Gone Fishin’: Fresh Eats at The Happy Hooker

The Happy Hooker may have found its hip Dundas St. W. home almost a year ago, but it seems to be hitting its stride right now. Why? In a word: booze.

The restaurant has always had appeal. From the curb it looks exactly like the kind of place you’d want to go to get your fish on. The light blue brick makes sure it stands out from its neighbours while the giant marlin makes a pretty strong statement about what you’ll find on the menu. Inside, light pours through the front windows, hitting the wooden floors and tables and making you feel as if you could be sitting at a bar at the edge of the ocean, just waiting for the day’s fresh catch to come in. Only here, you don’t have to wait – you just have to order. 

A member of Ocean Wise, The Happy Hooker is committed to filling its menu full of sustainable seafood options. Their Double Filet O’Fish features a twin serving of Alaskan Pollock squeezed onto a bun (seriously, there’s so much fish here it could barely fit between the bread) and topped with a homemade tartar sauce. The grouper, shrimp, and Cali baja fish tacos were a step up from most in the city in both style and substance. The kitchen definitely isn’t shy when it comes to proportion size and certainly seems to have a firm grip on what to add to these little delights (see: avocado) to make them even better. 

For only $7, the regular fish & chips (again, Alaskan Pollock) are crisp and crunchy. Nothing soggy or undercooked here; they’re exactly the way we prefer our favourite pair of fried food. It’s the shrimp po’ boy that’s the showstopper, however. A generous portion of fried shrimp (we count seven on ours) sits atop a bed of lettuce and tomato on an open-faced bun, drizzled with the aforementioned homemade tartar sauce, and combined with pickles to form the perfect seafood sandwich. As owner Attilio Pugliese says with a smile, “it’s the pretty one.” 

But even with all this going for it, The Happy Hooker needed to be able to offer a fresh pint before it could become a serious contender for the best fish & chips spot in the city. And now, with six different beers to offer (three in cans, two on tap, one in a bottle), they can freely enter the ring. If a good brew isn’t what you want to pair your seafood special with, there’s also a growing cocktail list that already includes an Old Fashioned, Whisky Sour, Negroni, and a few others that will easily help take your meal to a whole other level. 

We’ve always loved the food, but now with alcohol in the mix The Happy Hooker has us hook, line, and sinker. (Sorry, it had to be said.) So the next time you’re looking for some fresh fish done up your favourite way, stop by Dundas W. and take the bait.

#LYNL | (Live Your Notable Life)

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