Chips trend at London fine-dining restaurants as top chefs embrace a humble UK staple
Wagyu carpaccio. Mediterranean fare. Tapas. All served with chips. The humble fried potato dish has never been so elevated in the UK capital
Thick-cut French fries have been hanging around British pans for around 350 years, since potatoes arrived in the late 1500s, by way of Peru and the United States.
They are key to the UK’s quintessential working-class dishes, starting with fish and chips. More recently they have given struggling pubs an additional revenue stream.
But lately, chips have extended their reach in London, showing up in places they were not always welcome.
The unapologetically UK dish is on chalkboard menus at the Frenchest of bistros and is a supplemental offering at fine-dining spots where you would expect to find a black truffle upgrade.
Exhibit A is Tollington’s, a buzzy Spanish-styled restaurant in a former fish-and-chip shop in Finsbury Park, in the north of the capital.
The stand-out on the strong tapas menu, alongside dishes like squid and octopus cooked à la plancha, is chips bravas, a notable tweak on the classic version made with diced potatoes.
