Busy Bee Fish Bar in Bundaberg, Queensland | Fish & chip restaurant

Busy Bee Fish Bar

Locality: Bundaberg, Queensland

Phone: +61 7 4151 4185

Address: 39 Targo Street 4670 Bundaberg, QLD, Australia

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• Restaurant
• Fish & chip restaurant
• Seafood restaurant

25.01.2022 Good morning Busy Bee Fish Bar customers, today is Monday September 28th so it's our day off today but we will open from tomorrow Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm. In previous posts I have been discussing how many restaurants are so lazy they prefer to buy snap frozen chips from a major manufacturer rather than make them the real way which is to use real fresh local potatoes. Here's why although it's tough work it's worth the effort because chips made fresh is best. 1: Buy as ma...ny large sacks of potatoes as your shop can hold and pack them into smaller more managable bags. 2: wash the potatoes to get all the dirt off it. 3: by hand using a knife you must cut off all of the inedible parts off the potato. 4: Whole clean potatoes must be sliced into the size of chips. 5: Our special secret batter recipe must be carefully made to ensure quality. 6: Mix the freshly cut chips with the secret batter. 7: Turn on the deep fryer to the right temperature and put the raw battered chips and cook with care. 8: Once the chips are cooked they must be allowed to cool down to room temperature. 9: Strict food hygiene standards and regulations set by the government must be followed. 10: Battered chips are packed and stored in the cool room. 11: The customer comes into Busy Bee Fish Bar and orders some chips and we do our best to make sure each serving of battered chips are cooked perfectly. There's no where in Bundaberg where the owners are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to give you the best battered chips in the world. Wash the fresh potatoes

23.01.2022 Looking forward to the weekend? We are as we're open from 11am to 8pm Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th. By the way, are you a potato farmer. As we have said many times the Busy Bee Fish Bar always tries to source our potatoes from local farmers as much as possible and if you want to be a supplier please contact us. Bundaberg has some of the best produce in Australia so naturally we want to support them.

22.01.2022 Today is Monday the 7th of September so we are closed for today but we will open again this week from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm. I hope you are enjoying reading these posts because I have another for you. I drove past a fast food joint that had a sign saying: "Traditional Fish And Chips". Is that false advertising? Because this is what traditional fish and chips should mean. Back when I was a boy in Bundaberg way before the invasion of American franchises and frozen food.... Every single Fish & Chip shop in Australia sold chips that were made from fresh Australian potatoes. In most cases the potatoes were locally grown. No Fish & Chip shop could get away with selling frozen chips. That was a sin. Now these days because buying fresh potatoes; cleaning them yourself; cutting them yourself; and then cooking them properly whereby you cook the chips once at a low temperature. Leave them to rest and then cooking them a second time so they come out of the fryer crispy. Most places are just too lazy to do it the traditional way. It's easier to buy snap frozen chips; stick them in the freezer and cook them as they are needed. That's not traditional. Here at the Busy Bee Fish Bar our chips are cooked from fresh potatoes (Australian or locally grown) here at the Busy Bee Fish Bar using the Belgium method of cooking chips.

22.01.2022 Today is August the 26th Wednesday and here's another post about the Busy Bee Fish Bar's past. Decades ago when Bundaberg was covered in sugar cane fields; there were almost 6 sugar mills in full production; Bundaberg was one of the most industrialised cities in Australia (TOFT produced cane harvestors; Masi Freguson produced farm tractors; Bonnel Brothers produced farm equipment); there were many transportation companies in operation freighting our sugar products. Bundaberg closed off Bourbong St and had a parade called "Bundaberg Harvest Spring Festival". Those days are in the past including a popular swimming event. Doughlas Lung the founder of Busy Bee Fish Bar sponspored a swimming carnival. The winner received prize money and the 'Busy Bee Fish Bar trophy'. But that's in the past.

