Cat's Fish and Chips: Restaurant Review

The other day one of my Facebook friends posted a lovely picture of her fish and chips dinner. The caption read "it's hard to find good fish 'n chips in Ottawa" - as a Brit, she should know. Britain is the land where fish and chips was born! Yesterday was my husband's 32nd birthday, and my friend's photo gave me a great idea. I decided to take my hubby out to the best fish and chips place in Ottawa. My husband is the guy who must try fish and chips at every restaurant/pub we visit - a lot of these meals have been pretty gross. It's easy to screw up fish and chips!

I did some googling, and found Cat's Fish and Chips at Hemlock and St. Laurent. The ambiance takes me right back to Casey Key, Florida, where my family loves to vacation every winter. If I closed my eyes, I could almost hear the ocean waves.

We sat on the patio, and ordered a beer - Beau's Festivale for my hubby (you get to take home the glass, but I believe this brew will be done soon!). The server was extremely welcoming and helpful, and the food arrived in record time. We tried the Crow's Nest (seasoned and fried onions) with chipotle and dill dipping sauces, and then opted for the halibut. Portions are GIANT, so think about it before you consider ordering 2 pieces of fish :)

We were too full for desert, but I can't wait to go back and try their homemade doughnut topped with a scoop of ice cream. There was a kids menu, which would offer smaller portions for the wee ones.

And speaking of kids, I was delighted to see that Cat's was very kid-friendly. The bathroom even had a wooden change table and pad - much nicer than those plastic monstrosities. And any child would be delighted with the decor, which makes you feel as though you're inside an old ship!

Price-wise, Cat's is very reasonable. Our bill was on the higher end, given that we paid extra for the halibut and indulged in an appetizer and some drinks. Most meals are between $10 - $15 (I found the kids menu a bit pricey, but given that my girls don't eat very much when we go out, I would probably have them share something)

And for those of you gluten free - Cat's has a whole menu dedicated to gluten free fare!

It was a lovely meal, and we ended the evening by walking through the National Cemetery of Canada. We definitely needed that walk after a healthy dose of fried fats :) I think Cat's may become one of our family's favourite restaurants in Ottawa!

The Swedish touch

by Amy A little while ago I posted on my own blog about the dos and don'ts for servers in family restaurants and Lara asked me about doing reviews of how kid friendly restaurants around Ottawa are.

Now, I have my own criteria, but I've discovered that one of my favourite places to take the kid for a meal right now is Ikea. Yes, Ikea.

There are a number of complaints about shopping at the actual store, but the Ikea restaurants is great for kids. There are a lot of reasons we've eaten at Ikea twice in the past two weeks. One is cost - who can resist a dollar breakfast when you're buying a $600 piece of furniture? But the other things that I liked surprised me.

Variety: The restaurant has a pretty good number of choices for on the children's menu and it all seems fairly good. Some places your choice is between something fried or white pasta, but my daughter had meatballs with mashed potatoes and a milk to drink. She was a big fan of the lingonberry jam, which is a bit weird.

Serving size: The servings are absolutely reasonable for a child.

Utensils: Ikea uses their own stuff to stock the restaurant and for the children's meals that means plastic plates, kid sized utensils, plastic cups. This is the only place I remember eating that a fork she looked comfortable using.

And the best part? After spending more than two hours walking around the store, kid actually napped.

Amy is mom to two year old Maggie and a 6 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.