Based on our research, Fish Club is known as “the best fish n’ chips in London.” And, as almost everyone knows, London is the BEST place for fish n’ chips. We decided that this place must then be the best of the best. In England, “chips” means french fries. It is located on 189 St. John’s Hill near the Clapham Junction tube station. Here is the sign that says”Fish N’ chips don’t come better than this”.
Fish Club is also known for meat pies, but we tried the best meat pies in town (Fortnum and Masons – where the Queen shops), and we decided…well.. we are not big fans of meat pies (we prefer yi-po’s curry turnovers or mommy’s chicken potpie)!!
This menu was WAY more interesting than the Brown’s Hotel menu (Brown’s menu was full of tea choices and neither of us like tea). IT MULTITASKS! In other words, it doubles as a placemat (Karsen says that’s boring and a lot of restaurants do that). Well, I guess he’s right but what else was I supposed to say? Here are some pictures of the menu:
Our server’s name was Theo who is very good at explaining the merits of each dish. Here is a picture of Theo (p.s. we told Theo that this picture was going to make him famous and help his social life! Remember – you can find him at the Fish Club!!):
Before ordering THE FAMOUS FISH-N-CHIPS, we ordered appetizers – including prawns and chorizo on a stick and cuttlefish and squid in chili sauce. The prawns and chorizo were delish. The chorizo comes from Brindisa – a famous Spanish Tapas place in London. The spicy oil the spills from the chorizo tastes like the kind of chili sauce found in Asian restaurants. All in all, the combination of the grilled prawns with the oil from the chorizo was super tasty. We liked the dish so much, we ordered another one! Here is a picture of the prawns and chorizo – taken off their skewers:
The next non-veg non-British delicacy we had was the cuttlefish and squid. This dish was Karsen’s favorite because it had that stupendous sweet sticky spicy sauce (that’s alliteration). The sauce was so good that Bhuya decided to save it for dipping chips in. Here is a picture of the cuttlefish and squid:
We ordered two kinds of fish n’ chips: haddock and coley (a type of cod). We liked both the haddock and the coley. In both cases, the flavor of the fish is enhanced with a little bit of malt vinegar, but MOMMY probably uses 1/4 of the malt vinegar bottle on her fish (She also puts it on her chips while everyone else uses ketchup or tartar sauce). Here are some pictures of both kinds of fish and the chips:(We had 2 orders of chips but it was so good we ended up having four! And we added another order of the fish!!):
The fish also came with a green salsa that nobody touched because a certain Bhuya saved the chili sauce from the cuttlefish and squid appetizer that was really, much better. In what seemed two seconds, the sauce was gone! And so it came, and went, and EVERYONE wanted another sauce(That is how author’s write-example-Velveteen Rabbit). Here is a picture of the sauce that nobody touched:
We also had roasted vegetables that were devoured eagerly especially by us. And everyone says children hate vegetables? Posh. Potatoes, sweet and not, carrots, and vegetables -we love. . Here is a picture of the roasted vegetables:
Since Bhuya is a so called VEGETARIAN (She eats bacon, pancetta, chorizo, sausages aka bangers, shrimp etc.), we ordered asparagus. The asparagus was generously buttered and was sprinkled with cheese. Because of course, who doesn’t like butter?? Everyone was in love with the asparagus but we let Bhuya have it because she is a “vegetarian”. Here is a picture of the asparagus:
Since Bhuya has been clamoring to be famous, we decided to include another picture of her in our blog!
Bhuya is the only one to eat the cheese, leek and mushroom pie (pictured) because with the fish she was “vegetarian” (but had plenty of chips!). This is unfortunate because the pie looked delicious. In fact, we are betting that it was so good, she didn’t want to share and we can’t blame her. So, even more unfortunately, we will not be taking this dish into account for our rating.
For dessert, we ordered sticky toffee pudding. You must understand, that Mommy started hunting for sticky toffee pudding (preferably Cartmel the best sticky toffee ever)- the moment we arrived in London. We searched through several pubs and stores in nearly all the boroughs of central London, including Fortnum and Masons, Harvey Nichols, Andrew Bynum’s (a restaurant known for its sticky toffee pudding – but they were out) etc. We finally found some semi-prepared Cartmel’s sticky toffee pudding in Selfridges’ food section. And, of course, as luck would have it, as soon as we were done searching for sticky toffee pudding – THERE IT WAS! At the Fish Club!! And now we are finding sticky toffee everywhere Anyway, Mommy claims that the Fish Club meal was wonderfully culminated with the best sticky toffee pudding (she thinks that it is even better than Cartmel sticky toffee pudding). Even though we were full, everyone ate it and there wasn’t a crumb left. Here is a picture of the Fish Club’s famous sticky toffee pudding.
P.S Doesn’t it look like the vanilla ice cream has a sad face on it?
Overall, the Fish Club was a wonderful experience – and absolutely worth the trek all the way out to Clapham Junction (we had to the underground, the overground, and walk nearly a mile). The food was so good, the servers quickly became used to our “added on” orders. For example, we originally ordered only one shrimp and chorizo kebabs but quickly ordered another one. We also added on 2 more orders of chips and 1 more order of fish. I think we wound up eating for HOURS because of all our additional orders. During that time, we met nearly the entire staff and had our picture of the chef! Here’s a picture of us with the chef:
We can definitely see why the Fish Club is known for Fish-N-Chips but we would also recommend their other dishes – including the shrimp/chorizo kebabs, their vegetables, and most especially – their sticky toffee pudding! It’s a complete meal and we are hoping to return before we leave London! We rate the Fish Club
(Drum roll please)
5 smiley faces!!!!!!
