Down East Dulwich way, everyone’s talking about the Sea Cow, part of the ongoing gentri-restaurantification of Lordship Lane. The Sea Cow is a chip shop with attached eating area. But it’s a decidedly posh version of a chippy: at the front of the shop there’s something like a fishmonger’s counter with an impressive variety of fillets of fish on ice. You can choose your own fillet and choose battering, breadcrumbing or grilling as you see fit, which seems like a nice, if time-consuming, touch.
The seating is mostly noodle bar style bench communality. And last night, when I went to try the place out for the first time, both large benches were booked out by CitiGroup, leaving (I think) a total of four places for non-CitiGroup diners. So we couldn’t get in*. So I can’t tell you what the chips are like, or whether, on the basis of a single visit, I feel positive or negative about posh chippies. Instinct says that fish and chips are perfect as they are, cheap and straightforward and without any need for frills. But the Sea Cow certainly smelled good.
*All was not lost: we wandered up the hill to Tandoori Nights which, though it too has gone a long way upmarket since the last time I was there, served us lamb liver curry, rich and savoury and tremendous.