Fish and Chips

[foodiesnorth]

AND....your best downtown fish and chips. Scottish or Brit, no matter...we want the best....preferably in newspaper. Go on TO..impress us.

[gastronom]

the place in st lawrence market looks quite good, I always get the octopus there, but hte fish and chips look fresh and tasty.

[Wil]

Anyone with downtown recs? Specifically the core? Seems very lacking anything approaching goodness!

[Teep]

There are no specialty F&C shops in the core. You may find it a pub. I had it at the sports bar on Yonge and Davenport and theirs was good.

The nearest to the core would be Deep Blue on Bloor and Broadview, just across the street from the subway station (which I've yet to visit). Somethin' Fishy is Dundas West 2 blocks west of Spadina.

[Leslieville]

Deep Blue Is on Broadview (east side), south of Danforth. It's almost across from the Loblaws, but not quite.

[mrbozo]

Caz's at Davenport and Bedford makes a tasty and generously-sized order of fish and chips. And they fry with beef tallow.

[KitchenVoodoo]

Beef tallow? I know that's authentic, but talk about a heart attack on a plate, and scraping the grease out of your mouth for days.....
I remember having great F&C in Paris Ontario of all places - now this was YEARS ago, but I was impressed. Nice town too.

[dano bannano]

If you are ever in Georgetown hit up Golden Fish and Chips on main street, my friends and I swear by this place

[garlicandwingnut]

Penrose on Mt. Pleasant and York(e) on Laird are both very good. Penrose still fries with beef tallow so don't tell your cardiologist or life insurance guy.

[mrbozo]

Aha! Any other places here that do their fries in tallow?

[robb]

Try Fisherman's Corner in strip mall on Dufferin, about 2 -3 blocks south of Yorkdale. Been there for ever and the fish and chips are awesome. Huge portions, great prices and very authentic. Enjoy!!

[gastronom]

there is a place in kensigton, the fish is good, and chips are amazing. they are belgian style, double fried and coated with a lovely sauce.

[mrbozo]

What is the name of this place? And when and what are they coated with?

[gastronom]

http://www.blogto.com/announcements/2...

something fishy..is the name. after the double fry, she tossesem in a bowl, adds some chive and/or parsley, then coats it with a bbq like sauce, very lightly. it's quite nice.

[mrbozo]

Thanks. I'll check it out.

[Teep]

Yes their fries (Belgium and regular) are good, but while the fish is fresh, we found it to be not exactly tasty, and the portion is small. We prefer Caz's.

[gastronom]

exactly while i said the fish is good...and the fries are great.

[KitchenVoodoo]

I just tried Reliable in Leslieville (Queen East around Logan/Carlaw) and liked it - didn't get that "oh my God why did I do that to myself" feeling that a fish and chip indulgence usually brings on. I especially liked the spray bottles of malt vinegar - what a great idea!
British Style at Dundas and Coxwell - I almost needed a hospital afterwards it was so heavy.

[Zengarden]

I didn't like it as I had hoped. Was impressed with the timers, etc. but the fish was overcooked.

[air621]

I haven't been to British since the ownership changed hands. And I only went once. I watched as my two orders were cut from a massive piece of halibut. It was really the best I've ever had along with the handcut chips. Mushy peas were off the menu though. I'm reluctant to go back, I'd rather preserve that one great memory.

[Jay98]

We tried Deep Blue (Danforth & Broadview) last Friday - a small portion of cod, Halibut & Haddock - all were lightly battered & very tasty.

However, i still love my fish & chips at Coxwell & Dundas....yum

[smr714]

Woodgreen's fish and chips, a hole in the wall but good old fashioned fish and chips. North side of Queen a few blocks east of Broadview.

[Wil]

Danny's in Markham. No one talks about here cause it's so far away I guess? But many British ex-pats say this place is very good. 4721 Hwy 7, just east of Kennedy (where the old IGA was) This place is great, even has mushy peas for the true authentic chippy store. :)

[futronic]

I used to go to Danny's years ago (4-5?) on a regular basis when I worked in Markham. The fish in particular was fantastic, with a nice crispy batter.

Unfortunately there was a change in ownership, and after that, quality went down. Things like chips cooked at too low a temperature so they absorbed a lot of oil, and infrequent changing of oil that resulting in off odors in the food.

Has there been another change of ownership over the years and allowed a return to glory, if you will?

[Wil]

Not sure if there has been a change in ownership since then, I've only been going for about 1.5 years so I don't have much of a comparison. It's still the best that I've had in the GTA.

[dory]

It seems to me that there is a Danny's Fish and Chips on the east side of Hwy. 11 near the arena in Stroud, south of Barrie. It's a burgundy sign like the one in Unionville. Could it be the same?

