Best Fish & Chips

Lenny Mullins

John’s Lunch co-owners Irene Baltas and Kathy Hilchey, Best of Halifax 2022 gold winner of Best Fish & Chips

GOLD WINNER

SILVER WINNER

BRONZE WINNER

In case you were wondering: Winning gold never gets old, according to John’s Lunch co-owner Katherine Hilchey, who has been winning Best of Halifax awards for 12 years now. “Every year you cross your fingers and hope that, you know, all those loyal customers are going to pick up their computers or their phones and actually take some time and say that they like us,” she tells The Coast.

Asked what the key to staying relevant when running a business that’s been around since 1969 is, Hilchey credits consistency. “When you’ve had a successful recipe that people love, you don’t change it. It’s not lost on us that people have loved our fish for a long, long, long time. So it’s important just to maintain the quality.” And what makes the perfect plate of fish and chips? Hilchey thinks it's the use of fresh ingredients that makes the John’s Lunch dish what it is. “We hand cut our fish, we hand batter it and make it every day. And if you’re using fresh product and new fresh fish, and you put a little bit of love into it, it comes out pretty darn good.”

This is a special time for John’s Lunch, which only recently opened back up to full capacity in the aftermath of the pandemic, making this award even more meaningful. “To have our customers be with us through all of our, you know, our longtime closure, just for takeout only, and to stay with us and to get out there and vote for us. And it really makes you feel special,” Hilchey tells us. “And I mean, it makes us feel like they love us as much as we love them.”