Whitby Food Guide: Kippers, Fish and Chips and Where to Eat

What Whitby food means: two sides of the River Esk

Knowing which side of the Esk you are on saves confusion, because the two halves of town eat differently. The East Side is the postcard Whitby of narrow cobbled lanes, red-roofed cottages, jet workshops and the climb to the abbey ruins; its food is breakfasts, kippers and old inns. The West Side is the harbour proper, where fishing boats tie up along the quay and the catch goes to the chippies and restaurants.

Plan a day around one side and walk the other rather than zig-zagging across the swing bridge. Kippers and a sit-down breakfast belong to the East Side, while the big fish restaurants and the harbour balcony tables are a short walk from the West Side quays. If you are choosing a single meal, decide first whether you want the abbey steps or the harbour view on the other side of the table.

Smoked kippers: Whitby's signature cure

A kipper is a herring split, salted and cold-smoked until it turns firm and bronze, and Whitby has cured them for well over a century. Eat them for breakfast or brunch with toast, butter and a pot of tea, and expect a strong, salty, smoky flavour rather than a delicate one. They are the one dish here that is genuinely local rather than simply seaside.

Fortune's, a tiny ramshackle smokehouse, has been smoking fish since 1872, with six generations of the same family working there according to the Great Food Club guide. The smell reaches you before the shop does, and the charred walls hung with fish are worth the detour alone; the same smokehouse also cures bacon if kippers do not appeal. Buy a pair to take home, and ask how to cook them rather than guessing.

For kippers served rather than wrapped, Monks Haven Café on Church Street is the practical choice before or after the 199 steps, with a bright room, friendly staff and a proper cooked breakfast. The Great Food Club guide singles out its toast, kippers and scrambled eggs as a brunch worth climbing back down for. If you want the wider choice of morning places, from fry-ups to pastries, our guide to breakfast in Whitby covers the rest of the town.

Fish and chips: what to expect from a Whitby chippy

Cod and haddock landed at the quay is the point of a Whitby chippy, and most places fry to order in beef dripping or oil with chips cut on site. Portions are generous and the batter should be crisp rather than stodgy; anything sitting under a heat lamp is a warning sign. The busiest spots on the harbour front trade on location, so walk a street back if you want a shorter queue.

Seaside demand is real: at peak lunch and teatime you will queue, and the difference between a takeaway eaten on the pier and a table with proper plates is mostly comfort. Takeaway is quicker and cheaper for a family, while a sit-down chippy suits a wet day or a slower evening. Cash is still useful in some smaller shops, so do not rely entirely on a card.

Trenchers, opposite the station and harbour, is the big sit-down option, done in an Italian style with booths and Tiffany lamps. It won the title of the UK's Best Fish and Chip Restaurant in 2019, according to the Great Food Club guide, and the blackboards name the boat that landed the cod and the Ripon potatoes used for the chips. Expect to queue for a table at busy times, and treat it as a family teatime rather than a quick bite.

Abbey Wharf on Market Place, overlooking the harbour, runs a fish and chip takeaway from its entrance so you can eat on the Church Street cobbles or down on Tate Hill Sands or the East Pier. It uses the same produce as the restaurant and can do gluten-free fish and chips on request. That makes it a sensible compromise when half the group wants a view and the other half wants a bag of chips.

A table with a harbour view: Abbey Wharf

Abbey Wharf is the obvious pick when the view matters more than a hushed room: its balcony looks over the harbour towards the East and West Piers, and the restaurant seats more than 250 inside. Upstairs, a mezzanine with its own bar handles table bookings, leaving the ground floor for walk-ins, which is a useful thing to know on a busy weekend. The menu runs from seafood and steaks to salads, with vegetarian, gluten-free and children's dishes alongside.

Order the fish, delivered daily, and skip the cocktails if you are here for the food; the bar leans into world beers and an extensive gin shelf. The trade-off is that a large harbourside room can feel busy and tourist-facing at the height of the season, so book the mezzanine for a calmer meal. Menus and current serving times are listed on the venue's own site and app, so confirm them before a late sitting.

