London on a Plate

Pie and mash, bangers, fish and chips, and one very proper full English. The classics, done right, September 2022.

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🍴 Eating the Classics

We gave the trip a side quest: the British classics, done properly. Pie and mash, bangers and mash, fish and chips, and a full English, each from a place that takes them seriously.

🧾 Where the Receipts Went

Mother Mash on New Row for pie and champ mash. Poppies in Soho for haddock and thick chips, twice. The Wolseley on Piccadilly for a full English under the chandeliers. None of it fancy except the last one, all of it right.

🐟 The Verdict

The full English is a better breakfast than anyone admits, the pie wants the onion gravy, and fish and chips taste best when you have been standing in a queue for a day. We regret nothing.

Gallery

Chicken pie on mashed potato with onion gravy at Mother Mash, London
Pie and Mash at Mother MashChicken pie on champ mash with onion gravy at Mother Mash on New Row, Covent Garden, our first dinner in London. The gravy decision is the hard part.
Plate of bangers and mash with onion gravy at a London pub
Bangers and MashSausages over mash in a pool of gravy at a West End pub, fuel for the afternoon we joined the queue.
Battered haddock and chips with beer at Poppies Fish and Chips, Soho
Fish and Chips at PoppiesBattered haddock and thick chips at Poppies on Old Compton Street, Soho, a proper sit-down chippy with its own tomato-shaped ketchup bottles. We liked it enough to come back two days later.
Fried fish with chips, onion rings and lager at a London restaurant
Round TwoFish, chips, and onion rings with a cold lager the day of the funeral, when half of London seemed to be eating comfort food.
Full English breakfast plate with coffee at The Wolseley, Piccadilly
The Full English at The WolseleyThe full English breakfast under the chandeliers of The Wolseley on Piccadilly: eggs, bacon, black pudding, and the good silverware.
Pie with mashed potato and gravy boat at a Heathrow restaurant
One Last PieA final pie and mash at Heathrow before the flight home, because there was no reason to stop early.

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