A Taste of London in Irvine

London Chippy’s made-to-order Fish and Chips comes with house-made tartar sauce and malt vinegar. Photo credit London Chippy

When Hiren Patel and Arjun Bhakta met at a friend’s barbecue twelve years ago, little did they know their love of cooking would turn into Irvine’s preeminent London-inspired fish and chips shop. After many years of cooking together, the duo decided to launch London Chippy in Irvine’s Trade Marketplace.

“I thought that would be the greatest concept because there really isn’t fish and chips here,” says Bhakta. “And the fish and chips you do find, they’re the pre-breaded ones.”

There are two ways to make fish and chips: pre-breaded and reheated or freshly battered and fried to order. Patel and Bhakta decided to take the harder approach in an attempt to reach fish and chip bliss.

“If you’re going to make something easy,” warns Bhakta, “it’s probably not going to taste good.”

London Chippy’s version of fish and chips has all the qualities of a perfect specimen: tender and delicate on the inside with a delightfully crisp exterior. Bhakta attributes this not just to his made-to-order method but also to his batter.

“It’s a very light batter,” explains Patel. “You taste the fish more than you taste the batter.”

The fish in question is cod. Originally the duo used Icelandic cod. Unfortunately, the invasion of Ukraine coincided with the launch of the restaurant and they quickly needed to pivot.

“That got shut off real quick,” says Patel. “We moved on to wild-caught Alaskan cod.”

Once the fish and chips recipe was finalized, the men needed to round out the restaurant’s menu with other dishes. Patel, who has a background in the hospitality business and ran a sandwich shop for a time in Atlanta, immediately thought of a shrimp po’boy.

“That’s something that I really like and that I wanted on the menu,” says Patel. “It’s a messy sandwich but we like that.”

The menu also includes a kid-friendly Chicken and Chips and a Yorkshire fry sandwich called a Chip Butty. But second only to the Fish and Chips, London Chippy’s most popular menu item is the samosa made by Patel’s wife, Jigna.

“The samosas go like hotcakes,” Patel says. “My wife makes them at home. It’s her recipe and I can’t keep them on the shelf. She works her butt off all day and then comes home and makes those on the side. Arjun and I really appreciate her support right now.”

Jigna Patel’s contribution to London Chippy helps to lighten the load for Patel and Bhakta, who run London Chippy alone. With Patel at the register and Bhakta in the kitchen, they’re putting in long days.

“Finding labor at this moment is the hardest,” says Bhakta. “It’s exhausting for us.”

Despite those difficulties, Patel and Bhakta have big plans.

“Our goal is to expand,” says Patel. “Next step for us is to open up a food truck.”

Patel says he and Bhakta initially planned to start London Chippy as a food truck before they considered opening a store. They reversed course and opened in the Trade Marketplace when their current location became available. They also took over the Center Hub Bar, located in the middle of the food hall

“We appreciate the fact that we’re close to an airport,” Bhakta says of Trade Marketplace’s proximity to John Wayne Airport. “We get a lot of people waiting for their flights on Saturdays and Sundays. A lot of Irish or British or Australians, they’ll come by to see if it holds up to their standards.”

Despite their challenges, Patel and Bhakta stop at nothing to give customers a great dining experience.

“When people eat our food, we want them to have quality,” says Patel. “That’s priority number one. When customers taste our food, they’ll know we put our heart and soul into it.”

London Chippy is open every day in the Trade Marketplace:
Monday 11:30 am to 3 pm
Tuesday through Saturday 11:30 am to 8 pm
Sunday 12 pm to 7 pm.
2222 Michelson Drive, Suite 212 in Irvine