London Fish and Chips
Aug 8th, 2004, 03:00 PM
#2
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I was about to ask the same question - but knew someone would yell at me and tell me to do a search ... SO I DID! (and this question wasn't even answered!) 
I am also looking for good Fish & Chips. I am tired of hearing "the best fish & chips are in the suburbs." Ok, I believe it - now tell me WHICH place and WHAT suburb. (Trying to find that information is like trying to pull teeth!) I have been on Google for over an hour!
I will have a tube pass, so travel is not a problem. I just want a great neighborhood Chippy.
I am also looking for good Fish & Chips. I am tired of hearing "the best fish & chips are in the suburbs." Ok, I believe it - now tell me WHICH place and WHAT suburb. (Trying to find that information is like trying to pull teeth!) I have been on Google for over an hour!
I will have a tube pass, so travel is not a problem. I just want a great neighborhood Chippy.
Aug 8th, 2004, 03:07 PM
#4
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West Hampstead, NW6 - Nautilus, good selection of fresh fish and chips. Golders Green High St. - Sam's - traditional fish and chips.
You say "where the locals would go", it's a working class thing, people who live in the centre of London rarely have fish and chips in its orginal incarnation. A grilled Dover Sole is much more flavoursome and delicate than a piece of fried fish.
You say "where the locals would go", it's a working class thing, people who live in the centre of London rarely have fish and chips in its orginal incarnation. A grilled Dover Sole is much more flavoursome and delicate than a piece of fried fish.
Aug 8th, 2004, 03:14 PM
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I never made it there myself, but Time Out recommends a place called Rock & Sole Plaice in Covent Garden. I had it on my list but never got there. I understand that it is best to avoid it on Sunday and Monday though. Perhaps you can find some reviews if you google the name. Good luck!
Aug 8th, 2004, 04:03 PM
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My husband and I were in London for a week in May/04. On the recommendation of a friend (who recently spent a few years living in London), we dined at the fish and chip restaurant called Seafresh (80-81 Wilton Road - not far from Victoria Station). We very much enjoyed our meal - the fish and chips were delicious and the portion-size was generous. Seafresh isn't fancy - it just seems like a neighbourhood place. It has a take-away shop with a restaurant attached (via separate entrance). The restaurant has a pleasant and casual atmosphere. I would happily return for a meal in future.
Aug 8th, 2004, 04:22 PM
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By all means, try the North Sea Fish Restaurant in Bloomsbury - delicious fresh fish, and very reasonable. It's on Leigh Street, which isn't too far a walk from the Russell Sq. Tube stop. It's definitely a place where the locals go.
Aug 8th, 2004, 04:36 PM
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I didn't mention this before because I couldn't recall the name, but we found a pub in Marylebone which served good fish & chips (on a Saturday, which can be difficult to find), was full of locals (we were definitely the only non), and is a small, traditional pub. A true "local". It is called the King's Head and is on Westmoreland street, W1. It was nothing extraordinary, but very good and inexpensive. My only advice might be if you do go, to consider sharing because the portion was enormous!
Aug 8th, 2004, 07:14 PM
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Thanks for the quick replies - I feel bad for djmaxxx because this has been an unanswered thread since May!
Anyway, I know that people in the center of London don't generally eat Fish & Chips. That is why I was asking for places in the suburbs. At home I am a true gourmet and would love a nice grilled Dover Sole,Tuna or Salmon etc. - but NOT when I am in London. MKingdom2, I want that piece of fried fish! (I certainly don't mind mixing with the "working class!"
I have been to Rock and Sole Plaice in 1997. I remember it being very good - and it does get a lot of good recommendations (even by the locals) ...
But what I am really looking for are those places that are out of the tourist zone. Like one of the the B&Bs I will be staying at (zone 5) says this on their website "...our local award winning Fish and Chip Restaurant 'The Golden Kitchen'" -I tried Googling it, but I didn't get anything ... those are the places I am looking for - places most "tourists" never heard of. With all the people on here traveling to London, I thought there would be quite a few little gems that were discovered and that can be recommended.
Has anyone been to Dionysos? That is a place that came up on "Virtual Tourist"
I guess I can always try "chowhound.com"
But I hope some more people will answer this thread!
Anyway, I know that people in the center of London don't generally eat Fish & Chips. That is why I was asking for places in the suburbs. At home I am a true gourmet and would love a nice grilled Dover Sole,Tuna or Salmon etc. - but NOT when I am in London. MKingdom2, I want that piece of fried fish! (I certainly don't mind mixing with the "working class!"
I have been to Rock and Sole Plaice in 1997. I remember it being very good - and it does get a lot of good recommendations (even by the locals) ...
But what I am really looking for are those places that are out of the tourist zone. Like one of the the B&Bs I will be staying at (zone 5) says this on their website "...our local award winning Fish and Chip Restaurant 'The Golden Kitchen'" -I tried Googling it, but I didn't get anything ... those are the places I am looking for - places most "tourists" never heard of. With all the people on here traveling to London, I thought there would be quite a few little gems that were discovered and that can be recommended.
