ardmore tea room

second to last halifax bish and batter! we're running out of places to go, and just in time too, as I need to head back west. today we had co-investigators smolyn, mandryk, kellar, mandryk, mack and reilly out. although investigators kellar and reilly had their own agenda for hotdog.blogspot.com and spaghetti.blogspot.com respectively. we don't talk to them any more.

fortunately the rest of us got the memo and had the fish and chips, since today is friday (fish and chips on special at the ardmore tea room on friday!). the tea room is a bit of a halifax institution, and the placemat will tell you all about it. I didn't read it, so I can't even paraphrase here, but I will say this: go there for breakfast, not fish and chips. oops, did that give away the rest of the review?

I'm getting a little tired of writing fish reviews: this is the seventh I've written today because I've been busy, and left them all to the last minute. there's only so many ways you can say generally the same thing: the fish was just ok, the fries were nasty, processed and frozen, and my coke came in a lovely plastic cup.

so there you have it. to sum up, go to the ardmore tea room for breakfast, and order the baked beans. that's their specialty, not the fish and chips. I can't decide if the flies take away or add to the atmosphere score. you'll have to judge that one on your own.

price: $6 + pop & hst
food: &&&/5
atmosphere: &&&/5
overall: &&&/5

ches's

technically not a friday bish 'n' batter run, but I was in newfoundland again and had to stop at world (?) famous ches's, a nfld tradition. co-investigator g joined me to check out what all the fuss is about.

two words: disappointment. ches's is bland. the fish tasted slightly old, and was cooked dry. the fries were frozen and everything was greased up. I like the grease obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this, but there can be too much of a good thing. or bad thing, depending on your perspective.

definitely not worth a trip to nfld just for ches's. instead, talk a local into making you cooked dinner on sunday afternoon. now _that's worth a trip. atmosphere gets an extra point because even though it was a regular diner-like restaurant, it was in nfld so everyone had awesome accents.

price: ~$8 + pineapple crush! & hst
food: &.5/5(fish & chips), &&&&&/5(pineapple crush)
atmosphere: &&&/5
overall: &&&/5

mic mac beverage room

this week co-investigators smolyn and wallace joined me in the hunt for camille's fish and chips, the last dedicated fish and chips joint on our list of places to visit. alas when we reached the location, there was no camille's to be found. asking at a nearby library, they said it had been closed for years, and suggested the nearby mic mac beverage room. we booted over there to find a neighbourhood pub full of teachers, as it was a professional day.

things were a little slow to get going since the place was so busy, so we started with a plate of dry roasted riblets. tasty, but expensive for a dish that's mostly bone. the fish was exactly what one expects from a pub, generous, evenly covered in a substantial batter, and accompanied by a mountain of fries.

the mic mac beverage room has what margaret would call honest fish and chips. the blue-collar down home atmosphere worth a trip to dartmouth if you can coincide with a professional day, or really any busy friday. we were expecting a "sociable" to erupt at any moment.

price: ~$6 + riblets & hst
food: &&&.5/5
atmosphere: &&&&/5
overall: &&&.9/5

la hoyo

la hoyo is an african restaurant that has taken on a broaster chicken franchise to try and boost sales (my assumption). their chicken is the best fried in the halifax region, and I was curious to see what their broaster technique would do for fish and chips. co-investigator smolyn joined me to check it out.

the fish here was slender, lightly coated in a very tasty peppery seasoned batter. I'm not sure if this is standard broaster chicken batter or their recipe, as it did have a hint of (what I assume to be) northern african spices. complementing the fish was a garlic tartar sauce that while not traditional, went extremely well. the fries are their standard broaster chicken breaded potato wedges. I couldn't go to la hoyo without getting a piece of chicken as well, which was also tasty.

la hoyo was a very pleasant suprise. for a non-traditional take on the fish and chip recipe, they deliver impressive flavour. I'm not a fan of potato wedges, but they're better than a frozen processed chip. cheap, tasty, downtown.

price: $5.50 + mango smoothie & broaster chicken breast & hst
food: &&&&/5
atmosphere: &&&/5
overall: &&&&/5

old triangle

the old triangle is a downtown establishment noted for it's trifecta of food, drink, and song (I'm parroting the menu here). co-investigators smolyn and mack give a thumbs up on the second (guinness), we didn't experience the third, and the remainder of the review will focus on the first with a specific look at a sub-genre, the so-called fish and chips.

fish was wrapped in a thick batter, dripping with grease. the 'slaw was excellent, trading mayo for a light poppyseed vinaigrette and incorporating red onion and pepper. fries were greasy, and the tartar was far too rich.

this one was floated by the guinness.

