As anyone from the country can attest, for all the vast categories of takeaway food that Melbourne does better than small towns, the only real exception is fish and chips.
Flakes on Sydney Road is a valiant attempt at fish and chips that, as a generic kind of takeaway meal, is satisfying enough. However, anything that comes in a box and not butcher's paper will fail to be real fish and chips. The chips are more akin to the food court and late night van variety than to the choppy, uneven chips in the traditional fish and chips sense, but they're still tasty and can even have a lick of crispiness to them on occasion. While greasy, the flake, butterfish and whiting are all tasty enough and go down well with a bit of the complimentary tartare sauce (note: it's only complimentary when part of pack).
The nuggets and calamari rings are a bit on the generic side of things, though the latter is usually free of excessive chewiness, which is nice. The dim sims and potato cakes are all fine, but the fish cakes can sometimes be a bit undercooked.
There're a few family packs from which to choose, as well as a couple of salads. The burgers and souvlakis' are also pretty solid. I'm yet to try any of their recent venture into pastas or pizzas, so it wouldn't be fair to comment on that wing of the business.
Flake's does free local delivery from 5.00 to 10.20pm, 7 days a week, for a minimum of $15. All in all, it's not bad, but it's also not what I define as proper fish and chips. read more