Fish and chips
Photo: Andrew Dunn · CC BY-SA 2.0

Battered white fish (cod or haddock) deep-fried with thick-cut chips, salt, malt vinegar and mushy peas. The defining British take-away dish, eaten in London since the 1860s.

Fried fish came to London with Sephardic Jewish settlers in the seventeenth century. Joseph Malin opened the first identifiable combined fish-and-chip shop in 1860 in Bow, east London, pairing the Jewish fried-fish tradition with the northern chipped potato. By 1910 there were 25,000 chip shops in Britain; London's surviving institutions include The Golden Hind on Marylebone Lane (1914), Poppies (Camden, Spitalfields, Soho) and the Sea Shell of Lisson Grove. The Friday-night fish-and-chips habit owes to Catholic and traditional working-class fasting customs that the chippy slotted into perfectly.

2 editor picks for Fish and chips in London, ranked by editorial score. All London signature dishes · Fish and chips across every city.

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J Sheekey ★ 4.1

£££SeafoodCovent Garden

The Caprice Holdings seafood institution on St Martin's Court in Covent Garden London, opened 1896, runs a pre-theatre fish-focused menu with the oyster bar.

OrderSheekey's fish pie and a half-dozen native oysters from the oyster bar list.

TipThe Oyster Bar at no. 28-32 takes walk-ins at the bar; the main dining room books two weeks ahead for evening service.

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Wright Brothers Borough ★ 4.1

££SeafoodBorough

Robin Hancock and Ben Wright's seafood counter on Stoney Street next to Borough Market in London, opened 2002, runs a daily-fresh oyster menu and a serious.

OrderHalf a dozen West Mersea or Lindisfarne native oysters, then the fish pie with mashed potato top.

TipCounter seats face the bar. Lunch runs walk-in; Saturday at noon is the un-touristed slot before market crowds peak.

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Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Fish and chips makes more sense with someone from London explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

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