(full disclosure: it's been almost a month since we visited the old triangle, and my memory is a little fuzzy)

price: ~$8 + pop & hst
food: &&/5
atmosphere: &&&/5
overall: &&.6/5

little fish

little fish is the casual little brother to the five fishermen, the best seafood restaurant in halifax. regardless of whether they share a kitchen, expectations were high for the belgian beer battered haddock, fennel slaw, shoestring fries and red onion ketchup.

the fries were the best part of this meal: thinly cut and just the right amount of cooking. the fish didn't fare so well, with the belgian beer batter suffering from an excess of porosity resulting in the dreaded overcooked grease saturation. 'slaw gained from the addition of fennel, but red onion ketchup? that's going a little too far, ketchup's processed nature doesn't benefit from being fiddled with.

for a reasonable price it's nice to have close to real restaurant service, decent cutlery, and beverages in glass glasses. unfortunately little fish trades some hoity toit for actual fish and chip quality. fine for entertaining business guests, but not great for getting your bish 'n' batter on. I'm going to dock 1/2 an & for wasted potential.

(full disclosure: it's been almost a month since we visited little fish, and my memory is a little fuzzy)

price: $10 + pop & hst
food: &&.5/5
atmosphere: &&.5/5
overall: &&.5/5

willman's fried foods

we'd had conflicting reports from locals as to the fitness of willman's fried foods. since it's our job to report on any and all comers regardless of prior assessment, co-investigators smolyn and david joined me to check it out today.

service was fast and friendly. the batter suffered from an uneven application, so the fish was slightly dry as a result. chips were a little under-cooked, and seemed more like chip bits than fries but that's a minor complaint.

willman's appeared to be under new management. between the food and the staff, the staff made a better impression, as they seemed genuinely interested in how we liked the food, and even going as far as to offer us extra fish on the house (sadly I was full). if they tweak their batter and fry the chips a little longer, willman's could be great.

(full disclosure: it's been over a month since we visited willman's, and my memory is a little fuzzy)

price: ~$7 + pop & hst
food: &&&/5
atmosphere: &&&/5
overall: &&&/5

wharf wraps [final revisit]

this week taryn's sister laurel was visiting from the west coast so we thought a trip to fisherman's cove might be a nice idea. this obviously means wharf wraps, and it was an opportunity for co-investigator mandryk to check it out as she had missed the previous two trips.

service was terrible on this visit. the server kept telling us how busy she was with the customers inside. I'm sorry, but that's not our fault. are they paying more in there for better service? I didn't think so. the fish was overcooked and unevenly battered, definitely the lowest quality fish we've had there so far.

sorry wharf wraps, but you're losing the title of best fish and chips in the hrm. I don't think we'll be back again.

captains' catch [revisit]

last day in the edgelab for co-investigator cressman! to celebrate, we had a lovely lunch down on the waterfront. it was busy as heck due to the busker's festival, but we managed to fight through the crowds and take care of some fishy business.

the food portion of this review is much the same as the previous visit with the following changes: chips were cooked to perfection, there was malt vinegar available, and the fish was a little more variable in the batter coverage, resulting in a few pieces that were over-cooked. as such, the ampersand rating doesn't change. a solid choice for fish in halifax.

deer lake irving big stop

this bish'n'batter review found me waiting in deer lake, newfoundland for 5 hours for a bus. the bus stop was at an irving gas station, and fortunately this one had a big stop restaurant attached. I wasn't really feeling the fish and chips, but since it was friday and they were available, grease was consumed.

things looked good on arrival, with big chunks of smoothly battered fish, and a generous portion of truck stop fries. sadly it was an illusion; the fried items were saturated in grease, and thin strips of fish were well protected by a thick layer of batter. too bad the batter didn't cook all the way through. there was also a lemon wedge for good measure.

if you're waiting on a 5hr bus ride, you could do a fair sight better than big stop fish and chips beforehand. had the fish filled out a more substantive portion of the fish/batter combo it may have been a decent meal, but $9.99 for two tiny pieces of fish is inexcusable.

price: $9.99 & hst
food: &/5
atmosphere: &&&/5
overall: &&/5

murphy's fish & chips

we've been meaning to hit murphy's since we learned of their lofty claim of the best fish and chips in canada. we would have been hastier with our review had the superlatives not been tempered by several other joints around here variously offering the best in nova scotia and the best in north america. however, we were given a chance to stop in on a recent trip to newfoundland so we took the hit.

things started off rough with my fountain root beer containing only colouring and no flavour (read: sugar). the sprite replacement wasn't much better in terms of syrup content. the fish was well coated in a very light batter, and cooked in fresh oil. the batter itself was rather bland (perhaps this is where the "english style" comes in?) and just tasted like oil. fries were of the terrible breaded frozen variety, taryns mashed potatoes were very obviously from powder/flakes and were extremely bland and had no place being served in a restaurant.

murphy's gets the big thumbs down on this visit. I'm unclear as to whether the people offering testimonials on the website (chatelaine magazine, don cherry and jay leno, globe and mail) have ever bothered to eat fish and chips anywhere else.

price: $5.55 + pop & hst
food: &/5
atmosphere: &&/5
overall: &&/5

murphy's website