Poppies Fish and Chips
6-8 Hanbury Street Spitalfields London E1 6QR
On the edge of Spitalfields market in Hanbury Street, Poppies gets sardine-packed in the evening with a mixture of tourists and local business and trendy media types who have forsaken the attractions of curry in nearby Brick Lane to enjoy a more basic dinner of good old fish and chips. It's a deliberately nostalgic old place, with a World War Two manifest in a period juke box, Winston Churchill memorabilia and young ladies in head scarves interpreting the fashion of the times. The place is canteen-clean and their portions of cod and chips both sizeable and fresh (mine came with with a tasty side order of mushy peas that intrigued my neighbours from France). Naturally there are other choices too, including rock and lemon sole, mackerel, calamari rings and homemade fish cakes, and like all good chippies if you really don't want fish you can have chicken or pie. There's a decent selection of wine and beers on offer as well, although we reckon the best thing to drink with traditional fish and chips is tea – and that's available too. Cheap as chips? Not really– the bill for two of us came to a tick under £30; but there's great vibe and excellent service. Takeaways are available too, and they have another branch on Hawley Crescent in Camden.
