Ye Olde London Fish and Chips (preferably east)

Dunno if this will help but, y'know, it might:
http://www.welovelocal.com/search/?q=fish+and+chips&near=bethnal+green&sort=1#

Fryers Delight, Theobald's Road. Best Fish supper in London. FACT. Nearest Tube's Holborn and Chancery Lane.

Faulkner’s on Kingsland High Street was great. Maybe it still is!

(you can sit and eat them there if it's too far to carry home)

not too bad to carry home no, or eat on the way. or could get a bus! it's weird coming from Ireland where every fast food place is a chip shop, to here where they are few and far between.

Faulkners was my local growing up, it' pretty good. I believe there is one in broadway market but I have no idea of the quality.

There is actually, I walked past it last night on my way to and from London Fields Lido, considered going in but decided it'd undo the swimming work.

I'll second that Fryer's Delight - it's 100m tops from my front door and does do the best trad fish/chips.

My other suggestion re. nearby chippies is to ask a cabbie, or keep a lookout to see where they're all parked up (usually Fryer's Delight and Faulkner's will not let you down for this). It might shake down someplace that's nearer to you. If you want these for normal dinner, The Approach pub does excellent fish/chips and is nearer to your place.

Fryer's Delight thirded - just round the corner from where I used to work, we'd get lunch there every time we worked weekends (which ended up being practically every weekend) and often weekdays as well.

The Approach is good, they do good black pudding. Pellicci chips are pretty great but the banter is an acquired taste, sometimes exactly what you want, sometimes last thing you want.

These above all sound great!

Fryers Delight is overrated.

The Golden Fish Bar on Farringdon Road was once amazing but has really gone downhill over the last couple of years if recent visits are anything to go by. Faulkners is probably my favourite mentioned on this thread, but the bog-standard chippy is sort of a dying breed, isn't it?

The one in Blackheath has installed a salad bar. A salad bar. It is the wrongest thing I have ever seen in all my life.

I don't want bog standard, I want a sort of joyous version of bog standard!

Surely London has some dudes taking PRIDE in their chip shop? This country is in the gutter with its pandering to foods from new member states.

I'll say Fryer's delight again, MDC is just an irrational hater, they fry properly, in dripping.

Yes I meant bog-standard as in none of yer fancy Chinese and kebabs and what have you.

I'm not exactly a Fryers Delight hater, I've been there too often for that, but don't think it's exactly exceptional either.

I guess it is down to the style of F&C that you want, I am very resistant to the idea that the batter should be crispy all over often to the point of drying out the fish.

stiff, dry haddock, no thanks

Generally speaking in my experience seaside fish and chips >>>>> London fish and chips. But yes, the moister the batter the better.

Sarf London: Master's Super Fish on Waterloo Rd is a taxi driver fave. Flying Fish in Camberwell has a varied selection of fish - e.g. Bass and Snapper, as well as the usual. Olley's in Herne Hill gets a good rep.

Surely London has some dudes taking PRIDE in their chip shop? This country is in the gutter with its pandering to foods from new member states.

-- Ronan
Ronan - give up. I swear I haven't found a single fish and chip shop in London that comes anywhere close to what I'd count as decent-yet-average anywhere north of Bedford. The only people who say otherwise are Londoners (hi Matt, Ed, Alba!) or American (Suzy) - and not just on this thread - I have this conversation periodically with my London-born boyfriend who has tried to prove me wrong and failed. Find a good Turkish kebab shop or learn to love fried chicken. I love London, and most things London says it can do it does very well, but fish and chips it fails at really really badly.

Cat amongst pigeons. Retire to safe distance etc. (But it is true!)

I used to frequent a great place on Bromley High Street, near Bow Church DLR that is the only place I've found in London that does decent mushy peas and gravy on chips. This was about 5 years ago mind. Also going back a bit, I used to like the chippy on Bethnal Green Road near Squirries Street, but not the one near the tube station. Which was a shame, as I lived a lot closer to the one by the tube station, but there you are.

xposts - Anna OTM

No I actually agree with Anna here.

-post Hmm never been to that one, will give it a try. Yeah I live v near the tube station, there are the endless chicken shops but it's not the same.

