Toff's - Review

Intro
Toff's - Highly Recommended
38 Muswell Hill Broadway,
London, N10 3RT, United Kingdom‎
Phone: 020 88838656‎

The first thing I wanted when I landed in London was some fish and chips and a nice pint - something a Yank in theory cannot get back in the States. Unfortunately, not all fish and chip shops are created equal. One of the first joints we went to the f'n fish batter was soggy as a mother f'er and there were huge pinbones in it. Not good times at all. Fortunately, we stumbled upon Toff's in the Muswell Hill section (burbs) and it was definitely the best I've ever had - hence the highly recommended. I would like to find a better shop though, which I'm assuming there has to be. Overall, I give the restaurant an 78/100.

Our Menu
1) Cod Filet and Chips **
2) Toff's Fish Cakes **

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way


Dish Comments
1) Cod is the proper fish to get I've heard so figured why not go with the locals. Unlike some of the stuff we get in the States, they definitely used an entire ginormous filet of really fresh fish. It was insanely moist and flaky and you could really taste the fish...no Mrs. Paul's fish sticks here my friends. Great stuff. Oddly though, the batter was not crispy at all but merely just there to get a coating - not oily by any means though. The chips (or potatoes) were the same - not crispy at all, but you get this huge potato flavor and it was super creamy on the inside.
2) This was nice and crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Huge, flavors - probably a combo of mayo, cod, and pickles. Great stuff.









Overall Restaurant Experience (78/100)

• Food 7.9/10 – Great fish and chip shop. Maybe someone can clear this up for me, but again the 2-3 joints we went to for fish and chips we never had a crispy coating on the fish or chips. Also, at this joint the malt vinegar was not that vinegary which was a surprise to me. Still very good and makes me want to check out some fish and chip shops back in NYC.
  
• Service 7.0/10 – Took a while to get our order and also to get the food. The waiter was extremely nice - a young 20 something kid and accommodating.
  
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Looks like a bar. Dark wood paneling, dark wood table, dark wood floors. Relatively narrow bar space seating about 20-30. Got there on a Saturday at 1pm and were seated no problem. Crowd consisted of loads of over 50 and 60 year olds. We definitely brought the average age down.
  
• Price 7.4/10 – About 11 pounds (cost, not weight) for the filet, but that thing was a monster. It looked like it came from a 10 pound fish or something. But, I've heard that this is pretty expensive for fish and chips though...still worth it in my opinion.
  

Closing Comments
Great fish and chips joint and according to the shop, it is award winning. I've seen that a bunch in Europe - loads of restaurants enter competitions and proudly display their winnings on the wall. It'd be funny to see Daniel Boulud enter a sea bass en papillote competition and have it displayed up at his restaurant.