American Reacts to a British Fish and Chips Shop 

Before health and safety laws stopped it, we used to eat fish and chips out of a newspaper wrapping as we walked down the street. Somehow, they tasted better that way LOL.

Poppie was my uncle. Lovely man. Sadly died last year. Hadn’t seen the original RU-vid vid so was a nice surprise seeing him again

in the uk eating chips with salt and vinegar is the norm to the point where when you get chips at a takeout place, the question they ask is " do you want salt and vinegar" and if you just want salt or you want any other type of stuff on your chips, you have to specify. it tastes so good. i don't think chips are the same without it.

As a side note, we do use the term "French Fries" in the UK, but only to describe thinly cut ones (like the type McDonald's serve for example.

Fish and chips with salt and vinegar is great

The only hush puppies I've ever heard of is a type of shoe 😂 they'd be a bit tough deep fried lol

I googled "Rice Cone". It's rice which has been milled into a coarse flour and is used to dust the fish before the batter is added. Never knew it existed and I'm a Brit, learned something new today 😊

Fish and chips used to be the only sort of takeaway that we had and was affordable, not so much these days when the price of fish has rocketed. Very tasty and sometimes beer battered.

We use Malted vinegar, which is mild with a better taste then normal white vinegar, it brings out the flavour of the fluffy chips and cuts the grease making it a delightful experience. As for fish,a beer batter is best and cod,haddock, place,all fresh ,with mushy peas (cooked marrowfat peas) a perfect meal.

Vinegar on chips is essential. You have to try it. Don't do ketchup if you want a sauce, have beans if you want a tomato like sauce, although I'd say try either gravy, curry sauce or mushy peas to go with your fish and chips.

One in every city! Mate that’s an understatement. You’re never more than 1/2 mile from a chippy in the UK 😂

Growing up the best thing was a chip butty. This was a buttered bread roll stuffed with chips with a pickled onion on the side. As an adult I shudder, but secretly think about having one again 🤗

I had to chuckle when you said " sounds like there is one in every city" , it's more like one in every street. The smell of fish and chips is amazing. Sadly I can't eat them anymore due to a dietary requirement and walking past a chippy is hell. Definitely try some if you come over, eating them at the seaside is even better.

Whitby - on the north-east coast - is renowned for its fish and chips. The Magpie cafe or the Quarterdeck cafe are my favourites.

In the North of England there is a chippy as they are affectionately know on most street corners, they where always in walking distance so they are still warm when you get them home. Fish and chips are traditionally complemented with mushy peas; Salt and Malt brown vinegar a must and another must is that they are wrapped in paper and eaten by your fingers when I was a child the chippy near me used to make the wrapping into a bag and you could eat them while walking…..used to love the batter bits they where a real treat but much sort after.

Omg! You've got to have salt and malt vinegar! That's what makes Fish and Chips! Yum! Ask for mushy peas too! Can't wait to see you in the UK trying the local delicacies! 😊🧡😊🎈

We have a chippy down the road from us. In all my 50 odd years, it's honestly the best I've tried. They use beef dripping, oh it's absolutely beautiful. They're so friendly too if anyone waits outside with their dog, they'll offer a sausage to the dog! Best place ever!

13:48 When my wife moved to the UK i took her to a chippy. She went with just salt. She decided she wanted to try one of mine with the salt and vinegar. She immediately turned around and we walked back to the chippy to get viengar on hers lol That moment when the vinegar hits the chips. Hits you like being maced with deliciousness.. and mace.

The batter is different in different places. Paignton has an amazing chip shop called Scoffs. Gravy, peas, beans, pickled egg, curry sauce and pickles are the sides mainly. Battered sausage, battered burgers, fried chicken and all kinds of pies. Spam, banana and pea fritters sometimes too.

The vinegar is "Malt Vinegar. It tastes completley different from other vinegars. There's other types avaible in UK like White Wine Vinegar, Balsamic Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, Rice Vinegar, Rice Vinegar plus more. Malt vinegar has more of an acidic taste to others but taste great over fish & chips

4.40 Rice is milled to produce a flour called rice cones. It soaks up moisture and helps the batter to coat and stick to the fish ready for frying. Other flour types can be used.

A takeaway shop is nearly always better than cafe / pub serving. For me F & C tastes even better at the seaside, perhaps it's the sea air promotes an appetite.

Ok…Watching this 2:40 am in England….and now I really want some from my local chippy. Drooling already!

