Introducing: Honest Weight, a new seafood shop and lunch counter from one of Canada’s top fishmongers

Name: Honest Weight Neighbourhood: The Junction Contact Info: 2776A Dundas Street West, 416-604-9992, www.honestweight.ca
Owners: John Bil and Victoria Bazan

The Food: Three-time oyster-shucking national champion and seafood expert John Bil has been busy over the last decade running a seafood import company and helping others open their restaurants (including Montreal’s legendary Joe Beef). Now he has a place of his own. Honest Weight’s lunch counter offers alternative takes on typical fish-shop menu items—like okonomiyaki, a savoury Japanese pancake, instead of fish and chips; a rabbit and clam soup; and a fish curry with South Indian flair. Bil says he wants to introduce his customers to lesser-known seafood, “like mahogany clams, stout razor clams and monkfish cheeks.” Oceanic offerings are also available to go—a display case is stocked with scallops, oysters, snapper and cod, all on ice.

The Drinks: Before the liquor license comes in, customers can order an old-fashioned soda made with house-made syrup. The soda water is delivered daily from Magda, the oldest maker of the stuff in the city.

The Place: Beechwood counters, a white-washed swinging door that leads to the kitchen and shelves stacked with decorative dishes all give the space an East Coast feel—and disguise its past life as a denture clinic.