Has anyone been to Dionysos? That is a place that came up on "Virtual Tourist"
I guess I can always try "chowhound.com"
But I hope some more people will answer this thread!
Aug 8th, 2004, 10:06 PM
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Fish & chips in a restaurant?? "Where the locals go" to eat them?? The two concepts are mutually exclusive!
There's only 1 way to eat fish & chips, and there's only 1 way that 'real' local people eat them. The traditional way. Wrapped in newspaper, 'on the go' (out in the street or at a park bench or...). Not pristine white lunch-wrap paper, mind, but newspaper!
There's a pub called The Dickens in Paddington that advertises "Best Fish & Chips in London", and down the road opposite Norfolk Square there's a Greek chippie who wraps them salted and vinegar-doused (if that's what you want) in newspaper to take away. Guess which ones are best?
There's only 1 way to eat fish & chips, and there's only 1 way that 'real' local people eat them. The traditional way. Wrapped in newspaper, 'on the go' (out in the street or at a park bench or...). Not pristine white lunch-wrap paper, mind, but newspaper!
There's a pub called The Dickens in Paddington that advertises "Best Fish & Chips in London", and down the road opposite Norfolk Square there's a Greek chippie who wraps them salted and vinegar-doused (if that's what you want) in newspaper to take away. Guess which ones are best?
Aug 8th, 2004, 10:48 PM
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Well, up to a point twoflower.
The Health+Safety mafia have killed the use of newspaper. And even that Greek shop uses white, food-certified, paper. Or at least it does whenever I grab a quick (and to be honest, usually mediocre) bit of cod from them.
"Locals" in London virtually never sit down and eat fish+chips in a restaurant. Geale's and the Seashell have a local, nostalgie de la boue, following and I'm quite partial to the Fryer's Delight on Theobalds Road. But mostly, we eat them wrapped and only tourists sit down for them.
One exception though. A wonderful couple used to run the Upper Street Fish Shop in Islington, which really was the bistro du quartier (we all ate there, while New Labour apparatchiks ate at the posh restaurants in the few weeks they lived here before getting some big Government gaff, and the incoming yoof on their weekend prowl ate at the street's horrid wall-to-wall chain places). Precisely the place dimaxx is looking for
Sadly now closed. But they've re-opened down the road at the Fish Shop on St John Street (360 St John St, EC1). I've not got round to trying it, and it's a bit too far from real Islington for any other Canonburyites to shlep down to it. But on paper, it sounds close to what dmaxx is chasing, if a bit Nouvelle.
Truth is, though, dmaxx really is chasing a chimera. When we want comfort food locally, we go to the local Chinese or Indian. There simply isn't a spectacular chippy in Neasden or somewhere we all know about and keep secret.
In fact the nearest such places are the Harry Ramsden's in Northern England (and not the manky Lite versions of them in motorway service stations). Or the Watson's Bay branch of Doyle's, in Sydney. Though most Sydneysiders these days seem to tell you that's gone down too.
The Health+Safety mafia have killed the use of newspaper. And even that Greek shop uses white, food-certified, paper. Or at least it does whenever I grab a quick (and to be honest, usually mediocre) bit of cod from them.
"Locals" in London virtually never sit down and eat fish+chips in a restaurant. Geale's and the Seashell have a local, nostalgie de la boue, following and I'm quite partial to the Fryer's Delight on Theobalds Road. But mostly, we eat them wrapped and only tourists sit down for them.
One exception though. A wonderful couple used to run the Upper Street Fish Shop in Islington, which really was the bistro du quartier (we all ate there, while New Labour apparatchiks ate at the posh restaurants in the few weeks they lived here before getting some big Government gaff, and the incoming yoof on their weekend prowl ate at the street's horrid wall-to-wall chain places). Precisely the place dimaxx is looking for
Sadly now closed. But they've re-opened down the road at the Fish Shop on St John Street (360 St John St, EC1). I've not got round to trying it, and it's a bit too far from real Islington for any other Canonburyites to shlep down to it. But on paper, it sounds close to what dmaxx is chasing, if a bit Nouvelle.
Truth is, though, dmaxx really is chasing a chimera. When we want comfort food locally, we go to the local Chinese or Indian. There simply isn't a spectacular chippy in Neasden or somewhere we all know about and keep secret.
In fact the nearest such places are the Harry Ramsden's in Northern England (and not the manky Lite versions of them in motorway service stations). Or the Watson's Bay branch of Doyle's, in Sydney. Though most Sydneysiders these days seem to tell you that's gone down too.
Aug 8th, 2004, 11:23 PM
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twoflower is correct in that the real fish and chips meal is eaten as described. but the newspaper bit is fantasy as this is long a thing of the past.
flanner mentions harry ramsdens and cautions about the manky versions on the motorway. i also want to add a caution that there is one in central london which should also be avoided as it will not be what you are looking for.
flanner mentions harry ramsdens and cautions about the manky versions on the motorway. i also want to add a caution that there is one in central london which should also be avoided as it will not be what you are looking for.
