Fish and chips at Fish! Kitchen, Borough Market: crispy, seasoned and juicy

Fish! Kitchen

Borough Market

170 Upper Richmond Road West, London, England

For our London fish and chips meal #3, we headed to Borough Market. Nobody loves public markets as much as I do, and London England is full of them–each one more different than the next, and each one full of little nooks and crannies to explore. Borough Market is both a food wholesaler and a retail market located under the railway viaducts in South East London, near the River Thames and walking distance from Tower Bridge (or the famous landmark bridge known to everyone else as London Bridge). Borough Market is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and is a trendy place to buy groceries and also to pick up unique snacks and sweets.

Borough Market has a rich history, the market dates back to the Roman times. Due to its strategic location near the River Thames, Borough Market was a central point for trading. Today, movies that have been filmed at Borough Market include Bridge Jones’ Diary, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

We visited late on a Thursday night and walked through the food stalls where there were stalls filled with rows and rows of Turkish Delight, cheese vendors and fruit sellers. We headed straight to the fish and chips stand: Fish! Kitchen. The smell and sizzling sounds of fried fish coming from this stand were incredible.

This was by far, my favourite fish and chips meal in London. The square of deep fried fish, still sizzling hot as it was served to us in a neat long rectangular carton was resting on a bed of equally hot and thick fries. Here’s what I loved about this fish: the amazing crispy and well-seasoned batter. If you’ve been reading, you’ve discovered that I love the batter on fish and chips, sometimes even more so than the actual fish. I also didn’t even think it was possible to season a batter so that it tasted just as flavourful as the actual fish it was wrapped around. But this batter, a beautiful golden brown on the outside was wonderfully moist on the inside, the underside of the batter actually tasted of a sweet, cooked egg mixture seasoned with salt and light spices. The batter was also insulating the fish so well that this fish was not only moist, but also very juicy as compared to the fish and chips we tried at both the Fish Pond in Portobello Market and at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub.

The fries, also thick cut and short were also moist on the inside but crispy on the outside. Somehow, these fries had a sweet taste to them, there was a very light egg custard-like aftertaste to them, which I loved and found unique. These fries were also not overly salted, which made them a great match to the fish, which was more seasoned than the other fish and chips we’ve tried. Also like the other fish and chips we have tried, the skin was left on the fish. I really like this about fish and chips in England. It really gives the fish more flavour, and insulates the meat, making the fish more moist.

I love the cardboard carton (with holes in the lid to prevent sogginess) the fish and chips were served in, it was the perfect container to tote the food in as we wandered the market and later on walked to Tower Bridge.