The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

The Bay Fish and Chips' recipe for deep-fried fish has been evolving for the nine years the restaurant has been open, said Kam Yim Wong, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Chau Ha Wong.

The Bay Fish & Chips restaurant batters up

By Justin Berton

Kam Yim Wong has been married to his wife for 24 years but that doesn't mean she tells him how she makes the batter.

"We keep it very consistent," Kam said, shrugging his shoulders inside the couple's small Sunnyvale restaurant, The Bay Fish & Chips.

The couple has owned the fish and chipper in the far corner of the Civic Square at Hollenbeck Road and El Camino Real for the past nine years. And for all those years, the batter that wraps the deep-fried fish has been an evolving recipe that keeps getting better and better, Kam said. A recipe he knows little about.

"My wife does all the cooking every time," he said.

"If you go to a restaurant and a chef makes a meal that you like, the next time you go in, if his assistant is there, it might not be as good," he said.

Before the Wongs owned the place, Kam's wife, Chau Ha, was making pot stickers out of their home and selling them to the former owner of The Bay Fish & Chips. One thing led to another and the couple jumped at the offer to buy the place--but it hasn't always been easy.

"The first five years were very hard," Kam said.

The same year the couple took over the small restaurant, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. One of the few places a person wants to be when a earthquake hits, Kam said, is not next to three machines full of boiling grease.

Chau and Kam escaped injury from the splashing grease, but the peril still looms when working with the stuff each day. "You have to be careful all the time," Kam said.

Now that Kam and Chau have mastered the techniques of the fish and chip trade, people are gobbling up what's getting served: the Wongs buy 500 pounds of fish per month, and Chau prepares 800 pounds of batter to go along with it.

More than just fish and chips, the menu is a who's who of the sea world.

Oysters and chips go for $5.39, 7 prawns and chips are $6.39, and the calamari and chips are $4.99. Of course, customers who want to replace chips with steamed or fried rice are more than welcome to do so, Kam said.

The menu also features fried wontons, egg rolls, calamari and fried zucchini.

Kam said the lunch specials draw a good crowd, especially on Fridays.

For the most part, Kam added, business is a lot better than it was the first five years. But some things haven't changed.

"I don't know how to make the batter," Kam confessed with a smile, "because I never ask."

The Bay Fish & Chips is located at 866 W. El Camino Real. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 9 p.m. on Friday, and noon to 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 17, 1998.
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