Aug 9th, 2004, 12:01 AM
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To elaborate, for FromAtlanta's sake, on the sociology and technology of fish+chips.
Decent fish+chips needs specialist, smoke-generating equipment and rapid turnover. In central London, there are a fair number of places that have this equipment, and enough birds of passage to make it worth while installing tables and chairs. Those birds of passage (not just, as I unfairly implied above, tourists, but people working locally, shoppers, students and the like) are there for such a short period of time the unpleasant atmosphere the equipment produces doesn't worry them.
All the places mentioned favourably above are OK (though NEVER trust anything at a place with a hokey name like The Dickens Inn)
In the gentrified, densely-populated fringes - like Notting Hill - one or two people (like the Sea Shell) have invested in fish+chip equipment AND the necessary infrastructure to make sit-down eating tolerable.
But as a general rule, no such places exist in the suburbs (though thanks, MK2 for the two NW London exceptions). Using the tables provided is an unpleasant, smoky, experience, and the few fellow-diners really aren't among life's winners. Worst of all, the turnover is often so slow, you'll be eating fish that has sat in the hotbox for an hour: perfectly safe, but now overcooked to pointlessness and tasty only if doused in vinegar and left for a while
The broad mass of the population (and not just the working class which, certainly as Marx would have understood it, is virtually extinct in deindustrialised London) mostly sit down and eat at an ethnic if they want to eat out and not be fancy (or at a greasy spoon for breakfast or lunch).
On special occasions (house moves for example, or a decent football match on the box), one member will be sent out for, as it might be, a dozen haddock+chips - or in these, me-generation days, a dozen permutations on the limited menu that will confuse the shop, infuriate the other customers kept waiting while they're assembled, and be forgotten when they get home anyway.
Those orders, having been marinated in vinegar on the journey home, are then eaten on your lap, using your fingers. Because this is usually at least 30 mins after cooking, the vinegar is essential to add some piquancy to what by now is tending to taste like cardboard.
Net of all this: Golders Green apart (and some public-spirited person may well have a similar nomination in Greenwich, Richmond or a similar urbanised suburb), good sit-down fish +chips are available only more or less inside the Circle Line
Decent fish+chips needs specialist, smoke-generating equipment and rapid turnover. In central London, there are a fair number of places that have this equipment, and enough birds of passage to make it worth while installing tables and chairs. Those birds of passage (not just, as I unfairly implied above, tourists, but people working locally, shoppers, students and the like) are there for such a short period of time the unpleasant atmosphere the equipment produces doesn't worry them.
All the places mentioned favourably above are OK (though NEVER trust anything at a place with a hokey name like The Dickens Inn)
In the gentrified, densely-populated fringes - like Notting Hill - one or two people (like the Sea Shell) have invested in fish+chip equipment AND the necessary infrastructure to make sit-down eating tolerable.
But as a general rule, no such places exist in the suburbs (though thanks, MK2 for the two NW London exceptions). Using the tables provided is an unpleasant, smoky, experience, and the few fellow-diners really aren't among life's winners. Worst of all, the turnover is often so slow, you'll be eating fish that has sat in the hotbox for an hour: perfectly safe, but now overcooked to pointlessness and tasty only if doused in vinegar and left for a while
The broad mass of the population (and not just the working class which, certainly as Marx would have understood it, is virtually extinct in deindustrialised London) mostly sit down and eat at an ethnic if they want to eat out and not be fancy (or at a greasy spoon for breakfast or lunch).
On special occasions (house moves for example, or a decent football match on the box), one member will be sent out for, as it might be, a dozen haddock+chips - or in these, me-generation days, a dozen permutations on the limited menu that will confuse the shop, infuriate the other customers kept waiting while they're assembled, and be forgotten when they get home anyway.
Those orders, having been marinated in vinegar on the journey home, are then eaten on your lap, using your fingers. Because this is usually at least 30 mins after cooking, the vinegar is essential to add some piquancy to what by now is tending to taste like cardboard.
Net of all this: Golders Green apart (and some public-spirited person may well have a similar nomination in Greenwich, Richmond or a similar urbanised suburb), good sit-down fish +chips are available only more or less inside the Circle Line
Aug 9th, 2004, 12:16 AM
#17
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It's never been the same since they stopped wrapping it in old newspapers, especially the News of the World. I never did find out what happened when the vicar suggested to our reporter (contd. p12)
Aug 9th, 2004, 02:22 AM
#18
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Another vote for the Seashell in Marylebone. I couldn't initially remember the name, & on googling on 'fish Lissom Grove' I came across the following instructions for a real ale pub crawl of Marylebone, which might also be of interest - http://www.edmund1.demon.co.uk/maryedgw.html