21.01.2022 Today is Sunday September 6th and yes we're definitely open from 11am to 8pm because today is Father's Day. Happy father's day to all the dads out there from the Busy Bee Fish Bar. If you want to treat dad to something special then come over to 39 Targo St in the Bundaberg CBD because all our delicious food such as battered fish and chips and spring rolls, fish cakes, meat pastries etc. Yes treat dad today we'll be waiting to take your order.

21.01.2022 Today is September the 8th Tuesday and we are open for business from 11am to 8pm. Many customers who come into Busy Bee who aren't regular customers often ask for chicken salt. I always reply: "I'm sorry but we don't have chicken salt. Is ordinary salt ok?" Most people are understanding and don't mind but there are others who just can't eat their chips without chicken salt. The next set of posts I want to explain why we don't have chicken salt. Busy Bee Fish Bar makes chips t...he traditional way i.e. we make our own chips from fresh Australian potatoes here in the kitchen of the Busy Bee Fish Bar. If you have tried chips made from fresh potatoes and those chips made from snap frozen processed stuff. Often from a foreign country and the snap frozen chips have been sitting inside a freezer for who knows how long. (days? weeks? months? years?) They have been manufactured inside a factory and shipped to you from who knows where. You will find chips mace from fresh Australian potatoes taste so much better. Most restaurants and Fish N Chip shops are lazy and buy snap frozen chips. Because they don't taste as good as fresh chips chicken salt was invented for that reason. Busy Bee battered chips made from fresh Australian potatoes and our secret battered chip recipe taste good on their own. No need for chicken salt.

20.01.2022 Today is September the 22nd Tuesday and we are open from 11am to 8pm everyday this week as usual. So anyhow let's continue our talk about why Busy Bee Fish Bar doesn't serve chicken salt with their food. Many times when new customers come into our shop and are surprised we made our own chips from fresh Australian potatoes. That our chips are battered. The fish n chip shop is one of the oldest running fish n chip shops in Australia (82 yrs). The big thing they are surprised a...bout is how cheap our food is yet it's still so good. We are able to keep our prices low because we don't make you pay for something expensive that you don't want or need e.g. using traditional unbleached butcher's paper instead of expensive printed packaging. When you buy something and they give you sauce with it. The truth is nothing is for free. You are actually paying for it. That's why at Busy Bee Fish Bar if you want sauce we sell it separately. A kg of chicken salt is more expensive than a kg of plain table salt. So by not having chicken salt you as the customer pay less for the food you buy from Busy Bee Fish Bar. Saving you money. That's why our food is good yet still cheap.

19.01.2022 Today is Sunday the 15th of November and we are open as usual from 11am to 8pm Tuesday to Sunday with Mondays off. At Busy Bee Fish Bar we are happy to say that all our equipment used to produce our famous battered chips from fresh Aussie potatoes with our secret batter recipe is up and operational. Sorry to all those who had to eat snap frozen chips because my mother and I could only peel and cut so many potatoes by hand. We support local Bundaberg businesses and if it wasn'...t for the help of local Bundaberg businesses we wouldn't be here.During hard economic times we must continue to support them. Thanks to Ace Grinding & Saw Service. The cutting blades for the potato chipper machine had 2 broken blades and Ace Grinder replaced them and sharpened them. You will notice when you eat Busy Bee chips that the battered chips are uniform in shape and size now that all 5 blades are perfect. Unlike before when some were big and some small. https://www.facebook.com/sawdoc1/ A big thank you to HQ Electrical. They specialise in electric motors and other electrical services. Our 52 yr old potato chipper had a blown out motor. HQ Electrical had to rewire and reconstruct the whole motor. They completed the job asap and that's why we don't need a cutting board and knife anymore. Great people at HQ Electrical. https://hqelectrical.com/ Thank you also to MVO Catering Solutions in Bundaberg who over the years have supplied us with potato peeling machines and our gas fryers. https://mvocateringsolutions.com.au/ Also thank you to Elverys Electrical. Whenever you run a catering business and your equipment breaks down we have called them to the recuse https://elveryselectrical.com/ I must thank the public servants of the Bundaberg City Council. They do a great job in serving the community. One great Australian who lives and was born in Bundaberg "Johnathan Raines" in particular. A great friend of the Busy Bee Fish Bar was essential in getting us back into full production. Mostly, thank you to our loyal Busy Bee customers that enable us to keep our doors open. Again in the future if you walk into Busy Bee Fish Bar and all we have is frozen chips. We do our best to produce as many battered fresh chips as possible. But sometimes there's so much unpredictable demand for our Busy Bee battered chips that when we run out we resort to frozen.

