Pan-Fried Garlic Prawns
Garlic butter, lemon, parsley and warm focaccia. One of the Hook & Oar anchors.
Sample buildBlack Creek / Oyster River / Vancouver Island
Nelly’s
Hook & Oar
An old fisherman’s pub in the making: coastal fire food, good bread, proper dips, salt air, battered tables and a pizza oven throwing sparks next door.
From the Water, For the Water.
NELLY’S
HOOK & OAR Fisherman’s Pub • Fire • Fish • Forno
HOOK & OAR Fisherman’s Pub • Fire • Fish • Forno
Live fireCoastal foodProper jusWarm breadSalt & Cinder fornoPub goods
01 / The front room
A proper old fisherman’s pub.
Not a polished marina lounge. Think workboat hardware, old charts, weathered timber, brass, rope, enamel signs, scarred tables and enough warmth to stay after the rain starts.
The idea
Hook & Oar is the grill-and-pub side: fish, prawns, fire, beef and lamb dips, big salads, bread and the kind of food that earns a second beer. Salt & Cinder is the oven side: pizza, focaccia, breads and char.
Boat-service thinking stays in the bones of it too: food built for people arriving from the road, the beach or the water, with the long-term marina/pull-up spirit kept intact.
ROOMWeathered, warm, useful. Nothing precious.
FOODCoast + fire + pub classics + ridiculous-good dips.
OVENSalt & Cinder handles pizza, focaccia, bread and char.
STATUSPublic development page. Venue details are not yet confirmed.
02 / Hook & Oar • sample 12-position launch board
What comes off the fire.
This is a sample development board built from the current menu archive. Final recipes, portions, sourcing, prices and day-one availability still need testing and costing.
DEVELOPMENT MENU: Names below show the direction of the opening board; this is not a promise that every item is available today, and no final prices are being published yet.
03 / Salt & Cinder • the forno next door
Fire on the other side of the wall.
Salt & Cinder is the dedicated pizza and bread lane: a planned 25-position rotating board drawn from the large numbered pizza archive, rather than a few permanent house pies.
SALT
& CINDER
Thin, blistered, crisp-edged pizza; focaccia and bread from the oven; rotation as a feature, not an afterthought.
Pizza Passport / archive system
Numbered pies, travel-stamp energy, tokens and long-game collecting are part of the concept. The canonical development archive currently holds 1,501 numbered pizza concepts.
First Flame
An early Salt & Cinder launch-board name. Final toppings and price remain in testing.
The Pickled Pizzi
One of the early named pies. Final build remains in development.
McPizza Rewind
A nostalgia-driven archive concept, not a claim of affiliation or a confirmed launch item.
Archive Pull
A rotating position for deeper numbered pizzas as recipes are tested, costed and cleared for service.
Below deck / R&D
Burn Notice.
Hook & Oar has a much bigger recipe archive than a launch kitchen should try to serve at once. The public board stays tight; the weird stuff waits below deck until it earns a slot.
DipsBeef, lamb and other dip builds keep developing behind the 12-position launch board.
BurgersBurger concepts live in the wider archive and rotate only when tested and practical.
Fancy shakesHeld back until dedicated shake infrastructure and recipes are genuinely ready.
Burned classicsReference-driven nostalgia concepts remain R&D until recipes, rights and service details are fit to publish.
04 / Pub goods
Wear the harbour home.
Merch is being designed as collectible pub gear rather than generic logo basics. These are development concepts; stock, sizes, final artwork and CAD prices are not yet confirmed for sale.
Deckhand Work Tee
Heavy pub/workwear tee with Hook & Oar identity and harbour-sign energy.
Concept / pricing TBDHarbour Hoodie
A heavy cold-dock layer built around the fisherman’s-pub mark.
Concept / pricing TBDWatch Cap / Toque
Simple working-harbour headwear with a compact woven or embroidered mark.
Concept / pricing TBDSalt & Cinder Tee
Small shield at the chest, large back mark and the deliberately printed pizza-grease-stain detail.
Concept / pricing TBDPizza Passport
The physical home for numbered pizza stamps, archive milestones and future rewards.
Collectible conceptTokens & Stickers
Old travel-stamp graphics, pub marks, oven marks and collectible numbered token ideas.
Collectible concept05 / Employment • founding crew
Join the crew.
Hook & Oar is still in development, but we are taking early expressions of interest for the founding team now. Start dates and opening schedules will follow the venue, permits and operating plan.
Small crew. Serious standards.
The founding roster is planned around 8–10 people, with a normal service crew of about five. Prior outside experience counts toward seniority; joining a new place does not mean pretending your previous work never happened.
COOKS / PREPFire, grill, oven, prep and disciplined small-menu service.
FOH / FLOORWarm, capable service without the usual tip-dependent pay model.
BARTENDERProfessional bar service at a higher dedicated rate than general FOH.
EXPO / COOK / PASS CAPTAINThe high-accountability pass position coordinating the whole service.
FOUNDING PAY MODEL / CURRENT DEVELOPMENT TARGET
BOH floorCA$26/hour
Expo / cook / pass captainCA$50/hour
FOHPlanned above local market, proportionate to responsibility.
BartendingProfessional rate above general FOH.
TipsNo-tip wage model.
Core packageFree shift meal. Benefits remain part of the launch plan; final eligibility and details come with the role offer.
STATUS: This is early crew-building for a developing venue, not a claim that the pub is already open or that a start date has been set.
Put your name on the crew list ↗Send: name • location • role • availability • relevant experience
06 / Ship’s log
What’s real right now.
The public page is live so people can see where NELLY’S Hook & Oar is headed. The venue itself is still in development, so this page separates the vision from details that are not yet confirmed.
Pub direction
Hook & Oar is the coastal grill, dips and drinks room. Salt & Cinder is the pizza, focaccia, bread and char operation. The two are designed to work as one food destination without turning either identity into a generic catch-all.
- Location focus
- Black Creek / Oyster River, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
- Status
- In development. No public opening hours or reservation system are confirmed on this page.
- Menu
- Sample development board only. Final recipes, portions, sourcing, prices and availability are still being tested/costed.
- Merch
- Design concepts only until physical stock, sizes and CAD prices are verified.
- Contact
- Use the project enquiry route below for food, merch or collaboration questions.
07 / Call the harbourmaster
Pull up a chair.
Questions about the menu project, Salt & Cinder, merch, suppliers or a future collaboration can come through the ROOTED/HUNTER public contact route.
Email NELLY’S Hook & Oar ↗
ROOTED frame / HUNTER project
NELLY’S Hook & Oar is a developing commercial hospitality project presented inside the wider ROOTED site. ROOTED remains a separate community initiative. See the project network ↗