When it comes to fish and chips, there are few places better equipped to serve up a portion of the UK's national dish than Cornwall.

However, for people that don't eat fish, sometimes a trip to the chippy can leave them a little short of dinner options.

Now, the Cornish Seaweed Company and plant-based food tech experts Jack & Bry have come together to release the UK’s first gourmet jackfruit fish fillet.

Jackfruit is a species of tree that is part of the fig, mulberry and breadfruit family and has been used for many years in southern and south-east Asian cuisines.

Falmouth Packet: The Packet tried out one of Jack & Bry's jackfruit fish fillet burgersThe Packet tried out one of Jack & Bry's jackfruit fish fillet burgers

Another place that jackfruit can now be found is the Harbour Lights fish and chip shop in Falmouth, as the popular chippy will now be stocking the gourmet jackfruit fish fillet.

Packet reporter Ryan Morwood was invited down to try out the new offering and chat to its creators about their latest offering.

At first glance, the jackfruit fish fillet looks just like a regular fish fillet, it comes lightly battered and garnished in a bun as you'd expect any regular fish burger to be.

So far, so good.

Then, once that first bite has been taken, you begin to realise just how good a substitute has been put in front of you.

The taste was undoubtedly fishy, of course, but it was more than just a quick flash of flavour, the jackfruit fillet tasted as though it had come straight from the ocean.

Falmouth Packet: The Cornish Seaweed Company and plant-based food tech pioneers Jack & Bry have come together to release the UK’s first gourmet jackfruit fish fillet.The Cornish Seaweed Company and plant-based food tech pioneers Jack & Bry have come together to release the UK’s first gourmet jackfruit fish fillet.

The texture of the fillet was also impressively similar to that of real fish, with a soft yet meaty consistency that reminded me of the flakiness of haddock or rock.

Jennifer Pardoe, chief operating officer and co-founder of Jack & Bry, told The Packet: "We identified the Cornish Seaweed Co's seaweed actually marries really really well with jackfruit and the marinading process, and we knew the brand and the people were just the right fit for us.

Read Next:

Tim Van Berkel, Co-Founder of The Cornish Seaweed Company, added: It's actually quite funny, as Jack & Bry had been developing this burger already for a different project, then I saw the documentary Seaspiracy and thought 'with this seaweed we can make an alternative fish product.

"Then I realised Jack & Bry are already doing something like this, so I called them up and said 'do you want to collaborate, and they said 'yes! that's fantastic, we're ready, let's do it."'

"So it came together very naturally like that."

Jack & Bry founder and CEO, Bryony Tinn-Disbury, said: "We wanted to make a cleaner, greener fish fillet, with local products as the two key ingredients, and it meant so much working with the Cornish Seaweed Company and their seaweed, and the fact that we could work with Harbour Lights as well, it married up together so well."

Falmouth Packet: Jack & Bry's Bryony Tinn-Disbury with Cornwall Seaweed Company's Tim Van Berkel. Jack & Bry's Bryony Tinn-Disbury with Cornwall Seaweed Company's Tim Van Berkel.

Pete Fraser, owner of Harbour Lights, added: "We were thrilled when we heard of the partnership of Jack & Bry and The Cornish Seaweed Company to make a ‘fishless’ fish fillet.

"Our vegan sales have shown rapid growth over the last three years and this product I know will prove to be very popular and complement our existing vegan offerings very nicely.

"Best of all, it tastes great and it brought a lot of smiles to our team during testing."

Thomas Rubensson, who has worked as a manager at Harbour Lights for 11 years, said: "We've been trying to expand our plant-based menu for about three years, and we did okay, but it was a different market for us.

Falmouth Packet: Harbour Lights will be serving the jackfruit fish fillet burger from Thursday August 19Harbour Lights will be serving the jackfruit fish fillet burger from Thursday August 19

"It was all new, and in our second year of doing so it did really well, we went from 2000 plant-based meals to 10,000, so it was quite clear that this was only getting bigger, and in the past few years it's really gotten big everywhere.

"The growth is definitely there, it's still growing and has since it started.

"If you go back to the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the most people had were mushrooms and vegetables, and now there's just such a variety."