19.01.2022 Today is September 11th Friday and we are open from 11am to 8pm. I will continue on with the reason why at Busy Bee Fish Bar we don't use chicken salt. Do you know the reason why when you walk into a restaurant and you are given a jug of water to drink that it has slices of lemon in it. Well the citric acid from the lemon kills germs and gives it flavour but there's a major reason. Because the water has come out of the tap. The lemon helps to neutralise the taste of chlorine. Snap frozen chips stored in the freezer for a long period of time doesn't taste that good. Question: "do you eat your snap frozen processed chips with chicken salt or eat your chicken salt with snap frozen factory made chips?

16.01.2022 Today is August 25th Tuesday and we are open from 11am to 8pm. Long before Bundaberg had Sugarland and Hinkler PLace shopping centre the Bundaberg CBD was where everything took place. In the beginning Busy Fish Fish Bar was a dine in restaurant. Yes that's right. Customers would come in for their meals and sit down on chairs at dinner tables in the shop next door. But because there was so much demand for vacant shops in the CBD the then landlord rented it out to others. Since then Busy Bee Fish Bar has remained a take out cafe only.

15.01.2022 Today is October 31st, Saturday and we are open today and tomorrow Sunday from 11am to 8pm. It's the end of another month and tomorrow is the beginning of a new month. Today is halloween. Happy halloween everybody. Normally I am in the Gold Coast attending all those fun halloween festivals, parades, parties and all sorts of fun stuff while getting dressed in costume. But not this year due to Covid 19 cancelling all the fun stuff and social distancing laws in place. Anyhow in the spirit of halloween we'll be giving out lollies to the children and anyone who comes into Busy Bee Fish Bar dressed in costume.

15.01.2022 Today is Monday August the 24th and we are closed today but will open again from tomorrow Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm. Just a trip down memory lane about the Busy Bee Fish Bar in its early years. Did you know that when Busy Bee Fish Bar was started by Douglas Lung he opened the first Busy Bee Fish Bar in Monto but relocated to Bundaberg where the Sugar Cane industry was in its peak so there were more business opportunities there.

15.01.2022 Today is Monday the 26th of October so we are closed but will open from Tuesday to Sunday as usual. I hope all of you on facebook are enjoying reading these posts because I am enjoying writing them. Today I want to talk about how the Busy Bee Fish Bar manages to survive through one challenge after another. One of the biggest challenges to Busy Bee Fish Bar was when at one time we were the only fast food restaurant in our area and then all of a sudden large American franchise ...companies moved into the area with their massive marketing campaigns and big bright lights and fancy restaurant designs and cheap meal deals. Yes at first Busy Bee Fish Bar was hit hard by people rushing to sit in a nice air conditioned restaurant with comfortable seats and tables and nice decor. In addition, people wanted to try something different rather than traditional fish and chips. While many individual family run restaurants and cafes went out of business because the big food giants came to town. Bundaberg Busy Bee Fish Bar has survived to this day. There are many reasons why: # Our famous battered chips made from fresh local or Aussie potatoes using our secret family batter recipe. # The fact 50% of all our food is home made on the premises. # Although its faster to receive your order faster if its been cooked awhile ago and then left inside a food warmer. Busy Bee Fish Bar continues to cook your food fresh after your order is made so although you have to wait awhile its worth the wait. # It's a family run business so while other restaurants have to hire workers and pay them penalty rates and other benefits the Wong family continue to work hard and don't pay ourselves these salary extras to provide you with the best Fish N Chips food in Bundaberg. # However, the reasons we stay open is because of you. The loyal customer who continues to come and buy our products because our food is so good that we remain open to this day. It's you the customer that has enabled us to keep our doors open through intense fast food competition; economic hardships; flood & droughts; and now Covid 19. Thank you so much for your support.

