It had nothing at all to do with religion. It was just what everyone did on a Friday. And I loved every moment of it, fatty batter and all. On each and almost every Friday, I ate fish and chips.

So imagine how I felt when I saw some almost-bring-me-to-tears news this week. My local fish and chip shop in Toronto, a place that had been around for almost a century, had locked their doors.

The shop was called Reliable Fish & Chips. They’d opened their doors back in 1930 to fulfill the Friday needs for grease of the employees of The Reliable Toy Company.

So next, a little bit about that toy company courtesy of the Canadian Museum of History:

“In 1935, Reliable became the largest toy factory in the British Empire, occupying 72,000 square feet in a new location at 258 Carlaw Avenue. This factory contained a complete knitting mill to manufacture clothing for dolls and featured a hairdressing department, as well as specialty sections for making voice boxes and squeakers, shoes, and eyes. A year later, Reliable’s annual production of dolls reached to over one and a half million dolls of three hundred varieties.”

When you know that Canada’s population was less than 11 million in 1936, you can appreciate how enormous those production numbers were.

Today, my Toronto home is across from the old Reliable Toy Company and, when in Toronto and when it’s Friday, I’d phone in my pick-up order to Reliable Fish & Chips. 

They understood that restaurant credo “remember and respect your regulars”. I’d walk in the door and, despite the crowd lined up in front of me and the owners’ insignificant heights, they’d tiptoe a wave and a “Hello Glenn, your order is almost ready.”

That’s all gone now. Gone but not forgotten. And I’m in the middle of Mexico with that almost every Friday craving.

Time to check the email. One from La Frontera, run by that fine freckled woman called Noren Caceres who I think is about as good a restauranteur as there is in this town. Fish and chips on Friday. Scroll down to the phone number.

“I want…no, I need…two orders of your fish and chips please.”

30 minutes later, Don Day’s Wife preheated the oven (delivered food is rarely delivered hot enough). 45 minutes later, I was unpacking a bag with two styrofoam containers, two tubs of cole slaw, and two mini-cups of tartar sauce.

Don Day’s Wife thought the quantity of fries was “a little skimpy”. I thought the quantity of cole slaw was “overly generous”. We both thought the quantity of fish was just right.

Ah, but enough about quantity you’re probably saying, what about quality, what about the taste of La Frontera’s fish?

Well Mexico isn’t Canada. So we had no expectations of receiving the cold-water Atlantic classics like haddock, halibut or cod. Halibut currently sells for $650 a kilo in Mercado la Nueva Viga, the world’s second largest fish market in Mexico City. So you’re not going to get halibut in a $170 order.

The fish did exceed our expectations, however. We expected skinny tilapia but this fish was a bit thicker and had a bit more taste. I emailed Noren Caceres to find out what we were eating.

“The fish is a mild, white fish (not tilapia) that I get from a fish distributor in Mexico City”, Noren told me. “This fish is often called mero, which would be grouper…I’m sure this is a farmed fish though, not actual grouper.”

The mero flaked nicely and stayed moist in La Frontera’s light and not at all greasy beer batter.

If you’re not aware of what goes on in Mexican restaurant kitchens these days, you may be surprised. Many chefs, including Noren Caceres (and Don Day’s Wife), have given up on starchy Mexican whites and are buying what Noren refers to as “good quality, skin-on, frozen fries”.

Call it cheating if you want but I call La Frontera’s fries about as good as you’ll find anywhere in San Miguel.

Fish and chips on Friday have always been a Toronto tradition. That tradition may now have headed south.

La Frontera is located at Refugio Sur #28 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Fish and chips are available for pick-up or delivery (or eating there) on Fridays from Noon to 8:00 pm. To order, call 415 152 4265.