Top five pubs for chips

Riverview Hotel, Balmain

These beauties are house-made, hand-cut supermodels, not too fat, not too thin. The added quirk is that they arrive as a tumble of potato sticks cascading from a little box. Cute and delicious.

Erskineville Hotel, Erskineville

The fuss is all about the sweet potato wedges; roasted, not fried, they arrived looking better than a tattie from a Sunday dinner, wedges of vibrant orange with slightly charred skins that give way to melting, sweet flesh.

Australian Youth Hotel, Glebe

We’re not sure if this is a kitchen or a temple to the ultimate prize – hand-cut chips made in-house every day. These are the things legends and arguments over the last one are made of: all soft ’n’ fluffy inside and golden ’n’ crunchy out, a delight of haphazard shapes and not a single regimented rectangular imposter among them.

The Carrington, Surry Hills

The Carrington rethinks good old chips and tomato sauce: its Spanish-tapas-meets-dude-food take on the pub staple comes in the form of deconstructed patatas bravas. Think rustic paprika-dusted chips that taste even better when dunked into a bowl of house-made spicy tomato goodness.

Great Southern Inn, Eden

Super-crisp on the outside, soft in the middle and cooked to perfection: real old-style thick-cut chips. The oil tasted fresh, not tired as sometimes happens, so the flavour is sort of potato-ey, buttery and crispy. We thought very seriously about ordering another bowl while our companion had dessert.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald Pub Food Guide 2013

Have we missed your favourite pub for hot chips? Tell us which NSW pubs serve the best hot chips in the comments below.