So, why bother reviewing fish and chips at all? Well, I'll tell you: taking someone out to a fish and chip restaurant is one of those important stages in a relationship, like your first holiday or last bitter argument over your DVD collection. This starchy speciality is surrounded by a faint penumbra of happy memories, of holidays and days out and idle good times. Taking someone for a fish supper shows you can be unflashy, unpretentious and spontaneous, which is as good as reason as any as to why it should be meticulously planned in advance. Luckily, there are a few simple rules we can all follow to ensure that everything goes swimmingly (unlike the unfortunate fish you'll be eating).
Firstly: fish and chips in a pub will not cut it. In the great British Romantic Comedy of the mind, pubs are for Sunday roasts and little else. Fish and chips should come from a fish and chip restaurant, or you might as well be buying the oven-ready Tesco's variety, and weeping your way to a lonely bedtime over the plate.
Secondly: in London fish and chips should really be eaten sitting down, at a table, for the full effect. There's nothing quite like fresh air to stimulate the appetite, but sitting on a park bench inhaling taxicab fumes, cursing at pigeons, and avoiding the glances of passersby, vagrants, and the man next to you trying to eat his Marks & Spencer Hoisin Duck Wrap will do nothing for the tastebuds. Takeaways, therefore, are out. Save the al fresco fish supper for a seaside holiday and eat it on the beach, where it belongs. Similarly, never take fish and chips home. Your flat will smell like Billingsgate for months, and that does no-one any favours.
Thirdly: try and make sure your choice of restaurant specialises in fish. An outlet selling fired chicken, burgers or kebabs is just going to make you look like a cheapskate (no pun intended). If you're looking to impress someone, it's probably safest to simply avoid anywhere with an illuminated menu, anywhere open after 10pm, or anywhere where you get your food in a box.
Now the basics are in place, it's on to the reviews. All of the restaurants below regularly appear on 'best of' lists, and between them cover most areas of London one might find oneself hanging around in. I've tried them all, so you don't have to. >>
Firstly: fish and chips in a pub will not cut it. In the great British Romantic Comedy of the mind, pubs are for Sunday roasts and little else. Fish and chips should come from a fish and chip restaurant, or you might as well be buying the oven-ready Tesco's variety, and weeping your way to a lonely bedtime over the plate.
Secondly: in London fish and chips should really be eaten sitting down, at a table, for the full effect. There's nothing quite like fresh air to stimulate the appetite, but sitting on a park bench inhaling taxicab fumes, cursing at pigeons, and avoiding the glances of passersby, vagrants, and the man next to you trying to eat his Marks & Spencer Hoisin Duck Wrap will do nothing for the tastebuds. Takeaways, therefore, are out. Save the al fresco fish supper for a seaside holiday and eat it on the beach, where it belongs. Similarly, never take fish and chips home. Your flat will smell like Billingsgate for months, and that does no-one any favours.
Thirdly: try and make sure your choice of restaurant specialises in fish. An outlet selling fired chicken, burgers or kebabs is just going to make you look like a cheapskate (no pun intended). If you're looking to impress someone, it's probably safest to simply avoid anywhere with an illuminated menu, anywhere open after 10pm, or anywhere where you get your food in a box.
Now the basics are in place, it's on to the reviews. All of the restaurants below regularly appear on 'best of' lists, and between them cover most areas of London one might find oneself hanging around in. I've tried them all, so you don't have to. >>
