Masset Fish and Chips
On my trip to Haida Gwaii in June I posted about Queen B’s excellent coffee shop in Charlotte, so thought it only fair to do one in Masset too. There is a very good coffee shop in Masset (‘Grounds’) but I don’t have any photos of it. I had been regretting this lack of balance between the trips when we found, while at the airport, that our flight was delayed. The person that had given us a ride suggested we go back into town for something to eat.
We ended up at the fish and chip shop that is south of the Delkatla Nature Sanctuary between the airport turnoff and the south end of the causeway in the Village of Masset (as opposed to Old Massett where the potlatch was held). See map here for general area. It is part of the Hidden Island RV and Fishing Resort; the rest of their business I know nothing about and have no opinion on. We had not made it for fish and chips during our visit, despite good recommendations. So, I got some pictures while waiting for our orders (which came very quickly). As the food was excellent, and the exterior shingle work very photogenic, I am happy to make this post.
We had a nice chat with the friendly server about the potlatch we had come for and which she had also attended. The restaurant shares space with a tackle shop, but those pictures all suffered from motion sickness (too slow shutter speed) so I deleted them.
We all ordered a single piece of halibut and chips. I had tea with mine. It was our unanimous opinion that the halibut and chips were excellent – the batter was light and not too greasy, the fish fresh and perfectly done, the chips also were very good. The tea was pretty average, but since it can be hard to get a good cup of tea on the road there is good reason to say that a pot of tea that has not been ruined is above “average” in most ways – that it is served in a pot is a good starting point to being not normal. Still, there is better tea to not ruin than was served to us, so I will stick with average as an assessment. If you are in Masset and care about tea, then Grounds has a very good (though quite small) choice of loose teas, and excellent chai as well. If you are on Haida Gwaii and want good fish and chips, then Hidden Island is definitely one of the top choices.
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Canon 5Dii, Nikkor-N pre-AI 24mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 100 outdoors, ISO 800 indoors, various shutter and aperture settings
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burnt embers 
I haven’t had a good batch of fish and chips in a thousand years. Or so it seems. We really want to visit this gorgeous place, maybe the fish ‘n chips is the exact excuse I need!
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I am trolling with live bait from the sound of it. Wait till you see my pictures of the abandoned military base and acres of textured worn-stain plywood surfaces. I might post some, but if not will definitely email some to you, by way of setting the hook.,,,
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You know me well, my good friend! Bait delivered and chomped on!!! 🙂
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Looks like a decent fish and chips dinner. Since I don’t drink tea usually, average would be good enough for me. The shingles on the building are interesting. I’ve never seen that type before.
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Hi Ken – there is nothing like fresh caught halibut to make fish and chips into something special. The shingles are interesting – very well done. There is quite a bit of that kind of work on the west coast where cedar shingle siding is still pretty common. Very finicky and slow, this kind of work, as each shingle is cut by hand.
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