15.01.2022 Today is the 3rd of September Thursday and we are open for business from 11am to 8pm. One of the things about running a Fish N Chip shop is that we do run out of our popular battered chips as we did on Tuesday night. For that reason we do keep frozen chips in store as back up. We do our best to make sure we always have a good supply of Busy Bee battered chips but everything is so unpredictable. In addition, due to covid 19 and the border restrictions we are finding it hard to get a regular supply of some items from our supplier. For example, we are almost out of Bacon & Cheese Sausages. But please keep supporting our local family run business. This is a good problem to have ie running out of freshly cooked battered chips because they taste so good and are so popular.

14.01.2022 Dear Busy Bee customers, not all goes according to plan when you are making fresh battered chips from fresh Australian potatoes. In an average week we use between 120 to 150 kg of fresh Australian potatoes to make our famous battered chips from scratch. Every business day that we open is unpredictable. There are times when all of our battered chips are sold out and so we are forced to sell frozen chips we have in storage. Other problems occur e.g. our potato peeling machine b...roke down and it took a week to have a brand new potato peeling machine delivered. In addition, the Wong family have operated the Busy Bee Fish Bar for almost 52 years. Our industrial deep fryer broke down and so we had to cook chips in small batches using our front fryer until a new industrial fryer could arrive. Unfortunately the engine of our potato chipping machine is currently at the electrician being repaired. So recently my mother and I have been making battered chips the really old fashioned way. Using a potato peeler and peeling potatoes one by one by hand. Then getting a knife and cutting board and slicing the potatoes into chips by hand. Believe me there's only so many chips we can produce until all our machines are back in action. So if we are serving snap frozen chips it's because we have ran out of freshly made battered chips. Recently, I purchased a $5 kitchen appliance that turns small potatoes into small chips within 5 seconds. So if you find some of our battered chips short and narrow its because we used the $5 potato chipper. We are doing our best to get our potato chipping machine up and running asap. We thank you for your patience.

12.01.2022 Today is Monday November 2nd so we are closed to rest from a busy week but we are open again from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm. Cooking fresh battered chips from local fresh potatoes is hard work but we do it because it's the best but it's not an easy process. on Saturday our potato cleaning machine broke down on us. Our potato peeling machine can clean 6.5 kg of potatoes in 3 minutes but because our machine broke down it took 3 workers using knives and potato peelers by han...d almost 2 hours to clean 12 buckets of potatoes. Today although it was supposed to be my day off I spent most of the morning searching the Internet and calling various commercial equipment companies trying to find a new potato peeling machine. One company I called said: "These days most places buy frozen cips so the demand for potato peeling machines has dropped. We just don't stock potato peeling machines any more. We have to order from Victoria and with the closure of borders due to Covid 19 it's going to take a lot longer than usual. On my 3rd attempt i found a place in Brisbane that had a potato peeling machine in stock at their Brisbane warehouse but would only freight the product to us upon payment. So the rest of the day involved trips to the bank. At Busy Bee Fish Bar we insist that freshly cooked chips from fresh Australian potatoes are still the best and so do our customers. So we will continue doing that no matter what. If ever you buy chips from Busy Bee Fish Bar it's because either we run out of fresh battered chips because we're sold out e.g. one customer over the phone ordered $100 of freshly cooked Busy Bee battered chips. We have many Bundaberg born Australians who buy as much as $50 of cold chips, put it in a cooler and take it home to stick in the fridge to eat at a latter date. In addition, our Fish N Chip shop has been around for 82 yrs and operates 6 days a week so sometimes our machinery does break down. Only at these times are we forced to do the unthinkable. Sell snap frozen dated chips. Please keep supporting Fish N Chip shops that sell freshly made chips from fresh potatoes. Thank you.

