The Guardian
Closer to home, Grace Dent headed to the fourth and newest branch of a
chippy which started out in London’s East End 60 years ago, to sample a style of food that remains dear to her heart because it perked up her “cold, beige, northern childhood”.
Close to Portobello Market, the dining room was full of bemused tourists, and while the food was generally “fine”, Poppies had reduced the experience to a nostalgia trip, “a rosy, yesteryear take on what the Good Old British Chippy used to be: think battered saveloy and chips with a side order of Disney or Paddington.” It made Grace “want to chivvy everyone in the place – the Italians, the Americans, the Japanese – on to a coach and take them to Stranraer to eat vast bundles of salty chips and thickly battered fish that sticks to newspaper.”
She concluded: “I shan’t be going back to Poppies. They’ve had their chips.”
Grace Dent - 2024-05-05