A UK staple food , you don't really see much fish n chip shops in the UK anymore but when you do find one , they're delish !

Most 'chippy's ' are takeaway's, served in paper (though they seem to use boxes now), used to be served in newsapaper at one time. not just fish, but also pies, pasties, battered sausage, Several pickled items (eggs, onions, gherkins etc) Not just towns and cities, but many villages have a chippy too

Being an island, i am sure you will quickly grasp why 'fish' is a common food in Britain

For what it's worth, chip shops generally don't have vinegar available - most people _call_ it vinegar, but it's actually something called "non-brewed condiment". Some folk can't taste the difference, but to those who can it's a completely different taste altogether. You really do need to try it, but you need to have plenty of salt on there too.

I worked as cook/fryer in a coastal restaurant that served award-winning fish and chips in Devon back in my late teens, so this was a blast from the past to watch! Yep, there definitely is a technique to cooking the perfect fish and chips, and it's at every stage; from the flouring and battering of the fish, to laying it gently in the oil (you have to unlearn the natural instinct to keep your hands as far away from the oil as possible, which is somewhere between 350-400f and has a tendency to spit if there's any residual water,) to being able to tell when the fish is perfectly cooked. I'm sure it looks like an easy job if you've never done it, but there's quite a bit of skill involved. Oils can vary; in the restaurant I worked in it was vegetable oil, in order to ensure the chips would always be vegetarian-friendly (we cooked them in a separate fryer from the fish and other battered items,) but other places can use everything from lard to beef dripping in their oil. Oh, and the vinegar they use in fish and chips is a very different type of vinegar - it's a malt vinegar, and honestly, it's MADE for fish and chips!

Fish, chips and mushy peas, loads of malt vinegar and salt, absolute heaven.😋 You'll find a chippy in nearly every town and many villages in the UK. Mostly they are a take-out food wrapped in paper or on a poly tray...used to be wrapped in newspaper when I was a kid way back in the 60's. Have never seen coleslaw in a chippy unless they also serve kebabs with salad.

You'd be directed to a shoe shop if you asked for Hush Puppies in Britain, they are a brand of footwear here! Fish and chips well made are an absolute joy and we have many, many outstanding chippies in every area. There are regional variations in seasoning but salt and vinegar is pretty much universal. I came across chip spice when living in Grimsby and use it for a change sometimes.

In Ireland, they're called "chippers", and they're the most common type of takeaway. They're everywhere. Pretty much the stereotypical takeaway if you're not looking for something specific like a Chinese or Indian. I was always wondering what the American equivalent was, and tried looking it up before, but never found anything.

Fish and chips used to be known as our national dish. These days it’s now curry, I believe. I live on the coast and we have fish and chip shops everywhere

I live in a tiny UK village, miles from anywhere. We have 2 fish and chip shops, a chinese take-away, a pizza house and a balti restaurant

Our village has three chip shops as we call them all within a quarter mile of each other. Most towns have dozens of fish and chip shops. French fries are skinny things and absorb the fat making them less healthy than the chunky chips. Rice cone is another name for rice flour to ensure a crispy coating on the fish. I was brought up in a Liverpool fish and chip shop in the fifties…

Loved your reaction to his reaction about not having Fish and Chips Before. It is a culturral thing, but Fish and Chips from the Chippy was always a treat growing up. Thursday night or Friday night might be Chippy night depending when your parents got paid. You looked forward to something from the Chippy and having some choice and something different. We ate pretty basic food ouiside of special occasions etc. :)

We live in the middle of the country(Devon), we have 3 fish and chip shops within 6 to 7 miles, plus mobile chip wagons call into the area twice a month.

French fries in America are often skinny whereas these chips in the UK, especially the one from a fish and chip shop are usually chunky, meaning more soft non-greasy potato within each chip and a beautiful crispy surface.

British fish and chip shops mainly only sell food to take-away and eat at home. Some have restaurants attached, but not many.

I was fortunate enough to be born and raised in Grimsby, which during my childhood claimed to be the largest fishing port in the world, sadly the port has closed down mainly but the Town still handles over 30% of fish products in the UK. In Grimsby the basic fish and chips vary in quality, however, if you hadn't already asked , you will be asked which fish, Cod, Haddock,(Grimsby's favourite), skate, rock salmon(Dogfish), haike, dover soul, plaice, you can even get cheeks and tongues( which are supposedly a delicious part of the fish). The fat used is mostly beef dripping, but some of the cheaper/newer shops use as it is less expensive and they don't know any better. you will be offered mushy peas, gravy, curry sauce or baked beans. along with your meal but there are alternatives to regular fish such as meat pies, chicken, sausages, burger patties, spam fritters, fish cakes or fish patties (they are different). One thing that seems to hold true within the Grimsby area is fish shops where you can sit down and eat usually are not one of the best shops to sample(of course there are exceptions but not many), the best are the shops that have a line out the door often run my and older person and his/her family.

