Serving fish and chips and other UK specialties, The British Embassy is operated by husband-and-wife team Joy Supanya and Jon Niemiec and located at the corner of 12th and Main streets downtown. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
Fish and chips may not be a dish that comes to mind when you think of a Thai restaurant. But last year, owners of Henrico’s Thai Won On Joy Supanya and her UK-born husband, Jon Niemiec, began serving the British standby as a way to draw in lunch customers. Shortly after the special offering made its debut, it became clear the couple had unlocked a surprise hit.
“Within three months, fish and chips sales were the same [as] the Thai food, and we’ve kind of maintained that ever since,” says Niemiec, who grew up 30 miles north of London.
On Monday, Sept. 23, the duo will introduce The British Embassy, an English-inspired restaurant serving fish and chips and other specialties from across the pond, at 1116 E. Main St. downtown.
And like any true British bloke, Niemiec knows it’s all about the batter. “I grew up eating fish and chips, and the secret to good fish and chips is the batter.”
Working as a long-term care insurance underwriter, Niemiec met Supanya, a former massage therapist with a knack for cooking, over a decade ago. Looking to make a change, the pair rolled out Thai Won On in 2019 with Supanya at the helm, first as a food truck, then transitioning to a brick-and-mortar eatery in 2022.
When Supanya took an extended visit to Thailand, the restaurant veered toward a British identity. A close friend of Niemiec’s had agreed to share a safeguarded and well-loved fish and chips recipe, and Niemiec saw an opportunity.
“A friend of mine that I went to school with who had worked in his family fish and chips spot for 40 years retired, and I thought, ‘Well, maybe our kitchen was totally right for this,’” he says.
Soon enough, word spread that an unassuming Thai restaurant tucked away in a Short Pump shopping center was serving some of the area’s best fish and chips. Recognizing that the classic dish deserved a restaurant of its own, the duo decided to make it official. In April, they signed a lease for the downtown building and have spent recent months renovating the 60-seat space.
The main attraction, battered and fried fish and chips, served with a British flag-adorned wedge of lemon plus malt vinegar and tartar sauce, will be offered with either cod or haddock — each available gluten-free.
“We have a lot of celiac clients in our Thai restaurant, and they got very upset when we started doing fish and chips,” Niemiec says of their motivation to offer the gluten-free option. “We make our own batter; we use gluten-free beer and gluten-free flour.”
Beyond the British favorite, the menu will feature Scotch eggs (hard-boiled eggs surrounded by sausage, then breaded and fried), curry chips (stocky fries topped with curry sauce) and the Canadian delicacy poutine (chips topped with brown gravy and cheese curds), along with spring rolls and hot and sour soup, the latter items nods to their Thai sister restaurant.
Diners can also find bangers and mash (pork sausages and mashed potatoes with a rich gravy), a fried fish sandwich served on a housemade roll, and hand-held, puff-pastry-wrapped sausages known as sausage rolls.
Niemec adds that they will serve “the world’s best dessert,” sticky toffee pudding, including a gluten-free version. For fans of Heinz baked beans, Niemiec just ordered 132 tins and plans to keep The British Embassy well stocked.
“It’s a bit of a British obsession, and a big British dish is beans on toast,” he says. “We’re going to be doing a lot of British grocery items, and we’re bringing in beer and wine as well.”
Inside the restaurant will be a mini market of frozen items including British bangers, English bacon, black pudding (blood sausage) and white pudding (similar to its black counterpart but without the blood), and British and European-style beer and wine.
Asked about the size of the local British population, Niemiec responds without pause, “It’s huge. A lot of Brits will come in and buy these from us. There’s a Richmond Brits Facebook group with 367 members, and there’s probably easily double that.”
After the kitchen settles in, he says, they plan to introduce a full English breakfast and a traditional Sunday lunch of roast beef, potatoes and vegetables with “lashings of gravy.”
“That is what 95% of the population of the UK will eat on a Sunday,” Niemiec says. “It’s very much a family thing; sit down for Sunday lunch, and everyone knows what it is.”
Noting that there has been an excitement building since announcing the concept and that Richmond has proven it’s hungry for British fare, Niemiec says, “It’s incredible, it’s been nonstop. ... What kind of got me through this and kept me going is knowing that people like the product, and if the product is good, you’re halfway there.”
The British Embassy is open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
