A few days ago, a friend of mine wanted to go out for some fish & chips, so it was up to me to decide on a good place. Sometimes, if I wanted to get some exceptionally good fish & chips, I’d go to Steveston and order it from Pajos. But Steveston is a pretty long haul from Downtown Vancouver, especially when you have to go by transit.

Of course, there are many good places to get fish & chips downtown. I’ve been to so many pubs and ordered fish & chips, I wouldn’t even be able to remember them all. But there was one that really stood out for me from my walks down Denman Street, and the name, Mr. Pickwick’s Fish & Chips, implied that they should be pretty darn good at making it.

I often go out for lunch in mid afternoon, so the place was almost empty. We were greeted cheefully by a young Asian lady, and we sat at a table for 4. The tables and chairs were the typical diner style.

Their menus had quite a nice selection of seafood. We were able to order our fish & chips with either cod, halibut, salmon, haddock, or some combinations. They also had many appetizers to choose from, such as calamari, prawns, and scallops. We noticed some daily specials, as well, and we ended up going with the 1 piece of fish and fries (also comes with coleslaw) daily special that is just $7. We also ordered the calamari as per our server’s recommendation.

One of the pages in their menu

One of the pages in their menu

One other thing that really got my attention, since I am such a beer lover, was their 3 taster pack for their Dead Frog beer, on tap. I ordered that with my fish & chips, too, so I was able to enjoy 3 different glasses (around 7 ounces each) of beer.

Beer + fish & chips = good combination

Beer + fish & chips = good combination

The "taster trio" of Dead Frog beer

The "taster trio" of Dead Frog beer

Our orders came pretty fast, and the presentation was quite good with all our food items on a tray. The pieces of fish were a nice size, and lying on top of our fries with a coleslaw on side. I had ordered the halibut, which is the highest quality white fish I’ve ever had (well, sea bass can be pretty amazing, too), and it was really juicy and not too greasy. Some places tend to fry the fish for too long, but this was perfect.

From the Mr. Pickwick's website

From the Mr. Pickwick's website, shown with a salad

After my experience at Mr. Pickwick’s, I’m sure I’ll definitely go back there in the near future, and I’ll be recommending it to my friends. If you want to taste one of the best fish & chips meals around, the restaurant is located at 1007 Denman Street.  They also have one at 8620 Granville Street.