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Cheers!
Those fish-n-chips look delicious, but you know what would make them even better? If they put a WHOLE lobster on top!!
Are you making fun of mommy? . . . . .
Again?
-the sophisti-kids
Thank you for making Bhuya famous! For the record, Bhuya did offer the cheese, leek and mushroom pie to everyone but as she was the only one who ate it, she is rating it with 4 smiley faces. Bhuya is SOMETIMES a VERY VERY SELECTIVE NON-VEGETARIAN and this is possible because Pufa ji, your Papa and Mommy have a pretty good idea of what her palate can handle on these selective times. Bhuya will resist making any contradictory comments as she wants to continue being famous.
You’re very welcome. You’re already famous in our world!
We have never seen you as a VERY VERY SELECTIVE NON-VEGETARIAN! You seem to be an omnivore!!! Just like us!
-the sophisti-kids
I feel honoured.
I must tell you about the chips I had in Hounslow when we revisited Pufa ji’s parents place. I wanted chips (with salt and vinegar) minus fish from the local Fish and chips shop BUT they had to be wrapped in a newspaper as I used to have when I was a kid. Well I managed to get them but in plain paper and they were delish (to use your word!!) and VFM too.
VFM? Very Fantastic Meal? Vegetables For Me? Vegetarian’s Favorite Munchies?
Tell us! Don’t leave us hanging!!!!
-the sophisti-kids
Value for money – Honies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wait a minute. Value for money?? Why should that have anything to do with vegetarians and selective omnivores like yourself?
-the sophisti-kids
P.S Value for money-Honies??
BHUYA!!! We thought you were better at rhyming than that!
😀 JK
as usual, your post is making me very hungry. a few things
a. i did not know that you all loved sticky toffee pudding so much, as there is a place here that makes delicious sticky toffee pudding. it is also the place with the superb scotch eggs.
b. you don’t like meat pies? what? maybe you’re not trying the right kinds. they’re delicious! although it is try that E-po’s curry turnovers are spectacular. anyways, the same place that makes the sticky toffee pudding and the scotch eggs also makes superb meat pies.
c. calamari and chorizo is always a fabulous combination of flavors.
d. that sauce also looks ridiculously yummy
e. i can’t believe that you said “posh”. you haven’t even been in London for a month yet.
f. if you really want fish and chips with a whole lobster on top, you can get it at the lobster shack. it will have to be 2 separate orders, but you can definitely do. i’ve never had it together, so i can’t recommend it though… although they do have very tasty fish and chips.
g. i blame you both because i really really really want some fish and chips now. i’ll have to go to the place that has scotch eggs, sticky toffee pudding, and meat pies. they have excellent fish and tandoori chips.
http://www.martinswestgp.com/
So did you get fish and chips?
It sounds like we need to make a trip to your recommended sticky toffee pudding, scotch eggs, fish-n-chips, and meat pies place! Mommy and papa like scotch eggs but we don’t – blech! Maybe we’ll like the ones at Martins West? So tell us – what are tandoori chips? How many smiley faces would you rate this place?
Which place has better fish and chips – Lobster shack or Martin’s West?
-the sophisti-kids
martins west has better fish and chips, but its more expensive and its tandoori spiced, which i dont know if everyone likes. they’re just fries with some indian spices on them. not spicy, just spiced. you would probably love the scotch eggs at martins west. they’re delicious.
you should meet meat pies. yummmmmmm
You’re kidding! Meat pies are disgusting. Okay – maybe we just tried the wrong sort. We love yi-po’s curry pies! It’s a pity you don’t have better fish n’ chips in town. Maybe Doctor and person know a place???
-the sophisti-kids
the best fish and chips uncle Ben and i have ever had were at a shack on the oregon coast. soooooooo good.
Mina also said that Martin’s west had the best mac and cheese ever. it had bacon breadcrumbs on top
Mina’s funny. I didn’t know that she liked bacon on her mac n’cheese!
-the sophisti-kids
You may be losing some credibility with me as you do not like meat pies. Meat pies combine 2 of my favorite things into one. On the one hand, you have meat. And on the other hand, you have pie.
BTW, I didn’t see any pictures of the chips, did I?
JBJ and I had fish-n-chips in Cape Town, South Africa. There, they use a fish known as hake, which is a pretty disgusting looking fish. Check it out:
http://hungrygerald.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cimg6699a.jpg
Wow! That fish looks evil. It looks like an eel. Where are its fins??
-the sophisti-kids
this is indeed a hunger inducing post! We might have to go to water grill in LA, to indulge in fish and chips as well. their new chef is from the UK, and I heard they make a great fish and chips.
http://www.watergrill.com/
Wow watergrill has a wide variety of fish! Our choices were only cod and haddock. Be sure to tell us about it when you go!! Feel free to do a guest post on watergrill. If you send it to me on email, then I will post it for you.
-the sophisti-kids.
P.S If you did we would be very excited since it is our 1st guest post. We will be asking you everyday about whether or not you have gone.
Aaahh, what a meal!! one often gets to hear that the “journey is the destination”, in this case, the destination was definitely the fish club, given that we had to brave a long and uphill walk under typically relentless London (windy drizzle/rain) weather conditions. The only limitation was the size of our appetites (could have eaten forever) and the “vegetarian” sujata bhuya sniping away at the “non-vegetarian” dishes.
Oh, of course. The supposed vegetarian wife you have. HAHA. If she mentions that to anybody, just say, “Ya Right”. Ok? Got It? Deal.