Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe
Granville Island
1511 Anderson St
Vancouver, BC
Robson Street aside, Granville Island is one of the best known shopping areas in Vancouver. I have visited several times and blogged it once (check here). I went there again a couple of days ago but, instead of taking pictures of the area again, I had a mission… No, it is not the reason of this post; check tomorrow’s post for that. But, since I was already 1:00 p.m., I might as well have (a late) lunch, right? While I could go to any of the chain restaurants in the area, I would rather not (there are way too many restaurants out there to go to a chain). Likewise, I could go to the food court area but instead I went to Tony’s Fish & Oyster Cafe.
Located almost at the entrance of Granville Island, it was packed. Sure, it was a really small place (24 chairs at most) and it seems there was always a person waiting for a table. I myself had to wait for about 10 minutes. Before I mention if it was worth the wait, let’s take a look at my order: the luncheon special, which is composed of:
A clam chowder. It was quite creamy with a good balance of vegetables and seafood. Not necessarily the best chowder I ever had but good in its own ways.
Fish and chips (one piece of cod) and coleslaw. The coleslaw was the basic coleslaw, not too excited about it. The fries, errr… chips, were OK, again, nothing too exciting. As for the cod…
I have mentioned this previously, cod is a bland fish. The question is rather what the cook can do to improve it. There is only that much you can do with the batter so that leaves… the side tartar sauce. In this case, the tartar sauce was quite good! Now, whether it was from a can/bottle, I can’t say. It had a good combination of sweetness, creaminess and tartness. How good? Rather than dipping the fries in catsup, I used the tartar sauce instead. Ah, I was close to ask for more of the sauce!
Overall, for $10, the luncheon special is quite a deal. The tartar sauce, again was killer. Would I come back? While not the best fried fish I ever had, I think I will. But next time I think I will have salmon instead.
Finally, as a bonus picture of Granville Island and to give you an idea of how “cold” it was around here…
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Again, what did I say about not coming here when I’m hungry … Everything here looks too good! The fish and chips look like what you find in the UK, which must mean it’s pretty authentic. Looking cold over there!
my family loves clam chowder!
That last pic is…awesome!