The 5 Best | Contemporary Chippies in Britain

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It's Friday. So we've rounded up the five best examples of 'modern' fish and chip restaurants.

5 Rick Stein’s Fish & Chips, Falmouth

“There’s no reason why fish and chips can’t be loved by everyone,” says Rick Stein. We say: if everyone got to eat at Stein’s, this would doubtless be the case. Having put the Cornish town of Padstow firmly on the foodie map with his cookery schools, restaurants, delicatessens, pubs and patisseries, the celebrity chef’s move into fish and chips — both at the excellent Padstow original and this new Falmouth outpost, right on the quay — was a natural one. Stein has held a soft spot for this pretty costal town ever since he first visited in the Seventies — it was here that Stein got the inspiration for his original Seafood Restaurant. Asked what makes his fish and chips so good, he says: “We make our own chips, we fry everything in beef dripping and we use fillets of large cod from Iceland [the country, not the frozen food store — duh].” And it’s the dripping that really makes the difference, creating a gnarled, crisp, full-flavoured batter shell in which to steam the fresh local hake, monkfish and John Dory. If fried’s not your thing then try fish roasted from the barbecue oven. If the weather’s squally, grab a seat behind the glass-fronted windows; alternatively munch on fish and chips wandering along the quay. Discovery Quay, Falmouth, Cornwall (rickstein.com)

4 Geales, London

When Geales started frying fish in 1939, Notting Hill was a very different place: less chichi mews houses and millionaires, more slum landlords and salty characters. It catered for the working classes doing what fish and chips does best — giving a hot, filling, sustaining meal. Geales in 2011 is significantly smarter, with white tablecloths, large glasses of buttery Chablis and plenty of bourgeois menu additions (tempura soft shell crab, lobster spaghetti, etc) confirming its metamorphosis from chippy to fish restaurant. What it cooks is excellent, with the haddock best enjoyed at an outdoor table, watching the well-groomed world walk by. 2 Farmer Street, London W8 (+44 20 7727 7528, geales.com)

3 Poppies of Spitalfields, London

From its Formica-topped tables and fish bar to the restored AMI jukebox, you’d be forgiven for mistaking Poppies for a Fifties-style American diner. Look a little closer though, and the Second World War memorabilia, London Underground nameplates and Vera Lynn-esque soundtrack place it firmly in old Blighty. What you might not realise — but for the high proportion of Hoxton haircuts — is that Poppies is brand new, having opened its doors in February. On our visit (mid-afternoon on a Tuesday), it was doing a roaring trade, with the vintage-print-apron-clad staff happily bantering as they battered cod. Pop (AKA 68-year-old Pat Newland, the brains behind this operation, who’s been serving East End fish and chips his whole life), was tucking into a plate of buttered bread and freshly cooked haddock — clearly happy to endorse his product. And Poppies offers a wide-ranging choice, including sole, skate and scampi on the fish list sourced daily from the local Billingsgate market (which has the largest selection of fish of any UK inland market), plus traditional alternatives such as saveloys and battered sausage. The mushy peas are delicious (though not minted), and Poppies’ pickled onions are damned tasty with pretty much anything fried. It also has a license: we rate craft brewers Meantime’s Pale Ale. 6-8 Hanbury Street, London E1 (poppiesfishandchips.co.uk)

2 The Smokehouse, Folkestone

Gordon Ramsay’s former protégée Mark Sargeant is very excited. He has just been on a fact-finding mission to Rick Stein’s in Cornwall, to glean insider knowledge from a fish-and-chip master. “I wasn’t sure about the beef dripping, but it makes a difference; it’s brilliant,” Sargeant says. And it’s not just batter the Michelin-starred chef’s enthusing about. On the brink of opening two destination Folkestone eateries, The Smokehouse fish and chip shop and nearby Rocksalt Restaurant, Sargeant cannot wait to get cracking. “I have never seen such quality in my life,” he says of the fish market that’s a mere stroll from Rocksalt’s front door. “And there’s acres of undeveloped seafront 50 minutes from London. I completely get it!” Sargeant’s restaurants will be to Folkestone what Stein was to Padstow — property speculators take note. The Smokehouse, he tells <Esquire>, is going to be “kitsch but cool at the same time”, serving home-made pickled quails eggs, mushy peas, “clever” catch of the day recipes such as fritto misto — as well as all the classic chippy staples. Kentish cider and Meantime beer will both be on offer, too. As we went to press, The Smokehouse hadn’t yet officially launched — but from what <Esquire>’s seen, we can take Mark at his word. “This will be stunning food in a stunning location where people can afford to eat.” 1-3 Back Street, Folkestone, Kent (thesmokehousefolkestone.co.uk)

1 Kerbisher & Malt, London

“Are we out of chips?” shouts front of house to the chef. It’s 9pm on a Friday night in May, just four days into Kerbisher & Malt’s operation.
Heart-sinking words. “Ten minutes!” comes back the reply. Thanks to fine-dining expert and ex-Oxo Tower chef Saul Reuben and his brother-in-law Nick Crossley, Kerbisher & Malt is fish and chips done properly. As we sit at scrubbed wooden tables, our order of freshly battered cod is brought over: it’s flaky, pearly white and perfectly cooked. The lemon mayonnaise is unctuously, gloopily delicious (like the tartare and regular mayonnaise, it’s homemade). The chips taste earthily of potato, managing to be both crunchy and fluffy (no wonder there’s a rush on). The menu has something for everyone: crushed potato salad for your girlfriend; chip butties for students and fish served in matzo — a Jewish flatbread — for those in search of something a bit different. One thing there isn’t though, is seconds — it’s a sell-out performance. 164 Shepherds Bush Road, London W6 (+44 20 3556 0228, kerbisher.co.uk)