Anna may be right, the sheer lack of Fish and Chip shops and how miserable and barely standing the few you do see are (eg FISH BAR or whatever it's called on BG Road, if a shop could look like it's about to cry then this is it) says a lot.

This could be another thing to add to the "stuff to make sure I do when home in Dublin" list!

along with "have the craic" and go to confession

if a shop could look like it's about to cry then this is it
like this?:
http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/images/venues/images_all/10476184.jpg

(This is the one I'd go to, assuming it hasn't gone downhill in the last 3 years)

While I agree re poor quality of chips in London, gotta say London >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Reading. I tried pretty much every chippy/kebab shop up Oxford Road and they were all TERRIBLE. There was one by Cemetery Junction that was OK but that was probably only because I liked their curry sauce.

i'm american so don't really know, but last summer i went to norfolk and the fried fish up there made london fried fish seem like soggy socks

My ex (a Yorkshireman) was adamant that decent fish and chips only exists north of Derby. Generally this seems pretty convincing, but to illustrate this he took me to a chippy which served me undercooked chips and petrol-tasting fish with the skin and bones still in. And it was pretty much cold after the short walk home. So bad it was almost impossible to swallow.

Meanwhile the otherwise dismal Oxfordshire village I live in, about as far inland as you can get in England, has two fish+chip shops which I've found consistently fairly reasonable (not amazing or anything, I've had much better by the sea, but that wasn't it).

(Interesting that Ireland is full of fish+chip shops as I've not seen many in Belfast. There's a Chinese takeaway in pretty much every row of shops and I can think of a few kebab or pizza places but right now I can't think of a single fish and chip shop. Maybe I just haven't been looking.)

what? to prove there are no good fish and chip shops he took you to a really bad one? well there's a nice knock-down argument.

Oh yeah, that was a bit garbled. To prove we were in the part of the country that had proper chip shops he took me to a really bad one and said it would be a proper fish supper, not like down south, etc etc. Strangely for my turn-everything-into-an-argument personality at the time, I don't think either of us expressed any opinion afterwards.

He lives near London now anyway. I do not plan to ask him for his recommendations.

To prove we were in the part of the country that had proper chip shops he took me to a really bad one and said it would be a proper fish supper

is that the ungarbled version???

Fryers Delight is overrated.
-- Matt DC, Wednesday, 18 June 2008 08:45 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

AGREED.

It's alright but nothing to write home about - and certainly when you're hungry in bethnal green you shouldn't walk down to holborn and back for it.

but then i'm always against fish and chips with sit-down options - althought i was surprised by the rock and sole plaice in covern garden last saturday, but then i only had the cod roe and also i was totally steaming, plus £1.50 seemed cheap as chips.. i could have bought 4 of those for the price of the cocktail i couldn't finish.

are there any chip shops on bethnal green road? i'm sure i've seen one.

also, i'm sure we've had this thread before??!?!

You fancy London types with your writing jobs and ability to fit multiple concepts into concise readable paragraphs.

yeah look - i totally said "cheap as chips" when i was talking about fish and chips see what i did there??!?!

has anybody been to Fishcotheque in waterloo? with a name like that it must be amazing?

When I was in the UK i really wanted to have proper english fish dinner but nothing I had really caught my fancy, everywhere's chips were very soft and greasy. But in fairness I got taken to some shockers of places (plaices?) like that.. whats it called? Harry Ramsdens, or something? I was told it was well fancy and oh lordy it was embarrasingly bad.

huh, i've just realised...i don't think i've had fish & chips even once since i moved to london.

i've been to fishcotheque and while i'm not the best judge it seemed pretty bog-standard - also it has lots of seating!

Whats the bog-standard cheapest fish in the UK? Is it still cod, or has that been fished into extinction? In Aus it is, of all things, shark. Shark has no bones and no real fishy taste, it's like a lump of wet paper fried in batter. I love it.

since i have no lunch i'm going to try out ryan gig's fish bar this lunchtime

Fishcoteque fries a dry fish.

gig's chips are great, as are the kebabs. I hardly ever eat fish from a chip shop though, as I am a cheapskate.

This thread is making me really want to go down to Fryers Delight, as the one on Farringdon Road isn't that good, Gigs is too far away, and I owe the one nearest to me 20p because I didn't have enough money last time I went there (and the chips aren't that great anyway). Alas I have made a bed of cheese sandwiches and I shall lie in it.

