Geales, 2 Farmer Street, London

We're sipping champagne on slippery banquettes next to a former Newsnight presenter. Mariella Frostrup and A A Gill's Blonde have just been wafted upstairs to their table. Welcome to Geales, of Notting Hill. It's a chippy, Jim, but not as we know it.

One of London's great survivors – it opened the day after the First World War broke out – Geales was ripe for a designer makeover. Situated in a desirable little enclave of million-pound cottages just off Notting Hill Gate, it has remained a beacon of something like authenticity while a tidal wave of money swept through the area. As food fashions came and went, Geales continued to serve reliably good fish and chips to loyal locals, plus visiting Americans who could kid themselves that this is what England is really like.

The clientele always included a showbiz element, often the kind of celeb who likes to signal how little they've been changed by fame and money. Michael Parkinson, for example, used to bring his production team here after recording his BBC show in the Seventies. I'm pretty sure Kenny Everett was a regular.

Family-run for three generations, Geales was recently acquired by Mark Fuller, an ex music-biz manager who brings a certain rock'*'roll swagger to the London restaurant scene with ventures like Mayfair's Embassy.

His reinvention of Geales has been dramatic. The cramped and homely interior has been replaced by a look that can only be described as high-glamour retro. The wainscotted walls are a Farrow & Ball shade of grey (Dead Turbot? Cod Belly?), there are black-and-white checkered tablecloths and vintage photos of fishing scenes. All discreetly tasteful, apart from the exuberant Rock Gothic flourishes: huge black lacquered mirrors and lamps dangling jet beads, like a discarded item of Cher's stage wear. From being somewhere Michael Parkinson once felt at ease, it now looks like somewhere David Furnish would kick back for a low-key evening.

Still, it's sleek and comfortable, and the tables are well-spaced. And who goes to a fish and chip restaurant for the décor? Fuller's executive chef, the estimable Garry Hollihead, has updated Geales's menu with an eye on the success of those other reinvented old-timers, The Ivy and J Sheekey. Fried fish – cod, hake, haddock and sole – are at the heart of his menu, supplemented by reworkings of some trad favourites, such as dressed crab, prawn cocktail and fish pie.

Starters included a decent fish soup, bisque-based but not too pungent, properly accessorised with croutons, rouille and grated Gruyère. Rock oysters, £8 for half a dozen, come with a n0-fuss shallot vinegar. Only Thai soft-shell crab was sub par, a single hefty creature which was muddily chewy rather than crisp.

The main event, though – the fish and chips – came well up to expectations. Fried in beef dripping, according to Geales tradition, and robed in a super-light, super-crisp beer batter, it was a Platonic ideal of what a fish supper should be. The chips offered that dreamed-of combination of exterior crunch and fluffy interior, but came in outrageously tiny portions. OK, so side orders cost only £2, but frankly we would rather have paid a fiver for an adult-sized portion.

Other sides, including onion rings, authentic mushy peas and proper, gherkiny tartar sauce, were first-rate, as was the only non-fried main course – fish cakes with a pleasingly high salmon content, served with a jug of fresh tomato sauce.

A neighbouring table of American visitors were just loving the place, cooing with delight over the heavily accented English of our French waitress (" Isn't she darling?"). Service struck us as well-meaning but erratic, with peculiar lulls possibly not unrelated to the fact that there were two other restaurant critics on the premises, including the Sunday Times reviewer and eight of his close personal friends.

The retro theme carries through to the pudding list, which offers rice pudding and jam roly poly for those who haven't consumed quite enough artery-furring stodge. There's even a retro element to the pricing – the 15p cover charge has been retained from the old days. That, however, seems like the only remnant of the old Geales to have survived. Somehow, this makeover has taken away the heart of the place. What remains is perfectly fine, but feels ersatz in a way that The Ivy or J Sheekey never do.

One of my guests joked that the original sign outside should have been changed to "I Saw You Coming", which is slightly unfair; at around £35 a head, prices are not grotesque, and in any case, fish shouldn't be cheap. But with wine and service added, we ended up paying over £50 per person. Which is quite something for a fish supper, even in Notting Hill.

Geales 2 Farmer Street, London W8 (020-7727 7528)

Food

Ambience

Service

Around £50 each including wine and service