11.01.2022 Today is Monday the 14th so we are closed after working hard 6 days of the week. But we will open from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm. The last number of posts I have been supporting the reasons why we don't use chicken salt on our famous battered chips and here's another reason. At Busy Bee Fish Bar 50% of all the food we make is home made and prepared on the Busy Bee Fish Bar premises. Our home made food has no artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives or nasty c...hemicals at all. Chicken salt? What's in chicken salt besides salt. Well there's definitely no chicken in chicken salt. It's yellow to look nice, it has msg to make it taste better. It's out of a lab not a kitchen. Busy Bee food is all natural no chemicals.

11.01.2022 Good morning it's September 10th Thursday and we are open from 11am to 8pm. Today is "R U OK?". As you know covid 19 has caused many social, health and economic problems in Bundaberg, Qld, Australia and around the world. The Busy Bee Fish Bar has also had its fair share of trials during this time. Just like all businesses around Bundaberg there are fewer people out and about buying food from restaurants. That's why we thank our customers for their continued support. "R U OK?"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qk0lXTfi4 See more

10.01.2022 Today is August 17th Monday so we are closed but will open from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm. The weather is warming up but it doesn't matter because it doesn't matter the season or weather its always great to have Busy Bee.

10.01.2022 Today is Friday the 14 of August and we are open for business from 11am to 8pm. A number of times our regular customers come in for their meals and know the owners Kent and Lin Wong by name. If one of them is not serving at the front counter they ask: "Where's Lin?" "Where's Kent". If we are not at the front counter serving it's most likely one of them is at the back of the shop doing something like mixing the secret battered chip recipe. Or making the filling for the delicious spring rolls. In addition, we always make sure the shop is clean and hygienic and tidy. There's always something to do behind the scenes. The 5 minutes it takes to cook your meal it probably takes 5 hours of preparation and cleaning to give you the best we have to offer.

10.01.2022 Today is September 1st Tuesday the first day of Spring. Winter is finally over. We are open for the first day of spring from 11am to 8pm. May I suggest coming in to Busy Bee Fish Bar for our famous spring rolls. Many years ago when Busy Bee Fish Bar started off we sold mostly Western type food. Then we tried adding food items in order to increase food sales. Two Chinese food items spring rolls and dim sims were added. 82 years ago when Busy Bee Fish Bar opened its doors Bun...daberg was predominately of white European decent and Chinese food wasn't as popular as it is today. It was a huge risk but over time as Australian attitudes to Chinese migrants and the desire to try food items that were different to Western style food paid off. Now our home made small and large spring rolls as well as our homemade small dim sims and the tasty prawn crackers are a hit. See more

08.01.2022 Today is the last day of September. Wednesday the 30th. We're open from 11am to 8pm. An icon of the Busy Bee Fish Bar the coin golf game is back and operational. For 45 years the coin golf game has entertained customer after customer. While waiting for your fish and chips customers have amused themselves playing the coin golf game. At first the coin golf game was designed for 2 cent coins. Due to inflation and the rising price of copper the 2 cent coins were taken out of circ...ulation. So customers started using 10 cent coins. After continual use of coins made of metal the plastic of the coin golf game wore away. So with all the wear and tear coins got stuck so the coin golf game stopped being used while it was under repair. After alot of glue, wire and sticky tape the coin golf game has been repaired and now you can start playing it. Just beware that: 1: it only takes 5cent coins 2: coins do get stuck on the 1st hole so only use the red & blue stick provided that's hanging on the upper left corner to release the stuck coin. 3: hitting handles 1 and 3 don't bounce back so use the sticky tape attached to the hitting handles to pull it back into position. Most important is don't hit the coin golf game or stick metal objects down it when it's stuck. Treat with care because it's a 45 year old piece of Busy Bee Fish Bar history. Have fun playing the Busy Bee Fish Bar Coin Golf Game. Save all your 5 cent coins for fun and amusement.

