Cracroft Fresh Fried, the fish and chip shop behind the Cracroft Seafoods website, serves the Hoon Hay community from 148 Cashmere Road in Christchurch. It is a classic Kiwi takeaway in every sense: fish fried to order, generous scoops of hot chips, a cabinet full of battered classics, and a burger board that runs from a humble plain burger all the way up to the Giant.
Seafood leads the menu. The fillet board offers around seventeen varieties — blue cod, groper, orange roughy, sole, turbot, brill, John Dory, gurnard, Akaroa cod, tarakihi, flounder, red snapper, warehou, hoki, moki and more — any of which can be crumbed or cooked gluten-free. Alongside the fillets sit scallops, king prawns, squid rings, mussels, crab sticks, prawn sticks and Bluff oysters sold by the quarter, half or full dozen.
The rest of the cabinet covers all the takeaway staples: battered sausages, hot dogs, potato fritters, banana fritters, a deep patties board featuring paua and whitebait patties, chicken nibbles and wontons, spring and vegetable rolls, and sweets from jam or custard wraps to a deep-fried Moro bar. Combos and a family meal deal take the guesswork out of dinner, and a dedicated gluten-free menu covers favourites like fish, hot dogs, patties and donuts.
Hours shift through the week — open from 10:30am on weekdays, later on Saturdays and evening-only on Sundays — and the shop closes on public holidays, so it pays to check before you go.
Cracroft Fresh Fried — trading online under the Cracroft Seafoods name — is the neighbourhood fish and chip shop at 148 Cashmere Road in Hoon Hay, Christchurch. It is a classic Kiwi takeaway in every sense: fish fried to order behind the counter, scoops of steaming hot chips, a cabinet full of battered morsels, and a burger board that stretches from a humble plain burger all the way to a Giant. Whether you are after a quick lunch special or a full family feed, everything on the menu is cooked in the fryer and wrapped for the trip home.
As the name suggests, seafood is the heart of the menu. The fillet board runs to around seventeen varieties — far beyond a single fish of the day. Alongside the standard battered fish you will find blue cod, groper, orange roughy, sole, turbot, brill, John Dory, gurnard, Akaroa cod, deep sea cod, tarakihi, flounder, red snapper, warehou, hoki and moki. Any fillet can be upgraded to a crumb coating or cooked gluten-free.
Beyond fillets, the seafood section covers the classics: fish bites, crab sticks, prawn sticks, scallops, king prawns, squid rings and mussels, all battered and fried. Bluff oysters make an appearance too, sold by the quarter dozen, half dozen or dozen — a genuine Southland treat at a Christchurch fish shop.
No Kiwi chippy is complete without chips, and there are plenty of ways to have them here: the standard scoop or half scoop, shoestring chips, kumara chips, spicy wedges, or garlic butter chips for something richer.
The specials and sides list reads like a tour of takeaway nostalgia — battered sausages, crab sticks, banana fritters, potato fritters and battered mushrooms, plus hot dogs including an onion hot dog, plain sausages, pineapple rings and beef or chicken croquettes. The patties board is one of the deepest around: meat, steak and onion, chicken, corn, cheese and onion, chop suey, plus paua and whitebait patties, a chicken cordon bleu and even a lasagne topper. Nuggets, wontons, onion rings, cheese sticks and spring, curry rice and vegetable rolls fill out the savoury side of the cabinet.
The burger range is a menu in itself. Start with plain, egg, bacon, cheese or mushroom, move up through double meat, fish, chicken, vegetarian, steak and the stacked Kiwi, or go Hawaiian with either beef or chicken. Crispy and spicy crispy chicken burgers sit near the top of the board, with the Giant burger for serious appetites — and extra fillings available for any of them.
For dessert, the fryer turns sweet: plain and double chocolate donuts, mini donuts, banana fritters, jam or custard wraps, a chocolate explosion, and the much-loved deep-fried Moro bar.
For nights when cooking is off the table, the combos do the planning for you. The lunch special pairs a scoop of chips and a fish with a drink; the fish n dog combo adds a hot dog; the hot dog combo and cheeseburger combo round out the individual options. The family meal deal is the big one — two fish, two scoops of chips, two potato fritters, two crab sticks, two hot dogs and a 1.5-litre drink, all in a single order.
Gluten-free diners have a dedicated menu section covering items like fish, hot dogs, patties, donuts and chicken nuggets, though the shop is upfront that gluten-free items are fried in oil also used for food containing gluten — worth knowing if you are coeliac rather than simply avoiding gluten.
Hours shift through the week, so it pays to check before you go. Monday and Tuesday run 10:30am to 7:30pm, Wednesday and Thursday until 8pm, and Friday until 8:30pm. Saturday opens later, from 11:30am to 8pm, while Sunday is an evening-only service from 4pm to 7:30pm. The shop closes on public holidays.
One practical note: the shop flags that in-store prices may have changed and not been updated on its website, so treat any printed or online price as a guide and confirm at the counter. What will not change is the formula that keeps locals coming back — fresh-fried fish from a genuinely wide fillet board, a proper scoop of chips, and a cabinet with something for everyone in the family.