London Calling!
Say hello to Big Ben! It is one of the world’s most iconic images, and certainly one of the most photographed as well. It was all part of some great London adventures I have had, which began with some of the world’s most iconic fish’n’chips, and ended with a greasy food debacle!
Let’s head to London and check out the food!
Time To Eat!
I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time in London while working on various TV projects, and while I was there I got to eat at one of the city’s great restaurants!
The Sea Shell Of Lisson Grove!
I love fish’n’chips, and no one makes a more traditional English version than this place!
There are few things that go together more perfectly than freshly battered fish served with piping hot chips. It’s no surprise Winston Churchill once called fish & chips “the good companions”.
After the First World War, dining rooms at 35 Lisson Grove opened for business preparing and serving cooked fish. It was from these humble beginnings, the restaurant we know today was born. Named, ‘The Sea Shell’, in 1964, before moving to its present location on the corner of Lisson Grove and Shroton Street, the Sea Shell has developed into a leading purveyor of fish and chips.
The desire to provide Londoner’s with the very best fish and chips played an important role in establishing the reputation of the restaurant. That early vision and purpose made The Seashell of Lisson Grove into a fashionable restaurant that rapidly grew from a twelve-seat fast food bar into Londons busiest and best known fish and chip restaurant.
My son Jeff was with me, and I dragged him to The Sea Shell to have some of London’s best!
You see, there is nothing better than traditional fish ‘n’ chips, and The Sea Shell made them better than anyone…
Oh how I love fish’n’chips!
If I was there, I’d dig into some of their classic fish’n’chips and taste the unique flavor of London!
Sadly, the future of London’s iconic fish’n’chip shops is in question now due to skyrocketing prices…here is that story:
Let’s hope that measures can be taken to ensure a bight and tasty future of this British staple!
I love London’s classic pubs, as well as traveling all over the city on “the tube”, the great subway system….I also went to London with my daughter Jessica – her first time there – and we wandered many classic London streets like this one:
We were on the prowl for London’s famed street markets, like Camden Town, Notting Hill, and this one at Covent Garden:
My Street Food Debacle!
It was at one of these London street markets that I had my street food debacle…it all began when I came across this street food vendor:
They were serving delicious deep fried shrimp and crab claws – that’s right, DEEP FRIED SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS…boiled up in this fiery cauldron of grease:
Of course, I just had to have some, and so I ordered a freshly fried container of them – perfectly deep fried SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS:
It was a great deal, about five bucks for an ample-sized container of fried shrimp and crab claws, with a delicious spicy mayonaise….look at how delicious they look!
I loved them! THEY WERE SO GOOD!
As you can see, they were very busy, the chefs were making a ton of them, and they always had a ready supply for anyone who came by…
I enjoyed them SO much that an hour later I asked my daughter to go BACK and get some more with me! Right, nothing wrong with getting one more order of FRIED SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS, right?
As I walked up, this time we were approaching form the other direction, and I found myself BEHIND the cooking tent…and I noticed something…take a look at the picture below – notice the stacks of white boxes at the top of the picture?
As I walked up to them, I saw that they were sitting outside in the sun, in direct sunlight, and water was draining from the boxes into the gutter…yes, they were thawing their shrimp and crab claws in the hot sun…and then I looked at the box labels:
SECTIONED AND FORMED SHRIMP PIECES AND CRAB PARTS, MADE FROM WHITE POLLACK!
Yes, I had been enjoying NOT SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS, but a nicely designed, sectioned and formed PASTE comprised of pollack, egg white, seasonings, binders and chemicals…all formed into little cute shrimp and crab claw SHAPES…sure, they were shrimp and crab claw FLAVORED…and they were sitting outside melting in the sun all day…
And you know what? Since I’m in typing these words now, I lived through the experience just fine, so I say you pay your money and you take your chances, and you end up with much better anecdotes for sharing later! My daughter had a good laugh, we bought a bunch of cool stuff at the street fair, so I say: fry me up a sequel anytime, London!
Back in New York, my love affair with seafood continued with a trip to the iconic Grand Central Oyster Bar!
Here’s what I had there:
There were fresh oysters, fried clams and yes, fish ‘n’chips too!
Click here for the story of this iconic New York restaurant:
Of course, for some like me, there is the perfect way to enjoy an Oyster – so I did – check it out!
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Categories: Alcohol And Bars, Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Eat This!, Food, Food Pictures, Food Travel, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Fish and chips is indeed one of my all-time favorite foods. Being a New Englander, I have a high standard. In London, I sampled many a plate, although not at Sea Shells, and they were really good, but I can’t say better than what we can find on the Maine Coast. But I certainly didn’t complain. I’d love the shrimp and crab claws!
I haven’t been to Maine yet but plan to do a road trip in the next year and will try them all the way up the coast! Thanks for the comment!
A trip to London is always lovely! And fish and chips is a great dish
Our younger daughter lived in London for four years, and we visited often! We tried to go to as many pubs as possible! Pubs are just a fantastic institution. I’m sure you’ve been to Borough Market as well – such a fun place. Fake crab claws??? I’m really surprised and a little disgusted. I mean, that’s something I would expect in America. Glad you survived the sun-thawed surinami.
I should have realized that NO ONE sells real shrimp and crab at a street market when its deep fried!
I had very good fish and chips at Covent Garden. Your shrimp and crab story is very funny 😄
Thanks Robbie…always an adventure!
The fish and chips sound and look amazing. My fallback meal anytime I can’t figure out what I want. Hmmmm!
I will be going back to Grand Central Oyster Bar next week for some more!
I love good fish and chips!
Great story about the shrimps and crab. Made us think about imitation calamari, often made with… pollock!
I think Pollock is the “go to” replacement for any decent seafood! Thanks for sharing that!
pleasure!
Just love British pubs (the ones outside London even better) and the priceless Borough Market . . . hmm > rarely eat battered or fried food > two out of three is a passing grade 🙂 ?
I will sometimes not consider my actions until its too late!
What fun! Makes for a good travel story and happy to see you survived the fake crab and prawns! I love fish n chips, but most of the fish pieces seem to be much smaller here in the US, at least the places I go to. But still tasty! Heading to Ivars, tomorrow!