The Mayfair Chippy
There is a permanent queue, and the way past it is the takeaway counter, where the guide says
you get dealt with immediately(The Good Food Guide).
Why go
Cod or haddock, fresh, in a light beer batter, with thick-cut chips, at a price the Good Food Guide calls reasonable for Mayfair. That is the whole proposition and the guide is blunt that everyone in the room knows it, quoting an American in the queue saying "you come for the fish and chips". The room is tiled, basic and cramped, and the guide files the poshness under the food rather than the decor.
The detail that separates it from a decent fryer is the batter they run alongside the main one. Gluten-free and alcohol-free, a separate mix rather than a substitution, which is a deliberate piece of work in a kitchen whose entire output is one fry. Oysters, crab and mussels sit at the front of a menu most people walk straight past, and the kitchen makes the sauces in house, including a chip shop curry sauce and an HP gravy.
The original opened on North Audley Street in 2015 and there is now a second site on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge (The Mayfair Chippy). This entry is the original, and the two are separate premises with separate inspections.
Order this / avoid
- Order: cod or haddock in the beer batter with the thick-cut chips. Ask for the gluten-free fry if you need it. Oysters first if you are sitting down. Curry sauce or the HP gravy on the side.
- Avoid: the queue, by ordering takeaway. And leave the lobster macaroni cheese and the shepherd's pie to somebody else, at least the first time.
What locals & experts say
- The Good Food Guide, Local Gem:
There seems to be a permanent queue at London's poshest chippy, though any poshness focuses on the food rather than the decor (tiled, basic, cramped)... Everyone is here for generous portions of sparklingly fresh fillet of cod or haddock in a light, crisp beer batter with thick-cut chips, at a reasonable price for Mayfair. Gluten-free (and alcohol-free) batter is also an option.
2 - The venue on itself:
a collection of restaurants that offer award-winning fish and chips alongside an extensive fish menu featuring oysters, crab and mussels.
No award body and no year is attached to that claim anywhere on the site, so it stays a claim.1 - No industry vote, and the vote file points somewhere else. None of the 589 London picks in our chef-vote record names this place. The two voters who name fish and chips at all, Richie Hayes and Elliott Kaye, send people to Regency Cafe in Westminster: "Go on Fish Fridays and get the fish and chips."
- No bylined critic review found in this pass. The Good Food Guide entry is unbylined, which is worth stating rather than dressing up.
Good to know
- Where: 14 North Audley Street W1K 6WE. Five minutes from Bond Street, six from Marble Arch.
- Timing: Sunday to Thursday 10.30am to 9.30pm; Friday and Saturday until 10.30pm. Restaurant and takeaway keep the same hours.
- Booking: worth taking for the dining room. Takeaway is the queue-beater.
- Diet: a separate gluten-free and alcohol-free batter, plus stated vegan options. Nothing on the venue's pages addresses cross-contamination, so anyone celiac should ask about the fryer before ordering.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Westminster, inspected 5 April 2024, FHRSID 720246, components hygiene 0, structural 5, confidence 5, where lower is better.3
- Sites: two. This is the original on North Audley Street. The Knightsbridge site at 138 Brompton Road SW3 1HY is a separate registration, separately inspected in February 2025, and is not curated here.
- On the London signature question: fish and chips is not one of the nine signatures in our London file, so this entry claims none. That is a fact about the file.
Verdict
could-visit — Go if you are in Mayfair and want fish and chips, and take it away rather than queue. The Good Food Guide gives it a Local Gem and describes exactly what it is: 'generous portions of sparklingly fresh fillet of cod or haddock in a light, crisp beer batter with thick-cut chips, at a reasonable price for Mayfair', in a room that is 'tiled, basic, cramped'. The gluten-free batter is the detail worth knowing, because it is a separate alcohol-free fry rather than a shrug, and a fryer that bothers with that is a fryer paying attention. Against it: the long menu is a distraction, no bylined critic has assessed the place, the awards it claims carry no bodies or years, and not one of 589 industry picks in our vote file names it. Two voters in that file talk about fish and chips at all, and both send people to Regency Cafe instead. It is competent, useful where it stands, and not a reason to cross town.