Dining Out: London Chips I've Known and Loved

Frites, chippy, and everything in between.

Following on from my recent adventures in bread, I thought that this week I would cover another basic: chips. It’s pretty self-explanatory really: from nans to babies, everyone loves chips. And while not all chips are made equal – there’s style, crispiness, thickness (or lack of), length and cooking method to consider – I know a decent crunch; I am adept at identifying the pleasing the contrast between a browned coating and the cloudy potato beneath it. As such, here are five London chip portions I’ve known and loved. No two are the same – there are chippy chips in Peckham and pub chips in Barnes – but they’re all absolutely class.

Yilmaz Kebab, Peckham

After reasonably extensive research I do believe these to be the best chippy style chips in London. London fish and chips, famously, is expensive for the tiny portions you get (like, if I’m ordering a large chips I want finishing them to be a scientific impossibility as is the way with chip shops in my hometown of Birmingham), and the quality is rarely as good as in the Midlands or up north or by the sea. There are exceptions to every rule however, and while Yilmaz – near Voodoo Ray’s and Tesco Express at the bottom of Peckham Rye, you know where I mean – isn’t strictly a chip shop, their chips stand up to the very best. These things are ever so slightly crisp on the outside and fluffy as a Crufts winner inside. They’re plump and greasy to the touch (get your mind out the gutter) and best of all, if you fall asleep with the carton next to your bed, they’ll still be good the next morning. Don’t ask me how I know that, I just do.