And by the way not far north of that is a chip truck (the Frying Dutchman) that does pretty decent poutine. By decent I mean lots of fries, awash in (not too salty) gravy, and gooey cheese. We get the large, which I think is $11 and share it between 2 adults and a child. He also cooks up an assortment fish including but not limited to varieties other than halibut, cod and haddock. Haven't tried it yet. We're usually in the area between meals but need a pre-cottage fix of poutine.

[TexSquared]

Forget downtown. Go to High Street in North York. Owned and operated by the McNie family.

[juno]

With age, I don't find myself yearning for artery-clogging fish and chips as much as I used to. But when ever I do get the urge, I repair to Penrose Fish and Chips, on Mount Pleasant Ave. south of Eglinton. It's not too hard for a joint to do good fish and chips. Cut the potatoes fresh every morning so that your chips won't taste like cardboard. Change the frying oil regularly so that your deep-fried fish won't be too greasy. And don't mess around with other dishes, like hamburgers or hot dogs, which distract you from your main order of business: fish (preferably halibut) and chips. Penrose has been doing just that for about 40 years. The second generation of the same family is still running it, and they rarely have a bad day at the fryer. There are probably other spots around town that do it just as well, but - given the traffic hell that Toronto has become - I'm not given to chasing around to taste-test them. After all, Penrose is just about 15 minutes from where I live, and there's free parking on nearby side streets off Mount Pleasant. And the place always has malt vinegar at hand, unlike some other joints that supply only white vinegar to sprinkle on its fish and chips (a sacrilige). You get newspaper only if you do take-out. But why do take-out when fish and chips taste best served on a plate immediately out of the fryer?

[fruglescot]

There are many threads here on best F&C but of late "High Street" gets the nod by far at least IMHO. However, it is not downtown. It's in North Toronto, Underhill Rd. (in the plaza) just north of Lawrence Ave East at Don Valley Prkwy exit. Definitely worth the trip!

[burlgurl]

for anyone in Burlington, it has to be Black Bull on guelph ln..close second is the Thistle..

[mlukan]

Dont go to chippy's!!. Their fries are gross, most chowhounders would agree . It is hard to find a place in Toronto that has both good fish and good chips. Most have one that good and one thats gross. Harbord has good fries and the newspaper but not so good fish. Chippy's is decent fish but fries blah burnt gross, they do have a great homemade tartar sauce though. Reliables on queen west is ok, both fish and chips are decent. I consider British style Fish and chips to be the best ive had in town. Excellent fish and decent fries. The only complaint I would have is they use the packaged tartar sauce. Test out British style fish and chips.

[foodiesnorth]

I shall do that..the newspaper is more of a "that would be nice" thing...not essential. I remeber a fish and chip shop in, of all places, Saskatoon, that served them in newspaper...they happen still to be the best I can recall. Brings back some very fond food memories.

[mainja]

I used to ADORE British Style Fish and Chips. With the new owner I have to say, it's nothing like it used to be.

That said, it's still pretty good, so if you go without expecting the nirvana that it was in the past you'd probably still be pretty pleased.

[vorpal]

I loved it under the old owner and was very disappointed when I went under the new owner. The fish portion looked decently sized but turned out to be deceptively half breading. It was also overcooked and had a very strong fishy taste. Fries were fine; no complaints there.

I've been hitting up Parkside Fish and Chips lately as it's conveniently located for me. Very good fish, but not great chips, unfortunately.

[embee]

British Style was very disappointing.

[deabot]

I don't think that chippy's tartar sauce is homemade anymore.....the last time i went it didn't looked homemade....looked and tasted rather generic...plus the fact that I saw the fry guy scoping sauce out of a hellmans bucket didn't help matters. Can anyone confirm?

[Blueicus]

Actually I think the fact that they take it out of the hellman's is a better sign. Hellman's doesn't normally make tartar sauce so it means they're probably using that as the mayo base... okay, so they don't make their own mayo (and they're probably not making their own pickles), but the mayo bucket is a good sign. However, the proof is in the taste.

[deelicious]

Hellman's does make a tartar sauce that is quite popular.

Anyway, isn't the important issue whether you enjoyed the sauce or not? Seems pretty snobby or shallow to base your enjoyment on anything other than its flavour, smell, texture, etc.

[grilledcheese]

Here we go again, eh?

Caz's.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/326399 ...F&C thread from feb 2008

[Gusto71]

If you want the goods, Harbord Fish & Chip's has it all including the newspaper. I'm a few doors down from Chippy's on Queen who uses a Guiness beer batter and double fried fries, so I hit there once a month, any more I might block my arteries.