SWEEETLIPS is the word on everyones lips as the chain of Perth fish and chip shops celebrate being named the best in Australia.

And the honour comes from a pretty credible source - the National Seafood Industry Awards - at a gala dinner in Port Lincoln, South Australia on Sunday night at the launch of the biennial Seafood Directions Conference.

Sweetlips, which has regular Friday night queues outside its outlets in Leederville, Fremantle and now Scarborough, was recognised by the industry for its focus on fresh, locally harvested seafood, prepared from whole fish in store.

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And Michael Waldock, who opened the Leederville store in 1995, was thrilled at beating runners up - the Port Cartwright Seafood Market in Queensland and the Barra Bar Seafood Café in Darwin.

“It is the first time we have entered the awards,” he said.

“It validates our commitment to selling fresh seafood, 90 per cent of which comes from WA.”

Mr Waldock attributes the popularity of the three stores to fresh fish, cold batter and using a beef tallow blend of fat for the frying.

“The batter must be cold so when it goes into the fryer it bubbles up and you get that crisp coating,” he said.

“And beef tallow has that old fashioned flavour. There has been a lot of conjecture about animal fats versus vegetable oil, but these days animal fat has a better image than it used to.”

The stores sell only one imported fish - hake from South Africa. And though the more exotic items such as crab cakes were popular, it was the traditional fish and chips that people queued up for, particularly on Friday and Sunday nights.

“We do cone bay barramundi, pink snapper and shark - all popular,” Mr Waldock said.