The Definitive Guide to the Best Chips

Although I have no official training, I’ve eaten enough chips and fries in my lifetime that KFC has seemingly taken me slagging their fries off in a four year old tweet seriously. Whilst I had nothing personally to do with the recent innovation behind the overhaul of their chips, KFC reached out to me last month to ask if they could use my tweet proclaiming their fries ‘crap’ in a promotion alongside their new campaign. I thought it was a laugh, was promised free chicken and chips in return (which I have yet to receive…*side eyes KFC*), had the chance to piss off my KFC obsessed friend Mia, so agreed. Then the BBC got hold of it and it was all a bit of fun until it led to me spending my morning asking the Daily Fail to take down the photo they used of mine without permission. Whilst I wait for them to either pay me or take down my selfie, I’m going to serve up my definitive guide to the best chips, because why not? I often write about food, am already firmly on this bandwagon and beyond looking like a dick at this point, so here it goes. And as we’re all aware – crispiness, thickness and saltiness all amount to a very specific and personal preference, so opinions all Chip Girl’s own.

N.B. For the sake of this post, I am including both chips (of the chunkier form) and fries here. Please keep the continued arguments of what constitutes a chip, fry and crisp to your what’s app groups.

The Fast Food Fries
Whilst most will shout McDonald’s as their favourite fast food fries, I prefer Burger King for their extra crispiness and for never being too salty. I have been known to ask a McDonald’s in Melbourne to hold the salt and wait extra time for the goods at 2am after a night out. That said, McDonald’s have dialed down the sodium and upped the crisp, so it’s become a lot closer in the stakes lately.

The Posh Chip
The best ‘posh’ chips around – that is to say, found in a more upmarket restaurant – are the triple cooked chips at Hawksmoor. Competition is high, and maybe if I ate out at fancy restaurants more often I would have a whole roster of posh chips listed here, but I don’t so for me it’s Hawksmoor all day long. Super crispy whilst remaining fluffy inside, never too greasy, the Hawksmoor triple cooked chip is a work of art.

The Fish and Chip Shop Chip
On moving to South East London I was blessed to find that one of the best chippy’s not only in London but in the UK, is right in my vicinity. Brockley’s Rock do the best fish and chip shop chips I’ve ever had, and have the reputation to go with it, with multiple awards and a queue out the door most nights. They’re also the friendliest bunch around and you can eat in with BYOB. A South East London treasure.

The Chicken Salt Fries
If there’s one thing that has come out of this KFC fries debate, it’s that Australians are confident that their KFC fries are pretty damn good, and many seem to agree that this is down to the chicken salt they add to them. Burger Gods Patty & Bun serve up great crispy fries that you can get as either rosemary salted or chicken salted. Both are great, but if there are any Aussies that want a taste of home in the UK, Patty & Bun is the spot to go for your chips.

The Rosemary Salted Fries
Whilst we’re on the subject of flavoured salted fries, I can’t not mention the banging rosemary variety at Honest Burgers. Roughly cut, skin on and plenty of them, these are the perfect accompaniment to some magnificent burgers. Go for the burgers, stay longer for the fries.

The Cajun Fries
I personally don’t rate Five Guys’ burgers, but I will take a portion of their cajun fries if you’re offering. And when I say a portion I mean a *portion* – they give you so many you could easily share. Or maybe not, depends how much you love a cajun fry, I guess.

The Real French Fries
At Le Relais de Venise there is just one dish on the menu, so it would be embarrassing if they did it badly. Entrecôte steak served with a famous sauce and quite literally endless (the staff will keep topping you up until you’re done) piles of thin, ultra crispy and perfectly salted French fries ensure this Parisian export delivers on the chip front every time.

The International Fries
I’ve had plenty of good chips around the world (and many bad ones, too), but I have to give a shout out to Emily in NYC, home of the famous Emmy burger. Emily only serves curly fries, which everyone knows is in fact the best form of potato. It is beyond me why more places don’t follow suit. Perhaps KFC will lead the change and give the people what they want?