Using rice and/or tapioca flour serves two purposes. They not only don't absorbe as much liquid, keeping the batter crisp, but they're also gluten free, which is good for those on a special diet.

In Yorkshire, in the North of England you get a completely different dish when you ask for ‘fish and chips’ - you always get haddock when you ask for fish, and we cook in Beef dripping which in my opinion gives a far superior flavour to vegetable oil like they use in the South. Us Yorkshire folk are usually appalled when we try fish and chips anywhere else around the country 😄

My friends and I would get a chip butty for 50p and 20p fish from the chip shop across the road from my school for lunch. My favourite chippy uses groundnut oil and it tastes just like it did when I was a kid on my way home from swimming on a Saturday. I think there are chip shops on pretty much most main roads on London.

Salt and vinegar on the chips are very common in the UK. They are 100% better with these, trust me lol. And WARNING: NEVER order a large portion of chips lol. Regular is very filling enough, I can barely get through a regular (and that is without the fish, jumbo sausages etc).

Whitby is the best for fish and chips. It is a fishing village in North Yorkshire so the fish is super fresh. Never coleslaw or hush puppies in UK. Northern fish and chip shops differ slightly with them offering gravy. I was at university in the south of England and got laughed at frequently for having gravy on my chips.

Poppies constantly rates as one of the best "Chippies" in London. Rice Cone is a rice flour, it helps the batter to stick to the fish. You said every city has a Fish & Chip shop , in fact most major cities have dozens of them. I'm in south London and there a 3 within a ten minute walk from my home

I’m a 57 year old Australian and have lived all my life enjoying fish and chip shops. They are an Aussie staple. I love hush puppies, would love a hush puppy shop here. 👍😁❤️🇦🇺

Salt and vinegar on fish and chips is divine, you don’t know what you are missing, curry sauce on fish and chips is also divine

Fish and Chip shops are commonly known as Chippys and are not the same as fish and chips served say for instance in a pub, cafe or some other food places. Some chips may be cooked in beef dripping but mainly oil is used these days. Again sometimes the batter may be a beer batter but normally it's just as it was on this video. Dependant on where you are, additional items such as mushy peas, curry sauce or gravy may be added. Salt and vinegar is part of the experience, some chippys will ask you if you want salt n vinegar, some may even assume you want it and put it on. Fish and chips used to be wrapped in newspaper but now a variety of wrappings including paper, card boxes, polystyrene trays or card cones are used, you may get a plastic or wooden fork of taking them out. Although if you do have fish and chips at a seaside location and take them outdoors, be aware you may have other 'diners' who want to 'help themselves' or 'relieve you' of your fish and chips...seagulls!

The best fish and chips in the UK will ALWAYS be from coastal towns (I’ll let you lot argue that out between yourselves 🤣). We are tiny islands and the fish will usually be caught the same day 😁

You don't go to London for good fish and chips, you go to a small seaside town where the chippy has a blackboard showing the name of the local fishing boat that the fish came from that day.

Theres a fish and chip shop in almost every city, town and village. We live in a town and we have 3 of them all in a 15 minute walk. Theres probably over 20 in our town alone. My fave is cod fish, chips and mushy peas, tons of salt and vinager 😍

Rice cones are produced by milling rice into a coarse flour. They are widely used to dust fish before applying batter. A light application of rice cones onto wet fish helps absorb excess moisture. The rice cones create a bond for improved batter adhesion and prevent the batter from spitting during frying

The best place to get fish and chips is in a seaside town not London. Some places make beer batter which enhances the taste.

I just checked. We have six fish and chip shops in a two mile radius. I live in the Black Country

I remember getting what was called a “cone of chips”. It was chips served it a cone shaped wrapper

Most young people will never know the gorgeous taste of traditional fish 'n chips...deep-fried in LARD. The taste and texture is totally different from that cooked in oil, and much less greasy. I make my own at home and it's awesome. Just ask seniors.

I think one really big advantage of the UK is our size and that we are an island, you’re never that far from the coast. I think the furthest distance you can be is 84miles or 134km, so finding good seafood is never far away. Whitby is a coastal town on the North East coast of England and is considered one of the best places for fish and chips!

