Adventures in travelling to eat, with a dash of culinary history
Poutine has become a quintessential Canadian dish. Chefs are spooning out messy iterations of this gravy-curd-fry combination everywhere, and I love it all. I’ve eaten poutine in many forms and many places — like sitting curb-side after a night of drinking in Halifax or with […]
I was at the back of the bunch, so I couldn’t see where we were going. Our party of 20 or more had disembarked from the hotel in search of dinner. We were a worldly group — Canadians, Americans, South Africans and Ecuadorians — gathered […]
Eating is the best part about exploring a new place, but figuring out how to find good restaurants while travelling can be tricky. Even defining what a ‘good’ restaurant means to you is tough. Throughout your trip, you’ll have moments when it means something different: […]
Imagine a food festival where you would meander along the coastline sampling dishes from famous chefs and drinking wine. Musicians would play music while you lingered by the ocean with a full belly and happy heart and you finish your afternoon with desserts in a playground. Well, dreams really do come true.
Hop Hop Hurray! The craft beer scene here in Newfoundland is bubbling over. There are literally dozens of breweries set to open the next year and I’m slowly working my way down the list (hard job, but someone’s gotta do it! Labour Day weekend Adam and I visited Dildo Brewing Co. and Museum.
The Fogo Island Inn takes care of you like a good Newfoundland nan does — enveloping you in a constant onslaught of pastries from the moment you walk in the door until you drive away with a bagged lunch for the road. And you know there’s always a drop of tea on the stove (or in the inn’s case, delivered to your room in a stainless steel carafe). Dining at the Fogo Island Inn has undergone some major changes in the past little while. In February, 2018 Chef Jonathan Gushue took the lead of the kitchen and has revitalized the culinary repertoire. His experience working in kitchens all over the world at places like Four Seasons and Langdon Hall brings a whole new way of dining to the classic Newfoundland ingredients. (more…)
I’ve been The Food Girl in Town for two thousand, one hundred and ninety days. Here’s what happened in the 6th year. You’ll never guess how many restaurants I ate in this year… yes, I counted.
Don’t be shellfish, cook seafood for your friends! My review of The Great Shellfish Cookbook by Matt Dean Pettit talks about spreading the crustacean love, plus a recipe for Game Day mussels that will make you forget about nachos forever.
When new restaurants open in St. John’s, I get excited. When said restaurant opens a ten-minute walk from my house I get fired up — I couldn’t wait to blog about Noodle Nami. When the food wasn’t amazing…well, I don’t blog much about those less-than-stellar experiences much anymore. I first started typing about Halifax restaurants on The Food Girl in Town imagining myself the next great food critic, I even had a ranking system! But as the blog evolved it’s turned into a place for me to talk about all the restaurants I visit (because I eat out a lot) and my adventures in travelling to them. Restaurants have been — for lack of a better term — the bread and butter of The Food Girl in Town. Who can forget my lament of the rolls at Alo, or my monologue on the homemade mini breads at Fork?
When Jumping Bean closed their Harvey Road location earlier this year I was pretty crushed, it was one of the only places I could get a decent coffee in my neighbourhood, but a new restaurant got me over it pretty quickly.
I just knocked a big one off the bucket list. Or should I say a really long one? My tips (and some pics) for conquering the Great Wall!
Screw stopping to smell the roses, I’m all about them ocean views. When I first starting booking Airbnbs I focused on what the place looked like on the inside (Does it have cool art? What about the modern furniture?). But these days, I’m more concerned with what it’s like being inside looking out, and this Witless Bay Airbnb has the best of both worlds. Plus, the location couldn’t be any better. Witless Bay is only about half an hour’s drive from St. John’s, so it’s easy to get there on a Friday evening, but it feels like it’s a million miles away. The ocean is visible from most of the windows in the house and it was the perfect setting for a group of us to enjoy the May long weekend together.
Whether it’s a saltbox house vacation rental, drop-dead gorgeous boutique inn o homey hostel, there’s a plethora of Newfoundland accommodations to snuggle into this summer.
Kraft Dinner has always been there for me. From early memories to last week’s last-minute meal, KD has been a part of my life…but which brand reigns supreme? You’ll never guess.
My affinity for hotels is no secret. I’ve babbled endlessly about my affection for them, particularly in my post about the Alt Hotel in St. John’s, but for our first wedding anniversary last September I wanted a different experience. After a particularly busy summer moving home to Newfoundland, setting up a garden, patio drinks, family BBQs and weddings, I yearned for some good old fashioned peace and quiet. While perusing ‘historic saltbox homes near the ocean’ on AirBnb I stumbled upon a series of small cabins cloaked in canvas. “There’s Glamping in Newfoundland?” I thought to myself, quickly scanning the photos of pillow top mattresses, bright quilts and ocean views. One phone call to Adam later and I had booked Ome Sweet Ome for our anniversary escape.
The Food Girl in Town is about everything I love: cook pasta for my friends, culinary history, and finding fancy hotel rooms for cheap! As a culinary adventurer and freelance writer, I travel to eat. I spend a lot of time researching my next trip — there's always a next trip — and booking hotels near restaurants I want to try.