Cod is still most people's default bog-standard chippy fish in the UK, I think, even though it shouldn't be. Shop-bought fishfingers and fish pies etc are going over to things like pollock.

I've had shark steaks a couple of times and liked them. Imagining them battered and fried is weird, but good.

Someone will already have said this more briefly and coherently in the time it took me to mash my apey dribble-coated fingers randomly against the keys but hey.

I'm suprised no one's been horrified at my "all I ate was Harry Ramsdens" confession. I get the impression its pretty rub.

In Scotland we tend to get haddock as the standard supper fish. I guess it's just a case of what's available and cheap. I had pollock as a fish supper recntly - probably because of the increase in fish prices. It was pretty good, too.

Scotland probably pwns all in the fish shop stakes. Best chipy i've been to is on the quay side at Kyle of Lochalsh.

British chips are supposed to be soft and greasy. If you disagree you are RONG.

yeah giggsy's ones were a bit too crispy today - good for the initial 6 but i'm 28 now and my teeth and jaw aren't so good anymore so i need them mushy. i ended up having to break my fish in half and drip some grease onto the chips to mushify it.

the fish was alright today - it fell apart somewhat in the middle but i guess a fish that large it's always gonna happen?

fucking hell i got a big fish from gigs. this plaice ain't small enough for the 10 of us, etc.

Best fish and chip shop in Britain is still the Carfax Chippy in dear old Oxford.

Close second: PM's in St Andrews.

Current third: my local, the Fulham Fish & Chip Shop in North End Road.

Best F&C restaurant as such: Olley's in Herne Hill is seriously up itself but their stuff i yummy if pricey. Otherwise: the Golden Hind on Marylebone Lane complete with signed photos of Dale Winton, Barbara Windsor a.o.

"stuff IS yummy"

Oh, and a Rock and a Hard Plaice in Covent Garden which I reckon better than either of these.

Fish and chips is an overrated foodstuff really. Overpriced as well in this day and age.

I'd just have a battered fish finger sandwich

I don't think my fish and chips today was overpriced (although really my portion should have been for 2 people)

perhaps 3

Olley's massively overpriced but very good ('I'll have one James Nesbitt and the Cilla Black Experience'): I salute all lovers of Masters Superfish on Waterloo Road, and big shout out to the Meatloaf-loving Aussie who runs the takeaway outfit with a ruthless focus.

Masters Superfish reviewed in Time Out.

Memo to TO food critics: chippies in general tend to be lacking in "ambience" if you visit them on Saturday lunchtime.

Have forwarded to Guy Dimond.

PM's = unorthodox choice. But I did always enjoy their SPECIAL BURGER.

for all your special needs

went to Fryer's Delight around 8.30 on Friday night for haddock and chips and they were superb - best i've had in forever.

I went to Olly's (Herne Hill this is) at the back end of last year, everyone having said how good it was, and it was dreadful and expensive. The chips in particular were very poor indeed, almost like oven chips.

I spoke to a friend a week or so later and he said it hasn't been any good for years.

New shop to report: poncy one on Stoke Newington High St, actually pretty good even if the batter could have been more crispy.

Just to add some EastCon to the last comment - the flat I've just moved into in Stoke Newington has a fish and chip shop near it (Dalston Road this is), which is supposed to be good, although I've not yet tried it, so will put off any definitive statement until then. Bit expensive though apparently.

Agreed with those who say that you're going to get anything good at all in the London area, although am intrigued by Fryer's Delight and may have to try it this week.

I see Zero got there ahead of me.

Yeah, it's just about worth the £6 - £7 if you're craving fish and chips.

anyone been to that posh place on lauriston road?

you're going to get anything good at all in the London area

should there be a 'not' in there? this kind of makes me lol. you get fish, dunk it in batter, deep fry it and chips. not rocket surgery. ok you can do it badly but the idea that it is impossible to do well outside some mythical area - whatevs.

Yes, there should - comes with not paying any attention to what I was doing.

I've had dreadful fish and chips by the seaside as well, so I certainly don't buy that 'mythical area' thing and you're absolutely right it shouldn't be impossible, but it just seems incredibly difficult to get good, fresh tasting fish, with a nice batter - light, not too dry, and good chips, in London.

