Fish and Chips in London

This TimeOut list was updated in January 2024.

https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/londons-best-fish-and-chip-restaurants

https://london.eater.com/maps/best-fish-and-chips-london

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/fish-and-chips-b46062c3-f195-4422-aa53-c07a4c6af836

Just do not eat fish and chips in a pub.

The North Sea Fish Restaurant, Leigh St. Bloomsbury, is very good. A wide variety of fish and seafood. No skin on my fish and chips (in fact that's not something I've ever encountered anywhere in the UK as far as I recall -- if I did, I guess I would just peel it off). Book ahead.

From Time Out list so helpfully posted by Mary, I'm most intrigued by "The Fryer's Delight". It sounds like what I was used to back in Scotland, with Italians treating frying fish like an art. I've struggled to get fish and chips I'd call "good" at a chippy in London.

I've never eaten at any of the places on Time Out's list but they all sound good. Some sound like a good excuse for the visitor to get out and see another borough, like the ones in Muswell Hill, Dalston or Brixton.

This may seem ridiculous, but the best fish & chips I've had in the UK was two separate JD Wetherspoon pubs. Unreasonably cheap, too. No fish skin.

I have no idea what reason one might have for avoiding pubs for fish & chips. I require a beer with my fish for full enjoyment.

Unless they have changed do not order fish and chips at the well known St. Martins Cafe in the Crypt. The skin, which is hidden by the fried batter, gives the dish an "ugh" taste.

That does indeed sound ridiculous. Wetherspoons is the home of the cheap and nasty microwave meal. And don’t start me on the chain’s owner…..

I have to admit I've been to Wetherspoons pubs in the past but I wouldn't choose to go to one of my own accord. They are a particularly terrible corporation, but it depends how high your tolerance is of terrible corporations in daily life.

The advantage is that you get to have a sit down meal that you eat with a knife and fork for the price of a McDonalds. Plus you can have a cheap drink, as mentioned above. You just need to manage your expectations of how good the food is going to be, but jphbucks above seems happy enough.

jphbucks, do you remember where the pubs were?

This may seem ridiculous, but the best fish & chips I've had in the UK was two separate JD Wetherspoon pubs. Unreasonably cheap, too. No fish skin.
I have no idea what reason one might have for avoiding pubs for fish & chips. I require a beer with my fish for full enjoyment.

Ridiculous is the word. The food in a Weatherspoon pub is execrable. As is the owner.

As for pubs in general they simply don’t have the equipment to do it properly. A chippy is the way to go and some have sit down places and even beer.

Golden Union, just off Oxford Street towards the Tottenham Court Road end is always reliably good. Expensive, but good.

Avoid the formally good Mayfair Chippy, gone downhill.

The food in a Weatherspoon pub is execrable.

It wasn't in the two I enjoyed. It was, as I said, superior generally to other pub food I've had throughout the UK, whether microwaves are involved or not. I'm not comparing them to individual gastropubs, which provide more curated foods at a higher price point and which can be very good indeed.

Each to his own preferences. And perhaps the two posters who talk about how terrible the ownership (or actually management, as the company is publicly traded) is would like to elaborate. Bad enough and I can happily find another pub to frequent. Wetherspoon in my experience also has far superior beer selection on tap to Greene King and Young's.

I kinda hope the two posters don't want to elaborate about Wetherspoons as it takes this thread about fish and chips a bit too far off topic imho. Suffice to say the guy is a bit of a blowhard and has been known to stick his oar in regarding political issues in the popular press on many an occasion. They've also had very poor worker relations, particularly around COVID times. Without Googling news stories that's my basic understanding of it.

Wetherspoons pubs are usually going to be the cheapest place to buy a pint in any given street and they have fish and chips, which jphbucks enjoyed, which is good enough for me.

Not all chippies are equal too. My local isn't strong on fish and chips in my opinion. It's run by a bunch of Turkish-Cypriot guys and their kebab and lamachun game is much stronger, bless them.

Here's a link to Golden Union that Mike J mentioned further up - https://goldenunion.co.uk/ It looks rather posh. Looks like a good bet for a quality bit of fish.

I quite like Poppie’s

I’ve been eating fish and chips all over England for the last five weeks, and I’ve never found any that had the skin on them. I did eat some in a pub yesterday, but I thought it was safe since it was on Holy Island. The fish actually was good; it was haddock, but the breading was terrible. I wound up scraping most of it off.

I had really good fish and chips in both Falmouth and Plymouth. And some good ones in Seahouses.

I think you need to get out of the capital to experience the best of fish and chips.

While looking at Time Out's list that Mary posted earlier I saw this article -
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/its-official-none-of-the-uks-best-fish-and-chips-shops-are-in-london-030124

I grew up in Scotland with several great family run chippies within a mile or two, so my judgement on London chippies is somewhat clouded.

I think Poppie's would be the go to recommendation for a visitor to central London. The branch in Old Compton Street, Soho, is going to work for the west end and central London.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/may/03/poppies-london-w11-grace-dent-restaurant-review

Poppies got absolutely slated in The Guardian today.

ETA: I had chips from Sutton and Sons, Graham Road, Hackney last week and they were great. The fish they had just fried looked spot on too. They're doing the same thing as Poppie's really, with the retro fish and chips vibe, but maybe doing it a bit better?

Last month, we had Fish ‘n Chips at the Blackfriar’s Pub, in their very cool dining area. Some tables had made a reservation, but we managed to get a table when we just showed up for lunch. It was a spectacular setting, fish had no skin, and even the mushy peas were good.

Fish with skin on is a geographical thing and far more common in the south east. In the north west where I live, you would find fish with the skin removed everywhere.
As for the Wetherspoon's debate. Much of the negativity seems to come from those who disagree with the owner's political views. They are cheap and cheerful and can vary dramatically. Usually the food is the same, it tends to be the surroundings and housekeeping that changes. Poor ones near me are Runcorn and Stockport, the best is Newton-le Willows.
When I'm in London and don't want to spend £20 on a meal, I go to the Crosse Keys Wetherspoons on Gracechurch St in the city. Lovely old building, inside and out, usually clean, comfortable and the food has been acceptable. I would rate their chips 9/10, their fish 6/10.
I find their pubs great for passing an hour or so browsing on my phone with a pint or their very good refillable coffees.

Bisto Gravy? You 'avin' a giraffe?

Even curry sauce on chips would be anathema to the DiVitos, Marinis and Fiondas that ran the chippies where I'm from. It wasn't something I discovered until later in life.

On the subject of curry sauce, I picked up a pack of McCoy's Chip Shop Curry Sauce flavour crisps the other day. They do hit the (admittedly fairly simple) flavour pretty well.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/314590626