The Sea House Fish and Chips

The Sea House Fish and Chips
#7 3003 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC

OK, shame on me on this one. I usually schedule my posts to be up before 10:30 a.m.; however, because of an unofficial “fish and chips week” posts (check here and here), I ended up shuffling this post to be earlier. But, I just noticed it was not schedule correctly. Ouch… -_-; Anyway, to today’s post…

On my post on Canada Day, I mentioned I had fish and chips at Granville Island. However, the fish was disappointing (and that would be an understatement). So, on the days following, I was in the search of something more satisfying. Truth is, most of the better known fish and chips shops happen to be near Granville Island/False Creek, Steveston and, out of all places, White Rock. Not wanting to drive to any of these, I settled for one that I noticed while driving on my way to an errand: The Sea House Fish and Chips. After all, when you have something resembling the Union Jack as a logo, I would assume you mean (fish and chips) business, right?

When I walked in, there was one other customer getting take out. It being around 6:00 p.m. was a bit disappointing but I had to keep in mind this area have almost no pedestrian traffic (despite it is a residential area two blocks away). But, I was determined to find out what they had in store.

As noted on the sign to the right, this is a cash only operations so, unlike certain ad says, leave your card at home! So, after I made my order, I notice people walking by for take out and at least two other tables for dine in. These were good signs!

And… ^_^ On the table, your usual assortment on condiments. Now, I did not check if the bottle of the left is soy sauce, as I don’t think it would be malt vinegar (too dark?). Fish and chips purists might cry foul here, but, in my case, as long as I have a lemon wedge, I can live without it. And talking about food…

I ordered a seafood platter which has a piece of cod, three piece of scallops and six prawns, served with fries and coleslaw. and, oh, the salsa, the tartar sauce and the lemon wedge, hehehehehe. The prawns… I won’t say it was sweet (as in fresh sweet) but I did not find that frozen texture either. So it makes me wonder about their freshness. However, I found it interesting they de-veined it. I don’t recall seeing frozen prawns this way so at least that was a good indication (might be mistaken here, though). The scallops, on the other had, was a bit of a miss, mainly because it had a strong taste. As far as I know, scallops are not supposed to be this way. The fries are, well, fries, not much to talk.

And, finally, the cod. At first, I was a bit hesitant. My previous experiences with pieces of fish that are so well cut have been on the bad side. How so? Mainly because it tasted mass produced (i.e., slight off taste, too much condiment, etc). However, in this case, I did not find that and, in fact, the fish was quite flaky. And, while the batter had almost no taste, it was quite thin compared to the one I had in Celine’s at Granville Island. I can live with that! The coleslaw did what it is supposed to do; in fact, I am glad they did not make it creamy. As for the salsa, I have never liked it so I did not even bothered to touch it. And the tartar sauce was… Well, as if it came from a jar, not much to say.

Overall, while not the best fish and chips I ever had, it is not at the bottom either. Considering that this shop is nowhere near most of the major fish and chips hot spots and reasonably priced ($10.50 for the platter), I will have to say it is quite good. Would I come back? Sure, it is a acceptable choice.

Tagged under: Fish • Seafood • Vancouver