Catch of the day and local produce at The Star Inn The Harbour

The Star Inn The Harbour, in the former tourist information building on the harbour, is the town's smartest sit-down option and the place to go when you want a proper starter, main and pud. Andrew Pern, named in the Great Food Club guide as a Michelin-starred chef, built the menu around local fish and meat specials and North Yorkshire Moors produce, with desserts coming largely from the restaurant's ice cream parlour. The nautical dressing of ropes, creels and postcards is done with a light hand.

For a wider shortlist of white-tablecloth and seafood-led rooms, including the town's best-known chippy restaurant, see our pick of the Best Restaurants in Whitby. Book ahead for dinner and for Sunday lunch, and expect prices to sit a tier above the chippies and pubs. It is the choice for an occasion rather than a quick lunch between the abbey and the pier.

Pub food and a pint: The Fat Badger on West Cliff

The Fat Badger sits at the top of West Cliff inside the Royal Whitby hotel, with sea, harbour and abbey views and outdoor seating that is partly covered and heated. It describes itself as a new traditional English pub, serves cask ales and modern British pub classics from fresh, seasonal ingredients, and welcomes dogs. That combination of a view, a pint and a plate is hard to beat after a walk along the cliff.

It is a hotel pub rather than a worn-in local, so come for the room and the outlook rather than a sense of history, and check the menu pages on its site before you go. Sunday lunch is its own menu here, which makes it a reasonable bet for a family gathering when you want a table rather than a bar stool.

Beer to go with it: a brewery taproom and an ale house

Whitby Brewery's taproom sits in a converted barn beneath the abbey arches, which makes it the natural reward at the top of the 199 steps. A small bar pours five cask beers and a selection of bottles brewed on site, and you can drink a pint of Whitby Whaler within sight of the tanks it came from. It is a short stop rather than a long lunch, and the climb back down is easier than the climb up.

Down on Grape Lane near the old swing bridge, The Green Dragon Ale House is a family-owned shop with a tiny taproom, five keg lines that change daily and a large range of gluten-free and low-alcohol beers. The Great Food Club guide rates it a hidden gem, and with 300 beers and ciders from around the world it suits a mixed group where not everyone drinks. Neither spot is a restaurant, so pair a pint with a chippy tea rather than expecting a full menu.

A pub with history on the East Side: The White Horse & Griffin

The White Horse & Griffin on Church Street is both pub and restaurant, in a building the Great Food Club guide dates to 1681 and describes as the first coaching inn between Whitby, York and London. It stayed an inn until 1939, and Captain James Cook is said to have stayed more than once. The high-ceilinged front room keeps original fireplaces along one wall, with the restaurant a few steps down at the back.

Come here for a plate of pub food and a bit of atmosphere on the cobbled side of town, close to the abbey steps, rather than for a harbour view. It is the sensible stop when you want a seat indoors after the abbey and the wind has turned. Menus and kitchen times are best checked directly with the pub before a late-afternoon visit.

How to choose: meal, side of the river, budget and view

If it is your first visit and you want one local thing, eat kippers or buy them smoked, then have fish and chips as a second meal. For a smart dinner with local produce, The Star Inn The Harbour leads; for a view with a relaxed plate, Abbey Wharf and The Fat Badger are the easy picks. Pubs with history cluster on the East Side, while the taproom under the abbey arches rewards anyone who has done the steps.

On budget, takeaway chips and a pint of cask ale cost less than a three-course harbour dinner, so check menus on the day for current prices. Book ahead for The Star Inn The Harbour and The Fat Badger at weekends, and expect a walk-in queue at Trenchers. If you need a meat-free or plant-based meal, look at our vegan Whitby shortlist before committing to a table.

Which Whitby meal should you book first?

Book The Star Inn The Harbour or The Fat Badger first if you want a proper sit-down meal or Sunday lunch, and leave fish and chips and kippers for the rest of the trip. Start your day on the East Side with kippers, climb the steps to the brewery taproom, then eat chips by the harbour in the evening. Our guide to the best restaurants in Whitby takes the shortlist further if you are staying more than a night.

If you want kippers to take home, buy them early rather than on your way to the station, and check whether the smokehouse is open that day before you build a walk around it.