Camms Road Fish and Chips in Cranbourne has been awarded Victoria’s favourite potato cake.
Premier Jacinta Allan announced the news about two weeks ago.
For owner Phillip Lim, everything he does comes back to one thing: community.
Step inside his little shop and it’s clear why. Every wall is a community story. One side is covered in certificates and appreciation plaques from local schools, clubs and small businesses, a “Wall of Fame” built over three years.
Another wall is dotted with coupons for nearby sporting clubs, handwritten notes, and drawings given to him as a gift by children in the community.
One customer once left him a receipt that read “read the back.” On the back, in simple handwriting: “Best Potato Cake.”
“My aim here is to make this building a memorable experience for customers of any age,” Phillip said.
“You can come back here from years from now and reminisce about your past and your achievement.”
The shop’s award-winning moment reflected this connection.
Phillip heard the win from locals bursting through the door, yelling, “Number one! Number one!”
“Customers came in, and they even joked around, saying, Hey! Look at the result! It is tough being number one in Victoria! It was a good feeling. They’re celebrating with me,” he recalled the days when the news broke.
“They’re sharing their love. They’re appreciating what I do.
“I have a few people who come there, doing a one-hour drive, a two-hour drive, just to congratulate me. It’s a real honour.”
Phillip took over the shop about three years ago, competing with quite a few long-established stores across Cranbourne.
To stand out, he decided to be “bold and different,” introducing worldwide drinks, sweets, a secret menu, and what has now become his trademark —more than 30 flavours of potato cakes, many inspired directly by customers.
“I’ve given the customers power to come tell me the flavours they want to buy, and I do it in the back, and then I test trial it, and then I get feedback, and if it’s a sellable item, it’s on the menu,” Phillip said.
“It only started off with five, then I did another five, so I made 10. And then from there, the next 10 to 15 are all from the customers.”
While flavour experimentation draws crowds, locals also told Phillip many times that the atmosphere had been what kept them coming back.
“A lot of people and customers have been giving me feedback where the service given in the 80s and 90s was very different to today’s modern times. Living in a fast-paced generation now, where they just want to go in and out, the bond and connection and relationship with our businesses and customer service aren’t there anymore,” Phillip said.
“But if you come here, Cranbourne, we do build that bond and relationship with banter. We joke. We actually talk to customers, and we get to know them as well.
“But on top of that, we draw on people’s menus and packages. I draw a bear. I draw a rabbit, and I draw a fisherman who fishes for fish, and the fish is saying, Wow, what a catch!
“When I took over here, I just wanted to give customers a different experience and the love and joy,” Phillip said.
Beyond his own shop, Phillip supports nearby businesses during stock shortages, and they return the favour.
“A community is about a whole bunch of people coming together as one with the same outcome, trying to look out for each other,” he said.
As for friends who joked the win was “expected because you’re crazy,” Phillip just laughed.
“I always thought that I was a normal person, living a normal life, but we’re all different in our own way, unique way, but you just got to embrace and love everything you see,” he said.
His plan from here?
“Keep smiling, stay positive, be humble… and keep making more potato cakes,” Phillip said.
