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| - The ghost of Off The Hook's predecessor "Deep Blue" certainly lives on, but has confusingly reincarnated into a more "gourmet" FISH AND CHIPS (!?) establishment --- which should have clued me in on what was to come...
Delicious enough to make me want to come back, slightly over-priced enough to make me not want to come back (depending on what's ordered), feeling not-quite-full, and oozing with laid-back cool, border-lining hipster.
Partner and I ordered two meals on a sunny Saturday lunch - Grilled trout with vinagrette coleslaw and Pi in the Sky Poutine ($17) and house-battered catch of the day with creamy coleslaw and onion rings ($12), plus two bottled soft drinks. Bill came to $40 all-in.
The great - Flavour and service! Batter and frymanship were crisp and light for the halibut and rings. Poutine was very interesting with varied aromas and textures. Service was chipper and quick.
The meh - Portions and pricing configuration. There were 7-8 onion rings of varying sizes along with the single portion of fish, while the grilled trout portion was downright disappointing, coming out to be slightly larger than a halved deck of cards. The Poutine was an exta $5 on top of the standard options, which may have made more sense if the reasoning was clear as to why - maybe something incredibly gourmet about it?
Other thoughts - Some imagination into the coleslaw variations and presentation would help, considering the variety of sauces and batter they came up with. Coleslaw choices were A) Creamy; and B) Vinagrette, both served in little plastic container resembling those serving economy-class aircabin salads (nooooo that was not snobbery --- I always take economy class!).
So the resounding issue I'm struggling with here is ... I'm still not sure whether announcing one is a gourmet fish and chips shop is trying too hard, a bit misleading, or endearing in the aww-the-owner-loves-his-art kind of way? What clientele are they trying to woo here? While the flavour and portions could maybe defend its self-claimed "gourmet" status, its fundamental cuisine and ambience betrays itself. To be fair, I haven't tried the other non-fish items so I will likely return for one more go, so to-be-continued much later.
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