Freshly battered fish and chips lures a crowd in Coledale
Owners Tania Ho and Ben Sinfield share their secret to success at Rosie’s Proper Fish and Chips
Rosie’s Proper Fish and Chips in Coledale are serving high quality takes on the beachside classic, crafting every menu item from scratch using locally sourced ingredients.
The shop has become a destination for locals and South Coast road trippers, with queues stretching down the street on weekends.
Owners Tania Ho and Ben Sinfield believe Rosie's appeal lies in its simplicity.
“Simple food done well is the best kind of food,” Ben says.
“The goal at the beginning was to make fish and chips from scratch, and that savvy is not as common as it should be.”
This savvy is clear in their thrice-cooked chips, which start out as whole potatoes that are then cut, steamed, blanched and fried fresh in beef dripping (fat). The result is a crispy and fluffy chip packed with flavour.
The fish are wild caught and sourced from the NSW South Coast. Each portion is freshly battered and cooked to order – prepared with homemade batter and served with homemade sauces.
Menu and serving of Battered Fish & Chips
“It’s quite hard to do that all the time but we do our best and the type of fish can change depending on what’s available," Ben says.
“It takes a lot of time, wages are high and fresh local ingredients aren’t cheap,” Tania adds.
“Using things like frozen chips would definitely be cheaper but it’s not what we’re about.
“At the end of the day we just wanted to make a shop that we would want to go eat at, that the community would need, because there’s no one else doing what we’re doing."
Cooks in the kitchen at Rosie's
The shop is at 757 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, near Sharky Beach, popular with surfers and dog walkers.
“When you go to the beach you want to have fish and chips right?” Tania says.
“It’s the perfect location.”
Tania and Ben have run the shop since January 2024, however, the pair have years of experience in restaurants. Born in England, Ben started out as a chef when he was 16, while Tania moved from Woonona to work in restaurants in London. They met while working at the Michelin-starred restaurant St. John in Smithfield.
Their first joint venture was Banh Xeo Bar in Rosebery, serving Vietnamese-inspired food and snacks.
The latest step for Rosie’s has been taking over the Bistro at the Coledale RSL, serving up fish and chips, plus pub classics with the Rosie’s stamp of quality.
“Once again things are made from scratch up there as well,” Ben says.
“Parmigiana, Wagyu burgers and seafood specials too … the classics really.”
Volunteers have run the Coledale RSL since 2023, when financial problems put the pub at risk of closure. But the community came together to pour pints, paint decks and mow lawns to keep the RSL alive. Rosie's moved into the club kitchen in late 2025, taking over from the Italian-themed Rosso Pepe.
Now head chef Rob Doll – who went to chef school with Ben in the UK – runs the kitchen at the Bistro, serving up the elevated pub favourites.
Rosie's menu and trading times are on their website. The RSL Bistro menu can be found here.