I've had okay stuff, but never anything that made me feel I'd want to go back there especially.

Recently revisited Rock and a Sole Plaice. Change of management since the last time. Food as good as ever but the service stank so they won't be getting any more visits or money from us.

Amazing how in times of economic crisis some restaurant owners still labour under the illusion that their customers should consider themselves lucky to eat in their restaurant. No doubt they'll still think themselves blessed and/or victimised when the bank forecloses.

George's fish bar on Portobello Road - best chips in London (NB this used to be the Farringdon fish bar but yep, it's gone to cock) And fryers delight may use dripping just like you should, but they keep it way too long, so it's great when fresh, but they let it go v v rancid, you can smell it a mile off.

I only went to Fryers' Delight the once in the company of Tim H ex-of this parish and unfortunately it must have been an off day because the food was absolute crap.

http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2:29182/poppies

anyone been here?

Man that place is going to rake it in.

seriously! been fucking screaming out for a decent fish and chip place, but their location is perfect.

well...wouldn't want to see what it's like at midnight on a friday...

There's nothing to alarm the traditionalist looking for a no-frills fish supper, but the carefully considered '50s interior will appeal to local trendsetters seeking an authentic backdrop for their haircuts.

there was a trail of salt and vinegar leading to the abandoned bbc online warehouse.

not too bad to carry home no, or eat on the way. or could get a bus! it's weird coming from Ireland where every fast food place is a chip shop, to here where they are few and far between.

Have to question that since I think ease of getting actuall chips in Galway has only been a recent development outside of MCDonagh's & Conlon's (which is now gone anyway). Most places do fries the skinny type that just don't satisfy like a good thick handcut chip.

There is now a lovely place down near St Nicholas' church here does great chips. Just hope they're longer lived than every other takeaway that's been in that place in the last 10 years. all seem to go bust after about 6 months.
There was a longstanding chicken place there for years up to 10 years ago that was having trouble with an absentee landlord. I started wondering a while back if the owner cursed the place when he was forced out of business or something.

that's weird...in dublin (perhaps not in the v middle of the city) there are a lot of chip shops. in the (posh or otherwise) suburbs anywhere in north dublin there are loads.

Yeah I remember, every 200 odd yards it seemed.
Thought it odd when I moved here from there, Galway being next to the sea and all. But if you listen to people here all the fish goes to Spain etc.

I got a takeaway from Poppies a couple of weeks ago. The fish wasn't great and it was £18+ for 2x fish n chips + mushy peas. It took 3 people to serve us and they still got the order wrong. The place looks nice but it's style over substance.

that's pretty damning, was considering going there but that'd put me off.

Eighteen quid for 2 fish & chips?? Loldon

no such thing as cheap fish and chips here, all cheap fast food (of which there is plenty) is dominated by kebabs and fried chicken.

There is/was a place in Nunhead called The Silver Fish Bar. How it ever passed a health inspection I do not know.

You can get fish and chips in London for two people for a tenner if you go to a non-up-itself chip shop.

even in Hull fish and chips is v. variable - tho I don't think we've got any trawling fleet any more so fair enough - but there's a tremendous chippy about 2 minutes from our house and a good fish chips and mushy peas shd still be about 4 quid a pop I think - dude always ends up undercharging Mrs V for some reason so it works out less

no such thing as cheap fish and chips here, all cheap fast food (of which there is plenty) is dominated by kebabs and fried chicken.

This is probably only the case in parts of East London, plenty of cheaper fish and chips South of the river. Even Fryer's Delight on Theobalds Road is considerably cheaprer than that. People be ripping off hipsters obviously.

i dont think faulkners is that expensive is it?

had the greatest sit-down kebab of my life in a place in Dalston btw

Now that I can well believe.

You can't go wrong, really, but king of kings is Testi opposite Stoke Newington police station. Speciality: grilled lamb's testicles.

pass

Surprisingly light in texture, but bland, the one time I tried them.

Meze Mangal in New Cross is absolutely superb and so good that fuck trekking up to Dalston really.

faulkners isn't that dear, nor is fish house or the bway mkt one. it's not about ripping off hipsters, it's just there aren't many fish and chip places in east so the ones that are there can charge more, and tend to be more gourmet reconstructed rather than cheap fast food which is dominated by kebabs/chicken.