Founder of Salt ’n’ Sauce Alex Hunter tells us about the opening of his first fast-casual restaurant in Oxford’s Westgate Social, his passion for fresh British fish and why Salt ’n’ Sauce will be the best chippy you’ve ever had...

I co-founded seafood restaurant brand Bonnie Gull just over five years ago. Now with two highly regarded restaurants in Central London, we've earned a reputation for sourcing and cooking great quality fresh British seafood. My passion for championing British seafood was inspired by the simple seafood restaurants around the coast of my native Scotland. Taking heavy influence from British costal towns and disenchanted by ‘stuffy’ seafood offerings available in London we stood by our principles and created an offering which was all about fresh, sustainable, British fish and seafood.

Bonnie Gull’s fish and chips became infamous and was rated by the Times in their UK top 10 and so it seemed only natural to create a new brand to focus on this most wonderful British dish. Salt ’n’ Sauce follows the Bonnie Gull ethos of sourcing high quality seafood from British waters. The fish in our fish and chips is super-fresh and responsibly sourced and the team cooking the food at Salt ’n’ Sauce Oxford are experienced chefs trained in our London restaurants - just because it’s fast food doesn’t mean you have to cut corners!

Salt ‘n’ Sauce is an elevated and dynamic reinvention of the iconic British chippy, we’re using high quality, fresh ingredients to deliver a product that is not only tasty and satisfying but affordable and on trend. We’ve got some great re-worked chippy favourites on the menu. Fresh North Sea haddock coated in tempura beer batter, served with a generous helping of triple cooked beef dripping chunky chips. We also have a vegan gluten free “fish & chips” for the health conscious!

Other twists include our Tempura Squid Burger - Channel squid lightly dipped in salt & pepper tempura flour, served in a black onion seed brioche bun with iceberg lettuce, marinated beef tomato and spicy harissa mayo. Also check out our crunchy Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger with kimchi mayo and Asian slaw. For those looking to indulge in something naughty don’t miss the Ultimate Chip Butty – a white bap stuffed with triple cooked chips, cheese, gravy and added bacon.

These can all be perfectly washed down with craft beers from Scottish brewer, Harviestoun. Our soft serve Whippy Style Ice-Cream Cone complete with obligatory chocolate flake is a must have for dessert.

I’m excited to be opening the first permanent Salt ‘n’ Sauce in Oxford after our successful summer pop-up in West London. The Westgate Social is the perfect environment to launch our new brand and will suit all diners from students to tourists to local shoppers. Salt ‘n’ Sauce is our chip shop for a new generation – high quality fresh fish, great produce, ridiculously tasty and everything under a tenner. I hope Salt ’n’ Sauce is the best chippy you’ve ever had.