You'll love proper cod and chips. I'm agree with you on the vinegar and tartar sauce. Keep it simple with just a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the fish is possibly all it needs .

Malt Vinegar is a MUST with fish and chips for most people I know. Sometimes lemon juice, or tartar sauce at the side (I usually just have tomato sauce). Couldn't imagine fish and chips without vinegar, I would be amazed if you didn't like it. Have to get the right salt balance with the vinager though

The chippies in Scotland do tend to have other items on the menu like haggis, black pudding, white pudding, smoked sausage, etc. Sometimes deep fried Mars bars, pizza. Usually the food is wrapped in paper and either taken home or eaten from the paper on the move. The English are usually offered salt and vinegar, in Scotland it's different it's salt and sauce. A lot of chippies both in England and Scotland will also offer pizza and kebabs, it varies from shop to shop.

Every town and village pretty much has their own chippy. As a northerner I almost fainted at the price of the fish... but I suppose that's London for you! I think you should try a chippy in a couple of different places in the IK for the regional variations.

Fun fact most English people aren't aware of: in pretty much all chip shops, we don't actually use malted vinegar but instead, a substitute called 'non brewed condiment'. It has the same sour taste without the horrible smell.

As an experiment you could try something we call potato scallop which is sliced boiled potatoes dipped in batter then tried but you must use salt and vinegar on them to eat.

Don’t forget scrapings! Those little bits of the batter that float off the fish when frying. In some parts of the U.K. you can’t get separate servings of these. Crunchy and delicious 😋

Hush Puppies are a brand of shoe in the UK. Also, Chinese chippies are a thing here too. This is essentially a Chinese takeaway and chip shop combined.

Of course we have salt n vinegar on our fish and chips, it goes together well and is traditional here in the uk ..

Friday evening after doing the food shop the local chippie got a look in. Getting the Fish batter right and cooked in the right oil..... Perfect.

I also live in the middle of nowhere in the Uk, we have 3 or 4 chip shops within 10 mins, although my nearest one is run by Turkish people. You have to have salt and vinegar on your fish and chips, it’s practically the law!!

Hi Steve and thank you for promoting our culture. Fish n chips from the Chippy is a must if you come to the UK. I would say within our towns and cities there are thousands of Fish n Chip shops or Chippys. A Fish n Chip Restaurant or Seafood Restaurant are different in the UK from the local Chippy. You can get all sorts from the Chippy is Fish n Chips, pies, sausage, fish cake, scampie, chicken nougats, kebabs, the list goes on depending on the owner. The food comes in paper or a box not on a plate.

I'm from Oldham, North west England near Manchester, the rumour is the first fried chips were invented here, theres a plaque outside one of our fish and chip shops stating it (search levers fish and chips and its on google images). I have a weekly treat once a week when i do my shopping of either a 'chippy' fish chips and peas (no salt and vinegar!!), or an English fry up, its a highlight of my week. you can get a lot more than just fish in a chippy, sometimes i'll get sausage and chips or chips rice and curry. and re hush puppies, all i know called that is footwear lol.

When I was a child growing up in the 60's and 70's fish and chips was a very cheap meal, four of us would eat this every single week....now it's far too expensive to eat regularly as it would be well over £20 now and more of an occasional treat....prices really shot up after the late 90's. There used to be multiple fish and chip shops within close proximity in every town and many had great reputations for having the best fish and chips going. I remember when we bought fish n chips for a sixpence!

Fish, chips n mushy peas or curry sauce.xx

Ian I totally agree I loved fish supper wrapped in newspapers brings back memories um 67 years old here lol

Fish n chips were a religion on Fridays for Dinner when I was growing up in Yorkshire. Mushy peas is the best with the dish. Rice cone is a flour, but many chip shops do different flours depending on the shop.

One thing is to ask for is scraps it's the batter that leaves the fish when dipped into the fryer.

There’s nothing to beat fish ‘n’ chips with salt and vinegar sprinkled over!

We have Hush Puppies, they are a type of shoe, not usually deep fried 😂

In Scotland there are subtle differences. Some are famous - yes, battered and deep-fried chocolate bars are a real thing, though even having grown up there I’ve never felt the need to sample them - but others are less expected. For instance, if you were to order a pizza at some of my local chippies in southwest Scotland, they’ll take a frozen pizza slice out of the freezer, dip it in batter, deep-fry it, and then ask you if you want salt and vinegar on it. Another Scottish curiosity is that we use the word “supper” to mean “and chips”; a fish supper is fish and chips, haggis supper is haggis and chips, soss supper is sausage and chips and so on. And yes, you can order a chip supper for a double portion.

