Looking for best fish & chips

[firstjourney]

So excited for my first visit to your UK! Staying in hotel near Victoria Coach Station night before cruise, looking for the best/most authentic fish & chips between there and London Eye where we'll board double decker bus for evening tour. We plan on walking, so something along that route would be great. A pub atmosphere would please my 22 year old grandson, but just a food shop would be fine too. I've found a few online but thought I could get a better recommendation from a local. Thank you! 

[Harters]

The best fish & chips are in the north of the country, where we still often cook in beef dripping, rather than an oil. And, even in the north, my advice to best avoid the vile offerings that you are more likely to  find than a good version, is generally to not eat them in a pub. Except if (a) the pub is in sight of the sea and (b) has a reputation for good fish & chips. 

 

So, that advice to you isnt much help, at least for this trip. On trips to the capital over the years, I've tried a few of the often mentioned fish & chips shops and they have generally not been that good. I make an exception for Masters Superfish near Waterloo station. It's so good it could be northern. 

 

https://masterssuperfish.has.restaurant/

 

Choice of fish is often a regional decision with cod being generally favoured in the south of England and haddock in the north. But it can be more locally nuanced. I live in the northwest but mine is a cod area. You'll want mushy peas for the full experience, along with the chips. 

[Meander Ingwa]

LOL  "Id like to have an argument , please"

 

Like asking about the Best BBQ or the Best Pizza

 

@Harters thanks for the recommend!!!  I like Golden Chippy on Greenwich High Rd, so outside the OPs destination boundary.  They also make some amazing fried chicken ( another loaded argument)   My experience level, however, is on the low side so I will defer to Harters.  I do agree, however, that the average pub produces sub-optimal dining experience

[Thejuggler]

Traditional fish and chip shops aren't a common sight in central London.  
 

However Mayfair Chippy will provide what you are looking for.  Being in Mayfair it will also mean a large bill, but scraps (a rare thing in the south) are free!

Edited August 10, 2023 by Thejuggler

[John Bull]

In London - and only London - more traditional than fish & chips is jellied eel and pie mash.

 

Fortunately for you  🤣🤣🤣, there are no jellied eel and pie mash shops in Victoria.

 

JB 🙂

[Harters]

Jellied eels may be the second worst thing I've ever put in my mouth. There used to be a van in Whitechapel selling them (next to Aldgate East tube station, IIRC). Horrible. It wasnt the eels - I  quite like smoked eel - it was the jelly. 

 

London, of course, is the "pretender" to the crown of having invented fish & chips but it's documentation is 1865, some five years after the record of them being sold together in Mossley (round the other side of Greater Manchester from me  - about a 30 minute drive).

[Redrobo]

On 8/9/2023 at 3:05 AM, firstjourney said:

So excited for my first visit to your UK! Staying in hotel near Victoria Coach Station night before cruise, looking for the best/most authentic fish & chips between there and London Eye where we'll board double decker bus for evening tour. We plan on walking, so something along that route would be great. A pub atmosphere would please my 22 year old grandson, but just a food shop would be fine too. I've found a few online but thought I could get a better recommendation from a local. Thank you! 

https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=fishnchips&find_loc=Victoria+Embankment%2C+London

[Harters]

That Yelp link includes a recommendation for the Rock & Sole Plaice (fairly near to Covent Garden). It may well have a good pun as its name but my sole (!) experience of eating there was awful - they manage to do everything that is vile and unpleasant that can be done to fish & chips. 

[firstjourney]

Thank you Harters for the recommendation on Masters Superfish! We dined there during our stay in London. Cod for my grandson, haddock for me. Absolutely delicious! I also loved the mushy peas, however my grandson did not enjoy them as much as I did, his loss I say. Again, thank you so much! 

[Harters]

So pleased that you enjoyed it. Making food recommendations is always a tricky business so good to know when one pays off. 

 

I have a theory about choice of fish. It tends to be a regional thing - cod being popular in the south and haddock in the north. That's not exclusive - I live in a northern cod area. But my theory is that, if you can identify what fish area you are in, then order the other one. That should mean that the fish is going to have been fried to order, rather than batch fried and kept warm in the steamer

Edited October 2, 2023 by Harters

[Meander Ingwa]

was working on my trip planning today and Masters is on the calendar.  I moved it to a different day as it turns out I will be staying in the Southwark area and it will be easy to hit the shop on the way from here to there.  I am really looking forward to trying!  Not sure I have ever had haddock. Not a popular fish here in Puget Sound Country