Lisa, a friend from Philly, said she wanted to eat at Chip Shop in Brooklyn, so we headed to its sole remaining location at 129 Atlantic Avenue at Henry Street in Boerum Heights. This is a location I know quite well, since I attended college here in the Stone Age and have been a frequenter of the area since; it’s near the waterside, which has been so altered by development lately as it’s unrecognisable by Brooklynites of a certain age.
The place is strictly no-frills with wood floors, brick walls, a tin ceiling, an oak bar and football on the telly. Chip Shop’s beer and ale selection is specially emphasized on its website and chalkboards. We were in on a lazy weekday afternoon, so there were no great crowds.
The menu is surprisingly large with permutations of fish and chips (haddock, cod or plaice), chicken fingers, chicken curry, steak & kidney pie, mac and cheese, and plenty of items served in the U.K. such as bangers and mash (sausage and fried potato), haggis (sheep organs in onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock), Welsh rarebit (spiced melted cheese poured over toast), Scotch Eggs (hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat, coated in bread crumbs and baked) and many others. There’s also a decent dessert selection that gets compliments but after a full plate of fish and chips, we thought it unwise to indulge in that, and we were en route to a local bakery for that, anyway.
Taking a break from my usual Gorton’s fish sticks and Birdseye at home, I ordered the haddock, which was hacked off a particularly large fish and fried up to perfection with batter. The fries, ah, chips, were not the greatest (I have had better at a number of places but for me Nathan’s is immediately referenced) but there were enough to suit. Ketchup, tartar and the usual condiments are provided.
I’m always somewhat intimidated by lengthy beer selections (how should I know what’s good, or what makes them good?; I like a fruity taste, though not to the point where it tastes like Hi-C). If there are Brooklyn-brewed beers on the menu I order one, to support the locals.
I was fairly full but we later made our way to another jointI wanted to try in these parts, the bakery Four and Twenty Blackbirds, so after hot chocolate and pie there, both of us were pretty full for the day despite walking about 5 miles.
I don’t give letter ratings, but I’ll go back, the food is good, the service appropriately but not overly attentive. Yelp.com reviews are generally in the 4s and 5s.
11/2/15