Fish & Chips

24-hour fish and chips in Queens? Why oh why has this never been mentioned to me before??

Batterburgers are fucking VILE!

i am also salivating despite it being 10 in the morning i have a neeeeeeeeeed for fish and chips. some points:

1. how did i get through 2 years of living in oxford wihtout going to carfax chippy? although wings on cowley road was a v good sub.

2. chiiiiiipppppppppyyyyyy soooooossssss is double nummy and reminds me that i so need to go to embra (and glasgow too, but no chippy soss there). i think the cafe next to the festival theatre (that's the big goldfish bowl one right?) is called the city restaurant (not to be confused with the city cafe, which is some sort of poncey wine bar type place) and i have been there many a time for double egg and chips and really really nasty coffee for about two squid.

3. tartar sauce, hammers??? how middle class are you???? (joke :))

4. battered haggisses (haggi?) really are very very naughty, in a good way.

The wonderfully-named Michael's High Class Fish Bar on the Holloway Road used to be decent in the 1980s but I haven't been there recently (nosebleed territory). People keep telling me there's a fabulous chipper in the Herne Hill area but I've yet to go there.

I went past a chip shop just off Union Sq last week and it smelled dreadful.

The best chippy I've ever come across is closed now: it was Capel's in Exeter, across the road from the public swimming baths.

Destroy: any chip shop with the place / plaice pun in its name.

Actually I think I will drop by this evening...

Go to the coast anywhere in the UK though and the F&C will be superb - Grimsby's one redeeming feature for example. But the best I've ever had were in Scarborough - though I can't remember the name of the plaice (somebody had to do it)

jOe I advise you to try them both.

*proper* chippies do NOT sell kebabs

hmmm, is that really true? You working on the basis that this makes them jacks of all trades, but masters of none?

Ed, are you buying, then?

OK, Next time I'm in London I will call an FAF&C and we will carouse the chip shops of London.

1. Fishcotecque, WATERLOO! (Only marred by its lack of gravy). A grebt sit down chip shop complete with all matters of unhealthy additions to eat in or takeaway. And they do a good mug of tea.

2. Camden Fish Market, CAMDEN! (Only marred by being er, in Camden). See above - and they do gravy. They give you the gravy in a little polystyrene cup though, but still, it's good... the ideal place to go after you've run away from the goths in THE DEV. You can also go upstairs for a sit down meal and SURVEY the TEENAGERS and HIPPIES and TEENAGE HIPPIES!

3. The Rock and Sole Plaice, COVENT GARDEN! (Only marred by its chips being slightly too wide and flat, but they DO have good gravy and are lovely. And I believe they are capable of selling beer. A superb place to eat when yr in the environs. Cheap and tasty and filling and the under-the-sea decor downstairs+++).

4. Claylands Fish And Chip Shop, VAUXHALL! (Lack of gravy strikes again, but hey it's local).

None of the above sell kebabs. Places that sell kebabs aren't chip shops. They are KEBAB SHOPS. A world of DUH! That's like saying a chicken shop will suffice for chips. How wrong you are... chips serve a different function depending on your needs. In the Chick Inn (for example), the chips are only there as thin strips of potato to try and mop up some of the chicken grease from yr mouth. They fail, but it's a super-human attempt. CHIP SHOP CHIPS imply that the potato is a vital part of the whole caboodle. A chip has to be of quality there, unlike the mere acommpaniment that it is elsewhere.

Mmmm chipz0r.

I had slightly dry fish at the rock and sole plaice, but they do indeed serve booze, but ouch is it expensive. I shall make an effort to try the others., despite them being south of the river. ;-)

Nast-ee.

Then again I had chips from another chippie somewhere near Mr Farrells house and they were *smashing*. Yet again it is the chippie vs kebab shop ting.

Camden is not north of the river.

Mmm chips and gravy.

Warning though - once in Camden Fish Market I saw they had chips and cheese. Upon asking for chips and cheese, I believe I got a regular funnel of chips, with a slice of processed cheese on the top. I ph34r they had misunderstood - or perhaps I misunderstood. This sounds so ridiculous I'm wondering now if I dreamed this.

I think I should buy a chip pan.

and yeah, fishco is sooper.

Jonnie lives above a famous chipper in Muswell hill, apparently it's full of ponces with more money than sense, but the fish is alright, chips undercooked.

The big difference I've noticed between F&C shops in Grimsby and the ones here in Scotland is the huge range of different types of fish you can get in Grimsby. Here it's just cod, haddock, then lots and lots of different non-fish things. In Grimsby, it's the other way round: most of the menu is different types of fish, with a couple of other things at the end.

Mary said a dirty word.

And there must be beetroot in the burger. There just must.

The five star fish bar as visited last night is also great, although Vicky wasn't too keen on her plaice.

so far auckland has been v.disappointing re : fish, although the proliferation of kumara chips & fried button mushrooms has somewhat alleviated this.
(aoli is good, TOMATAHH SAWCE is good, guacamole is underated, sour cream + chili ownz)

i must go today now

I keep meaning to go in there. Just about every restaurant that's lasted more than a couple of years in the same location has got some kind of award proudly displayed in the window. My own local chippie - Tales of the Sea on Westow St, Crystal Palace - was the best in South London, 2001, apparently. It is very good. They cut their chips too fat though.

There's a stonkingly good chipper in Llandudno too, I think it was called the golden bell or somesuch.

Yeah I've heard it's good - Might have to go there tonight.
I'll never go to the one on Gypsy Hill again (Golden Fry?), last time I got chips from them I nearly bit down on one of the metal ties they use to close spud sacks. Tasty.

my fav london f&c is on lisson grove by marylebone station and it has a pub opposite - which is rub, and it makes its own tartare sauce - which is a little too much like coleslaw for my liking

my fav uk f&c is in cambridge - which is also a chinese, ooh i might have them tonight that would be good

Thanks for the tip-off. Struggling up the hill from the station that place has called out to me many times (you can smell it from the Tavern) but I've always resisted.

I fear Starry is overselling the R&S Plaice on price - it's about seven quid for a cod, isn't it? That's not cheap!