

Sam, who has worked as a chef for ten years, said: “It’s the best place I’ve ever been without doubt, it is an absolute paradise for us with incredible mountains, jungle, beaches, food, and wildlife.

“I only planned to stay about three or four months to enjoy the snowboarding but I was offered a job at a restaurant within a beautiful small beachside hotel in the countryside and met Yumi in the first month I was here.

“We bought an old food truck, spent three months redesigning and fixing it to our specifications and then we opened Bonnie Blue.

“We do UK-style fish and chips but with the freshest local fish straight off the boats brought to us by our friend who is a fisherman and also runs a sashimi shop opposite our apartment, it has been really popular. We have tweaked the traditional fish and chips to be a bit more island style with three smaller cuts of beer battered fish, a spoon of fresh crunchy coleslaw and pea shoots rather than mushy peas.”

“We use local beer for the batter and season the chips with Nori seaweed salt, and we do deep fried Snickers. We chose Snickers because it’s much better than a Mars Bar when fried as the peanuts and nougat hold it together better and give a much better texture when the chocolate and caramel has melted.”

Sam said: “We have been dependent solely on local customers as we started the truck up in the middle of a global pandemic. Ishigaki has no foreign visitors and this has really affected people here as the main industries are hospitality and scuba and snorkel tours. Restaurants cannot serve alcohol and need to be closed by 8pm and most have just closed totally until tourists can revisit. People have helped us so much with everything from the rules and regulations to where we can park our truck to open up.”

Where have you seen fish and chips served around the world? Email austen@ chippychat.co.uk

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