Betty’s Fish & Chips

Betty’s Fish & Chips
4850 Imperial Street
Burnaby, BC

There are times when, for good or for bad, a restaurant close, it is cherished for what it was or simply forgotten. However, when a restaurant re-opens, one might wonder if it is in name only or it is really a spiritual reincarnation of its former self. Now, I am not talking about re-branding themselves (read: Fuel into Re-Fuel) or changing its theme (Gastropod into Maenam). We are talking about the same restaurant, same food. Something like Wally’s Burger which met its demise when its lease wasn’t renewed in its former Kingsway location but reopened last summer in Cates Park in North Vancouver. However, that new place was, in my opinion, a shadow of its former self… And then there is Betty’s Fish and Chips, an out of the way fish and chips place in Burnaby, not far from Metropolis at Metrotown, which claims to be the best fish and chips in town. If that is true, how come it closed to re-open?

Sorry, I messed up and did not take a picture of the outside… >_<

I remember seeing Betty’s Fish and Chips several times when I drove by Imperial Street; however, during our blogger’s dinner at Alvin Garden, it was replace by a sushi spot. Now, I guess, it being out of the way for most people did not work and, somehow, it bounced back as Betty’s. With the fact that I never been to the previous instance of Betty’s prior to this visit, there is no way for me to compare. Instead, this will be based on “as is” basis…

Now, getting there had its own issues and driving to the area or finding parking (they have parking in the back) were the lesser of the issues. Instead, it is their erratic hours of operation. According to a note in the entrance, they are open until 9:00 p.m. every day except Monday’s where they are not open. However, there were a lot of instances where I drove by 7:30 p.m. and they were closed already! So, one day, while driving by again and noticed they were open, I seized the opportunity.

When I walked in, there was a large party (a whole family) waiting for their order and another customer who, just like me, was about to order takeout. OK, that works for me… Since I was told it would take some time, I decided to go to a nearby gas station to fill up the tank and, when I came back, the order still wasn’t ready. Unfortunately, that is when I heard a funny sound that made me wary, as in “WTH!?”. And what sound is that? As in the one of a microwave. OK, I do not have any problems with microwaves in a kitchen: similar to some tools like mixers, blenders and so on, they have their place. The problem is that I was in a fish and chips place. I mean, what in the world can you/should you be microwaving?!

I wasn’t expecting to eat in, rather I was to take it home and take pictures there. The first oddity, if you can call it as such: Wrapped in newspaper! OK, this does not really bother me; heck, even butcher paper works for me. C’mon guys, fish and chips is, by no means, fancy dining! Anyway, in addition to the fish and chips I also chose to order two additional sides:

The coleslaw was sort of a no brainer: I wanted some vegetables and coleslaw sort of fit the bill. It was interesting in the sense it wasn’t too dressed; instead, it was almost plain, which fits me fine (again, at times, I eat salads without dressings…). As for the chowder… At the first sip I noticed some odd taste to it. No, it wasn’t bad or anything on those lines. Rather, it was a bit similar to that of canned Campbell chowder. Because of that, I had a hard time trying to “break” down the soup without stopping to think about that odd point…

Now, back to the fish and chips. I ended up ordering the seafood platter which has a piece of cod, 2 prawns, 2 oysters, 2 scallops and fries. By now, you should see something noticeable about the fish or rather, the newspaper used to wrap it. See the amount of oil?! Yes, that ended up being a constant, everything felt oily: the fish, the fries, the shrimp, the scallop… As a result, I had to bring some paper towel to try to “soak” away all that oil before eating any piece. That was quite problematic. Past that, I will admit the the batter was fried quite crispy and was seasoned.

As for the pieces of fish, the cod was really thin, almost a fillet. Hell, I thought the batter was thicker than the fish itself! The fish was mostly tasteless but the tartar sauce managed to salvage it. The prawns were odd. It felt as if it was pre-cooked prawns, battered and then fried. As a result, it lack some of the texture of fresh prawns… The oysters had a bit of that unique cooked oyster taste but, otherwise, it was OK. Finally, the scallops. I will have to admit I was a bit surprised by the size of these. It is not those small ones; instead, these were easily the size of a toonie! In all cases, the batter made some wonders and, in the cases were it did not, the tartar sauce helped.

Aside from the fact I can’t compare it against its previous incarnation, I will have to say I was quite disappointed with what was served. The oil part is something that can’t be overlooked considering you are frying stuff the whole day. Likewise, the thinness of the fish was quite distracting. I have the feeling it could have been better but they did not deliver. As a result, I will pass.

Tagged under: Burnaby • Fish • Seafood