Exploring Etobicoke near Royal York TTC (subway) station, walking down Bloor Street West on a blistering hot summer's day, we stumbled upon Kingsway Fish & Chips. As I had old school fish & chips on my bucket list for this Toronto trip, we decided to give it a try.
Kingsway Fish & Chips is relatively spacious with a casual, bright, cheerful, family friendly feel.
Decor is eclectic - parts of the restaurant felt like a child's room.
Other parts looked like the living room of a fisherman's home.
Family owned Kingsway Fish & Chips is an institution in this Anglo neighbourhood of Kingsway, Etobicoke. The Bartel family is in fish and chips since 1958 - Kingsway Fish & Chips is in the third generation now and has been in its present location for 20 years.
We ordered "The Best Deal" lunch special priced CDN19.40++ and added another CDN1.50 for additional lobster bisque. (Paid CDN30 all in.)
The soups came first, a seafood chowder and the lobster bisque. The seafood chowder was savoury sweet with lots of soft bits of fish - it's like thick fish porridge but made with potato mash instead. I like it. The lobster bisque tasted tangy savoury sweet but lacked the crustacean umami that I was expecting.
I had halibut which is my preferred for fish and chips (there're options of haddock and cod at Kingsway).
The slab of fish the size of my palm encased in batter was well fried till evenly light golden brown. It came with a heap of fries at the side.
Breaking the golden brown purse released a puff of steam with familiar buttery sweet aroma which I long associate with good fish and chips.
The delicate crust was light, almost airy and shatteringly crisp. It was not greasy at all. In fact, there was no residual grease on the plate from the fish or fries.
The fresh white meat was tender and breaks in chunky flakes like the way fresh crab meat breaks. It tasted buttery sweet. The crispy crust complemented the tender moist fish very well. This fried fish is nice.
The Bartel family got into the fish and chips business fortuitously due to a halibut glut decades ago. Kingsway gets their fish fresh and whole which they fillet in house the old way, ever since. The fish are still battered and deep fried in tallow (rendered beef fat) on order. So, no pre-breaded frozen nonsense here.
Eating the buttery sweet fish with a dollop of creamy house made tartar sauce added a bit of sourish zing and pickle crunch which I like.
Information for you 👌 Nice relaxing place, attentive friendly service, nice old school fish and chips.
But, I am still hoping to taste again the fish and chips of my memory from St. John's Newfoundland in the 1980s. It was a dingy pub / cheap diner kind of place on Water Street at the harbour. The thick slab of cod was encased in thick batter with a mound of fries. Everything was served on old newspaper spotted with large blotches of greasy slick. Not sure of the pub / diner's name or if it still exists today. (Kingsway used to serve their fish & chips on used newspapers too but have "upgraded" not long ago.)
What did Johor Kaki do in Toronto? 👈 click
Restaurant name: Kingsway Fish & Chips
Address: 3060 Bloor Street West, Etobicoke, ON M8X 1C4
GPS: 43°38'49.5"N 79°30'47.8"W 🌐 43.647071, -79.513270
Tel: 416 233 3355
Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm (Sun & Mon off)
Non Halal
Date visited: 22 Jun 2019
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