05.01.2022 Today is Monday August the 31st our holiday so we are closed but will be open tomorrow from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm as usual. If you want to get your order more quickly a number of customers do the following: # have already decided what they want to order by checking out our menu on facebook. # upon entering the Busy Bee Fish Bar they have their order written on a piece of paper in plain large print and hand us the paper. # they phone us on 41514185 to put their order i...n and ask us if we are busy or not busy and decide when they will come to pick up their order. # In fact, you are welcome to phone in your order the day before or phone in your order in the morning to pick up at a latter time. # there is a one dedicated customer who during his lunch break as he walks from work to the Busy Bee Fish Bar phones in on his mobile phone and orders his lunch as he's walking so by the time he arrives his food is ready. # the most important thing to get your order asap is please remember we have no eftpos we only accept cash. Kent and Lin Wong the owners don't have internet or a mobile phone to have eftpos installed. Sorry for the inconvenience. See more

05.01.2022 Today is Monday the 10th of August and we are taking our one day of the week off. There are many customers who are disappointed that if they want Busy Bee on Monday they can't because our shop is closed. Well there's a solution. Many of our devoted customers come into Busy Bee or even ring up and order food cold and wrapped in butcher's paper. Then they take the cold uncooked food home and stick it in the fridge or freezer and take it out to cook when they need to. We are always willing to sell you our famous homemade items to you cold for you to cook at a latter date.

05.01.2022 Today is September 16th Wednesday, it's a sad day because the Busy Bee Fish Bar is saying goodbye to a dear old friend. Our industrial fryer. For almost 60years this industrial fryer has cooked Bundaberg famous Busy Bee battered chips and party fish. A new and better fryer will replace it today. Thank you dear old friend for all those years you have served us. If a museum in Bundaberg or anyone want this classic piece of Bundaberg history to put in public display some where or keep as a souvenir please send us a message.

04.01.2022 Today is Monday the 19th of October so it's our day off but we will be open from Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 8pm as usual. So far our Busy Bee burger made from 2 potato scallops, pineapple, cheese, battered fish and BBQ sauce has had good reviews. One customer who had our Busy Bee burger said that if you eat the Busy Bee burger there's no need to order a side of battered chips or anything else. The Busy Bee burger is a meal in itself and very filling. For only $5 its great. As you all know all businesses in Bundaberg are feeling the pinch of Covid 19 restrictions in that borders are closed as well as travel. If you want a cheap filling meal for yourself or even to share with others and all you have is $5 in your pocket come try the Busy Bee burger.

01.01.2022 Today is September Monday 21st and we are closed but will open tomorrow Tuesday from 11am to 8pm and each day up until and including Sunday as usual. In the last post I announced that we had to retire our 70 year old industrial deep fryer with a new and more modern fryer that heats up faster, uses less power and gas and takes up less space inside the kitchen. We want to utilise more modern, efficient and up to date technology to save time, money, power, resources and produce... better food. If there is anyone or if you have a business that supplies restaurant catering equipment that will enable Busy Bee Fish Bar to operate and produce food more efficiently and conserving energy, money and time please send us a message.

01.01.2022 Today is Saturday the 22nd of August and we are open for the weekend 11am to 8pm. When I was a child growing up in Bundaberg. One of my childhood memory is being able to go to the lollie shop and buying a nice bag of lollies for 20cents. In fact, in those days you could get a nice serving of battered chips for only 20cents. But due to inflation prices of everything from petrol, electricity, gas, labour etc means prices had to change. However, Busy Bee Fish Bar is still a grea...t place to get a meal under $5 e.g. *$2 of battered chips + 4 banana nuggets = $3 *a battered or crumbed fish + $1.80 of battered chips = $5 *hot dog + $1.40 of battered chips = $3 We're cheap yet still so good so for those on a budget come and get a meal under $5