Poppies Fish & Chips — Restaurant in London

I visited Poppy’s with my boyfriend a month ago. We were craving a classic fish and chips and having been to Poppy’s many times I knew it was good value for money. We were sat down and someone came to take our order. The staff was friendly. The atmosphere was pleasant although quite random for an English restaurant. American pop music and decor, resembling an American diner is trending in the area, not sure why. We requested the cod but they said they were out of regular size, so we would have to go for the large portions. They recommended the haddock instead, which was a more expensive option. They probably have too many haddocks and want to get rid of them, my chef boyfriend said jokingly. Little did I know that that was probably the truth, when my cold, precooked fish arrived. Hard to cut and chew, I now regret not having it sent back. The taste was alright but the chips were also cold. After our lunch we asked for the bill and to our surprise it was around £55 for two fish and chips with drinks! Since when is fish and chips a fine dining experience? I thought. And why would someone pay £55 for a below average fish and chips in a cringey setting? There is another local fish and chips place just at the top of Brick Lane, the food is delicious and the price half of what we paid at Poppy’s. It’s honestly not worth your money, if you wanna see retro decor while you smell fish, any shop in the Brick Lane vintage markets will provide...

Very nice fish&chips restaurant, great variety of fresh fish and seafood. I did not really understand what the cooks did with the pile of pre-fried haddock in the display cabinet (for take-away?), the fish we ordered was super crisp and hot without any complaints. Grilled mackerel was also spot-on. The fries were five-star quality, individually cut and super crispy! Since there were some reviews complaining about not enough salt on the fries or the fish, let me point this out: It is a blessing that Poppie‘s decided to let the guests decide how much salt to put on their chips!! That’s a GOOD and HEALTHY strategy, consistent with one of the key recommendations of the European Society of Hypertension! The UK average salt consumption is 8.4g/day which is way above the (already conservative) recommendation of 6g daily. You can always add salt if you don‘t like the taste, but there is no way to un-salt your food. You think that fish&chips is super oily anyway and therefore salt-reduction has no health effect? Well - that‘s wrong. Salt-reduction reduces your risk of hypertension, your blood-pressure values and your overall cardiovascular risk INDEPENDENT of other food components! Poppies could go ahead and call their fish&chips „healthy“ without leaving the solid base of scientific evidence 😁! The portions of mayonnaise or other sauces, in this context, were much too small, at best...

It's pretty busy in the evenings, so may be best to make a reservation to be assured a place to sit. We hadn't - and simply joined the queue snaking out towards the doors. There's also a takeaway counter and it's possible to grab your meal then sit outside (they provide benches, condiments and bins outside) but as it wasn't warm out we elected to wait, reading up on the menu.

There's a nice retro decor inside, full of interesting items through the ages, worth an explore.

We got seated near a window, which wasn't great as outside the bench was occupied with smokers and the smells drifted in from outside through the open windows. We placed an order of small fish n chips (they were out of cod) plus mushy peas - it came pretty quickly and was quite tasty, with the chips being dry and crispy and the fish drained so the batter wasn't oily. Two small pots of sauce (tartare and ketchup) were also provided. They also do bottles of beer, which was a nice touch to wash it all down with.

It was a good bite for what it was, but pricey for the amount - you're either paying for the name or the London location. I could get just as good meal more cheaply further out of town.

Worth a visit for traditional fish n chips, but don't think this is the only place...