captains' catch

this week we were in the mood to take advantage of the good weather, and check out one of the little shops down on the waterfront. these can be hit or miss: it's so hard to tell when a place will be too touristy and have poor quality food for far too much money. co-investigators smolyn, kirstie, david, and I started towards the south end and headed north until we found captains' catch. I don't know if it was supposed to be captain's catch, but the former is what's on the sign out front so that's what I'm going with.

even though captains' catch is just a small takeout shop, I was impressed by bags of potatoes visible towards the back of the kitchen. it's always comforting to know that the fries are cut fresh and in-house, instead of being frozen pressed-starch products. we ordered a round of 2pc and pepsi-branded beverages, and received our food in 3-4 minutes. in my opinion, this is the ideal waiting time for fish and chips - just long enough that they had to prepare it for you, not too long that you wonder what the heck they might be doing while you're waiting.

after jockeying for position at one of the few coveted picnic tables in the area, we managed to get seated and hit the grease. aside from a problematic uneven batter application on some pieces, the fish was quite well received. it was paired with the standard kraft tartar sauce which, much like mcdonalds, is not very good but can be comforting in its reliable ubiquity and resistance to deviation from the standard recipe. the homecut fries are a nice change, and while not crispy, were preferred to the frozen competition. no coleslaw or malt vinegar were to be had.

captains' catch could have very easily taken advantage of their neverending supply of fresh tourists to turn out a shoddy product at huge markup, but they go the extra mile to make decent food for a reasonable price. they certainly beat my expectations for the location, and I would recommend them to anyone looking for an enjoyable summer lunch on the boardwalk. kirstie was a little saddened by the rough looking baby starlings in the area, and especially the one that got its head nipped by a seagull in it's quest to nab a chip. this might be a good time to tell the kids in the audience: never feed the wildlife, as it hurts them more than it hurts you. or something.

price: $7 + pop & hst
food: &&&&.%/5
atmosphere: &&&&/5
overall: &&&&.#/5

captains' catch
halifax waterfront, canada
show/hide map

google maps requires a fancier browser. sorry.