Fish and chips is Britain's national dish. According to a travel guide book, it was introduced to London by Murano Jews. It has since been Britain's fast-food since the mid-19th century. Britons consume some 300 million fish and chips meals per year. Unlike crisypy french fries, the English chips are limp but they burst open with flavor when eaten with salt and malt vinegar.
photo: fish & chips (Rock & Sole Plaice, London)
Our first meal in London, thus, has to be fish and chips! After checking into the hotel, we went to join the huge crowd outside Buckingham Palace to see the Queen, who was celebrating her official birthday. After that, we head for our fish and chips at Rock & Sole Plaice (47 Endell St., near Covent Garden). It was recommended in the guidebook. We met another couple from Singapore at the restaurant. I could recognized they were Singaporeans by their Singlish! As we were not that hungry, my wife and I shared one order with an extra side dish of mushy peas (yummy, my favorite!). For the fish, we had a few choices, such a cod or haddock. We went for the later on the recommendation of the waiter as well as the guidebook which quoted a local saying, "haddock is for heroes, cod for zeroes". Overall, it was a good meal, but we agreed that we had better fish and chips in the past. It was nevertheless an enjoyable experience eating "al fresco", taking in the sights, sound and fresh air.
reference: Lonely Planet
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