Moxon's Fish Bar

Friday is, traditionally, fish day.  Here's where you should get yourself some.

Moxon's has been around for ages.  It's a Clapham institution.  Tucked around the corner from Clapham South Tube, it's South West London's finest purveyor of wonderfully fresh fish and seafood.  My experience, also, is that they've yet to be flummoxed by an order.  You give them time, they can probably get it for you. 

What I hadn’t experienced, until very recently, is their fish and chips.  Sharing space on Balham Hill with a Chinese takeaway and a kebab shop that looks like it’s really pushing the boundaries of acceptable sanitation, Moxon's Fish Bar is a little slice of takeaway heaven.  Always crammed with hungry punters, you're a lucky soul (or sole – a-ha!) if you can squeeze yourself into the single, diminutive table.  But once you've grabbed it you're in for a treat. 

Moxon's is now selling what I am convinced is London's best fish and chips.  Yes, I know that's a big statement.  No, I don’t care.  Because I'm pretty sure I'm right.  The fish tastes so fresh it's hard to believe that you're so many miles from the sea.  The chips are perfect chippy chips.  The batter is light and crisp.  It's just bloody brilliant.

Go.  Go now.

 - GrubsterBoy - 

BTW: Anyone know what on earth this is supposed to be?  I aint touching it.

The Anthologist

Based round the back of Bank Tube Station, The Anthologist is an all-things-to-all-men bar, one of a whole host of other bars and pubs in the city that aim to cater to the causal drinker, the client luncher, the cocktail enthusiast, the bite-to-eat-between-meetings worker – in short, the majority of the chattering professional classes that make up the local working populace.

I stopped in for lunch.  I have drunk there in the evening, but only ever in a pint-after-work kind of way – sadly, because their cocktail list looks wicked.  But I was in the are visiting a friend for lunch, and so suggested it. 

Lunch was spot of for what we wanted.  Ben had the market fish, which came in a big basket full of battered bits of haddock, cod and salmon, on a mound of chips.

I settled in to the Southern fried chicken burger.  This was pretty epic – an entire chicken breast filleted and fried, stuck in a bun.

As you can see, some thought evidently went into presentation.  Ben's big basket was a sight to see, and my burger, served up in an army mess tin, was a playful piece of exhibition.   

I think presentation is important because it shows that the chef really likes his/her food and wants it to come out looking good and whetting your appetite.  But it's also often a symptom that the joint is pretty mediocre – that perhaps the chef has tried to hide his/her shortcomings with a big song and a dance about how it looks. 

Fortunately, The Anthologist's chef falls into the first camp.  The food was great, easily matching the lengths that had been gone to to make it look fun. 

 - GrubsterBoy -