Going to the chippie is a basic staple over here. Often a weekend meal, you get battered fish, sausage, pies and with baked beans curry sauce and mushy peas. So many choices, mainly cod or haddock or pollock to make it cheaper Most villages have them, they're the most common takenaway. They also do pensioners specials so the old people could get a mini version at a good price. It's normallynot an eat in occasion but given it wrapped in paper to take home.

Why do I love watching you so much?! Your wonderment at our funny, British ways is so touching. Please come to the UK!

I am in Birmingham and I have 4 chip shops all within 1/4 of a mile of my house. The one closest is about 50 yards away and is also a drive through. We have an annual fish & chip shop awards so whichever city you visit you will be able to look up which chippy in that area is award winning to help you decide where to visit.

Fish and Chip shops almost on every corner in New Zealand 🇳🇿. Love Fish n chips with either tarter sauce or lemon or lemon salt or chicken salt & lastly malt vinegar. The trick us Fresh Fish or Frozen Fish. Fresh is my favourite.

In scotland you can deep fry anything pretty much - deep fried mars bars are a delecacy, some have started doing deep fried creme eggs but wouldnt suggest it unless you want diabetes lol

malt vinegar is a lot different from normal distilled vinegars, it tastes a lot better and goes well with white fish

Fish and chips tasted amazing in most places but if you get the chance to have it in a coastal town where the fish has just been landed that morning, it’s even better.

Surprisingly, malt vinegar on the fish is very tasty. Remember, the idea is to try everything. I'm definitely not a lover of black pudding, but I did try it once. I'll never forget I once worked with a woman who spent 3 weeks in Europe and only ate at McD and Wendy's because "the food was different."

Quick note: Battered fish was introduced during WW2, and the batter used was a way to cook the fish inside it. Due to the lack of food, people began to eat the batter, and still scoff it to this day.

The vinegar helps cut the greasyness of it lol

Traditional British Fish n Chip shops are all pretty much the same with mainly the same menu but you won't see any corn..meal(?) or other corn products. Probably because corn isn't a standard crop in this country, wheat, oats and barley are our main crops. You wont find stuff like corn dogs etc either.

You can't have Fish and chips without vinegar ! We have four chip shops in my town. You can even get a deep fried Mars Bar there. In Scotland it's referred to as a supper .... like Fish supper or Haggis supper etc. Chip shops were around long before McDonald's in the U.K. great places for carry out food

Vinegar on fish and chips is essential! But it’s not your normal vinegar, it’s actually non-brewed condiment, or “chip shop vinegar”. Hush Puppies are a brand of shoes, never heard of the food. Most fish and chip shops are takeaway only and they’ll do a couple of types of fish, chicken, pies, and maybe saveloys or a battered sausage. Basically anything simple which goes with chips. Sides are curry sauce, mushy peas, sometimes gravy.

I live in a village and every Friday the fish and chip van comes around and parks up for people that can't get out to the chippy 😆 it's so British.

In Scotland we generally cook everything in the fryer - fish, pies, sausage, pizza the lot. Having also lived in the South & North West of England I reckon the Fish & Chips gets better the further North you go. Vinegar is a must, along with salt & Brown sauce 😁

My mum ran a chip shop and she always insisted that you had to cook in lard rather than oil.

I love fish and chips because the food is very delicious and sometimes I ate this snack with newspaper. You need to try it out if you are visiting our British culture. 🥰😋

Fish and chips are amazing with some salt and vinegar, you also need to try mushy peas . The oil is often vegetable oil like sunflower oil , and here in the UK not only does every city have a fish and chip shops but every town and a lot of small villages have them . Oh and here Hush puppies are a type of shoe lol .

There are a few other things on the menu (that are always intended to go with the fish and chips). Including; mushy peas, pickled eggs and gherkins, and a range of pies (steak/chicken, etc.), saveloy sausage or sausage in batter. And then you might find some specials...like Mars bar in batter!

Most chip shops use vegetable oil or rapeseed oil but some places in the north used beef dripping.

When I traveled America I was actually sad at the lack of vinegar anywhere for my fries lol

The best fish & chips I’ve ever eaten was a few months ago in Blackpool. I find fish & chips tend to taste better in the northern part of England.