Our friend's invited us out for a weekend at their Cottage on the Sunshine Coast. D and B have the Bowen Island race on Saturday the 12th and we have to go tonight so they can pull the Laser Vago out of storage and set it up.
The ferry's to the island can be quite expensive so B offered to pick us up at the terminal and we would only walk on. The Horseshoe Bay area around the Ferry Terminal has extended parking you can either pay in advance in the outdoor lots or pay when you leave at the indoor lot. We both had quite alot of work so we could not catch the 5 o clock ferry. It would have meant leaving work closer to 3h30 to get our things and drive down to the terminal. The traffic to the terminal and northbound on the Lion's Gate Bridge can get hairy on the weekends. Getting a lift from the terminal also meant we did not need to make a reservation. There is virtually no chance of walk ons being capped.
Since it was going to be late for their kids as well as the need to set the boat up, B suggested we come fed. We thought about picking up food at Horseshoe but we were worried that we might end up wandering and losing time. D suggested we call in an order to Go Fish which we could pick up on the way up to the bridges. I think there was a chance that he was trying to pacify me for his day on the boat :^). As if a box of fish and chips could do enough.
Go Fish is owned by the same man who runs the well known Bin 941 and Bin 942 tapas restaurants. Rather than kitschy decor, here Gord, has opted for less than minimal setting though he did maintain his penchant for PRIME real estate. Go Fish is nothing more than a railcar located on the Fisherman's Wharf by Granville Island. They used to only open during the warmer summer months because it is outdoors and perhaps they assumed the line ups would wane in the rain. They do not. They only stay open in the sunlight hours but they are now open year round.
They have a good menu of a variety of fresh seafood dishes like Fish Tacos or Soups and Sandwiches but what people line up for till dusk when they shew people away, is their Fish and Chips. You can buy three different types of Fish: Salmon, Halibut and Cod (classic). You can get a 1 or 2 piece fish and chip and then order inidividual extra pieces of fish. The halibut is the most expensive. I have to chuckle though because in most other places off the West Coast, Salmon would be more expensive. It is one of my favourites. All their fish is fresh and it would be shameful if it weren't considering where they are situated. D prefers the Halibut. I think he think I don't know that Halibut is the more premium fish when he pushes the bigge half of salmon my way in exchange for a piece of Halibut. Whatever.
The beer batter is fabulous. It is a really mellow with nice roundness to it with great crisp. It is a tad on the oily side which does not need to be the case for deep fried food if the oil is hot enough. Oddly their fries are not at all oily. They cut their fries fresh as they go. You can see someone normally going through the potatoes back there.
You get your order with their Slaw (with Cumin and Sunflower seeds I think, it is YUM!) and Tartar sauce in one of those Asian steamer baskets lined with paper. Not this time though. We called our order in instead. So we could snatch and drive to the ferry. They took 3 times the time they told us on the phone and we cut it fairly close to the wire for the Ferry but in the end the Ferry was late so no sweat. Well, except for the fish. Fried food does not like to wait. Generally, unless we are just taking it up the road to watch Bard on the Beach, I prefer not to have to carry fried food. The piping hot fish steams away in there wrapped in paper and moistens the crispy batter. The fries get soggy. But that is not Go Fish's issue. I was tempted to eat it there in the car on the drive but that would not have been fair to D. It was doubly more tempting when we hit bumper to bumper traffic on Burrard through town. Grrrrr!
We had a cheeky water bottle of Dona Paula Chardonnay and ate our Fish and Chips in the Ferry waiting room. The Chardonnay did weird things in that water bottle. When we use my Kleen Canteen stainless steel bottle, we do not have that issue. But the MEC stainless steel bottle definitely reacted with the wine. Blech. I'm going to use my Kleen Canteen from now on.
The fish was moist and the Salmon was awesome. D thinks deep fried Salmon can be dry but I like it. I think their thicker cuts of Halibut can sometimes be a bit dry. We hate all the fish, and chips and chip crumbs. Yummo! we must have been hungry because we normally cannot get through all the chips. We share 1 order of fries with three pieces of fish and it is loads of food. I would recommend you do that only because I cannot abide the waste of food and I see LOTS of fries go in the bin at the railcar. We are lucky that they gave us two slaws. We thought that since we only ordered the one 'set' we'd only get one slaw. We have had that before. Yay! They have little tiny take away containers for Ketchup and Hotsauce. I took some Ketchup and Lemons.
I used to save Go Fish for once a year since it is such a caloric decadence but we probably go twice a year now between our regular craving and visiting friends. It is also our default for Bard on the Beach dinner. The BEST fish and chips in Vancouver and I have my fair share here and in England when I lived there. D insists I try Rodneys but it's twice as expensive... but I'll give it ago eventually. For now, Go Fish leads the pack!
Cost: $$
Staff: Get past the curtness, they are try to serve the throngs of hungry chip starved people
Ambience: It's a railcar with a deck. What do you expect?
Not licensed
Go Fish Ocean Emporium
1505 W 1st AveVancouver, BC V6J
(604) 730-5040
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