Since my last visit in Feb 2011, the Fish & Chip Shop has redone most of its space to include a full bar (which is separately named the Tardis Room, though everything is connected and one kitchen), stage area, and pool room. Besides the English themed paraphernalia from pictures of London streets and British double decker buses, the establishment has upped its Britishness with BBC sci-fi notes by also adding in Doctor Who. All the napkin holders show a TARDIS “flying” through its side space. Posters and pictures remind you of various characters varying from Cybermen to K-9 and the glowing sonic screwdriver. Seriously though, there is not any bare wall in this place with the combined British memorabilia and Doctor Who collectibles scattered in every which and where.
There are life-size cutouts of a Dalek, and one of 10th Doctor incarnation David Tennant (who I call the “melancholy Doctor”) and one of the current and 11th Doctor Matt Smith (who I dub “weird face Doctor”). There’s a Dalek clock on the wall and bobble head of the 4th Doctor Who Tom Baker (“scarf Doctor”) at the bar, while in the stage/tv room (where they of course play Doctor Who episodes on BBC America when they air on Saturdays. They also have live music and Doctor Who trivia nights), a lamp boasts a big blue TARDIS model base. The free-play pool room (with a single pool table) randomly plays Doctor Who sounds and Bad Wolf is scrawled on one part of the wall. The bathroom door looks like a TARDIs door. Thank god there is no Weeping Angel.
The food is mostly the same. The Tardis Room Menu is basically the Fish & Chip menu, but with some Doctor Who references thrown into the title, such as “Sycorax Wings of Fire” and “Weeping Angel Onion Rings”, or the only American options they have (burgers) are named TARDIS burger, Dalek Burger, or Davros Burger. Still lots of fried British pub style food, mostly variants of fish and chips in which you vary the fried fish type, as well as scotch eggs, bangers and mash, Cornish pasty, etc. If you are unfortunate enough to be a vegetarian, you are pretty limited as anything fried is done so in animal fat, so look to salad, vegetarian beans on toast, hummus, and mushy peas. At least, to eat.
Beverage wise, besides the expected local tap selection, there are also a variety of British sodas and English pints. In addition, the full bar offers cocktails with Doctor Who themed names, such as “Sonic Screwdriver 10th Doctor” or “Sonic Screwdriver 11th Doctor” using whipped cream vodka and lemonade, with the only difference being the addition of either blue curacao or Midori between the doctors in cocktail format. A drink called Capt. Jack Harness of course uses Captain Morgan Rum and Jack Daniels.
The various seating is a mix of pub style wooden tables in dark wood and also couch-y lounges over a big communal table and and various rooms and little hallways that break up the space that overall makes you feel like you are in someone’s British flat. As you would expect, this space is much bigger on the inside than it may initially appear (reference to the TARDIS of course). So, the end effect is that although this food is definitely not good for your arteries, it’s a place of relaxed fun and you can feel community warmth and welcome. If you are a Doctor Who fan, you will love it here as you go crazy over all the little touches interweaved everywhere in the nook and crannies of The Tardis Room, and you know you are among others geeking it out along with you.
