Our Dinner at The British Chip Shop in Haddonfield, NJ
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THANK YOU, to the owners of The British Chip Shop in Haddonfield, for hosting my family for an amazing meal.
Living in South Jersey, we are certainly blessed to have a plethora of dining options. From your pizza or cheesesteak shop to fine dining to restaurants featuring dishes inspired by locations all over the world, there are plenty to choose from. It’s really a great place for a foodie to live! You know what, though? After doing some research, I was pretty amazed to find that there are NOT many British restaurants in the South Jersey. Whaaaat?! I mean, I kind of get it. To the average person, there isn’t much more to British food than fish and chips. As delicious as fish and chips is, British food is SO MUCH MORE! I am super thankful that we got an opportunity to enjoy the delicious dishes that The British Chip Shop offers and am definitely recommending you plan a visit soon, too!
You know how some people are super proud of their heritage and will exclaim “I’m Italian!” or “I’m Irish!” Well, I’m a mutt. I’m a mix of a different countries and places and, aside from being proud to have ancestors living in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for at least the past 200 years, I’m extremely proud to be of British descent. My great-grandmother emigrated from the United Kingdom when she was just 16 years old. I don’t know much about her, but I do know that she at least brought a memory of family recipes with her. One of them being one of my favorite pastries, Eccles. (recipe coming soon!) When I eat British food, I somehow feel close to my ancestors and that is just one of many reasons that I was so excited to get to experience The British Chip Shop.
We had reservations for 6:30 pm on a Thursday night. Located right on King’s Highway in Downtown Haddonfield, NJ, The British Chip shop stands out with it’s bright, happy signage displaying the Union Jack flag. When the boys and I walked inside, we immediately noticed all the wall art featuring images of London and even some with The Beatles (my favorite!!). The walls of The British Chip Shop are made to look like they’re made from brick resulting in a super cozy and comfortable atmosphere.
As we were waiting for The Mister to arrive, we were shown to our table and then we took the time to walk around and see everything. Right by the cash register is a showcase filled with a wide variety of fresh shortbread cookies (spoiler alert – we got a few and they’re delicious. The Lavender and Earl Gray Tea flavors were my favorite) with an assortment of fresh scones under glass domes on top. The cinnamon swirl scones and the pumpkin scones were calling my name, but they all looked sooooo good! We also got to chat with the waitress on duty and one of the owners of The British Chip Shop, Chef Ian Whitfield.
Soon after, The Mister arrived and we all ordered our meals. For our appetizers, we ordered a cup of Potato Leek Soup, Bacon Crisps, and the Sausage Roll. For our meals, The Mister ordered Fish & Chips (couldn’t resist!), I ordered Cottage Pie, and the boys ordered Grilled Cheese and Chicken Nibbleys off of their children’s menu. While we waited for the food to be prepared, we all played tic-tac-toe on the kids paper placemats. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE when restaurants provide activities for the kids to do while at the restaurant? I love it! I know many parents will bring tablets or a special bag of toys for kids to play with, but I have never been organized enough to do that.) The appetizers arrived pretty quickly and we all gobbled them up!
Everything was delicious! I had never had a Potato Leek Soup that wasn’t pureed before and, I have to say, that I totally enjoyed having the texture of bits of veggies. This soup would be *perfect* for warming the soul and belly on a cold day. It was delicious and seasoned just right. Now, the Bacon Crisps. THE BACON CRISPS. If you go to The British Chip Shop and you don’t get the Bacon Crisps, I will literally be sad for you. These are bacon flavored potato chips served with a malt vinegar mayo. HOLY MOLY. These crispy little chips are like bites of heaven. They’re smoky and have just enough bacon flavor that it’s not overpowering. I swear, Big Dude would’ve eaten the entire dish himself (to be honest, I wouldn’t blame him), but I reminded him to control himself and to share with the rest of the family. If you’re not a foodie, malt vinegar mayo may sound…off-putting, but give it a chance because it’s really quite tasty. I happily dipped every bacon crisp in that malt vinegar mayo and then used some to dip fries and fish in. Our third appetizer, the Sausage Roll came hot (can be ordered cold or hot – I chose hot) and actually could’ve been considered to be a quick meal like one might have a hot dog for a meal. The sausage came wrapped in a flaky pastry and served with a bit of mustard on the side. We cut it up in individual bites and dipped in the mustard. I definitely recommend the Sausage Roll. It wasn’t spicy, but it had plenty of flavor.
After appetizers, our meals arrived! Everything was absolutely delicious and full of flavor. The Mister’s fish and chips was perfect. The fish was cooked through, the batter was crispy and wasn’t greasy at all (even when we went to London, we had greasy fish and chips! ick!). The chips/french fries that were included with The Mister and the boy’s meals were fresh cut, crispy on the outside and, again, not greasy at all. My Cottage Pie was the ultimate comfort food. Underneath cheesy whipped potatoes, there was a (for lack of a better word) “stew” of beef, celery, onions, and carrots. The meat was tender and the sauce was just thick enough that it coated the meat and veggies, but it was not overpowering. The Cottage Pie was served nice and hot and totally hit the spot. The boys gobbled up their meals. Little Dude at all of his grilled cheese except for the crust (par for the course with this 5 year old) and ate most of his fries. The fries were served in a mug from St. Paul’s Cathedral, so that was a extra special presentation that I appreciated (I love when restaurants do what they can to make their presentation stand out from other restaurants!). Big Dude, my little foodie, enjoyed his Chicken Nibbleys (quite possibly, the CUTEST name for chicken fingers) served with fresh fries. It came with a housemade bbq sauce (they make up to three bbq sauces in house!) that was super tasty.
You know what comes after meals, right? DESSERT! We got two different cakes, both with custard served on the side. One was a ginger spice cake and the other was a date cake with toffee. BOTH were equally amazing. Both moist, full of flavor, and seasoned with the right amount of spices. The British Chip Shop has multiple daily dessert options and even a number of desserts available for a set amount of time. We got these two desserts to split among the four of us and, unfortunately for The Mister & I, we didn’t get much! The boys do love desserts, but they seemed to especially love these cakes, so it was a little difficult for poor Mom & Dad to get more than a few bites each!
Our visit to The British Chip Shop in Haddonfield was nothing but wonderful. We got to chat with Chef Ian throughout our experience and I am so impressed with the amount of thought he puts into the creation of each meal – from the ingredients, to the plating…the quality and his skill is very apparent in everything that was served that night. We can’t wait to go back to The British Chip Shop again and enjoy another meal. Thank you, British Chip Shop, for hosting our family for a memorable meal!
