Well, my pal Steve Skidmore (”Skids”) and I were on our own for dinner last week in London. I had a real jones for a true British fish and chips meal. Since we were staying in Kensington (a London neighborhood) we asked the concierge for a recommendation. “Earl’s Court”, they said. It was also a shwarma place but good fish and chips.
When Skids and I got there we weren’t thrilled so we started to wander. We came across two Bobbies and thought, “Eureka! Surely they will know of a good fish and chips place”. The answer to the question, however, was the start of the great dinner adventure.
“There’s no proper fish and chips around here”, said the first cop. “You know, they are disappearing from all over Britain”, said the second.
The first cop went on to say, “If you want a proper [he pronounced it as "prawper", of course] fish and chips, it’s pretty far; about 15 minutes from here. You’d have to take the number 74 or 430 nightbus. But that’s a proper fish and chips shop, which is a dying breed here. You go down two blocks to the light, turn to the right and take the 74 or 430 bus through two roundabouts to the third stop. The shop is called The Anchor and it’s a proper fish and chips, all right. Just next to the toy store”.
So off we went, down the street to find the nightbus. I had a vision of the Harry Potter movie in my head, of course. But the traffic was heavy, so the real bus wasn’t going very fast. We were clearly off the tourist map and in a residential area of London. After a bit, we weren’t sure if we had passed it or what, so we asked if anyone on the upper deck with us knew of The Anchor - no one had. But they knew the toy store, and that was the next stop, so we clambered down and jumped off at the next stop.
The Anchor, pictured here:
is a nice place run by Maurice and his wife 
at 131 Lillie Road, Fulham, London, SW6 7SX. And we had a fantastic meal.
