Lunch at Kimchi & Sushi | St. John’s
Last month, the new app HelpMeOrder asked me to collaborate with them on some videos featuring the best dishes at restaurants featured on their app and I was more than delighted to oblige.
Tag: Downtown St. John’s
Slurping at Bad Bones Ramen | St. John’s
What’s on the menu at Bad Bones Ramen in St. John’s Newfoundland? Delicious ramen, pho and other slurpable soups!
St. John’s Beer Tours: Where to drink Newfoundland beer
Did you know one can actually be afraid of an empty beer glass? Luckily on St. John’s Beer Tours, cenosillicaphobia isn’t a problem. We all know how I’ve been praising taking cooking classes, now I have another regret: not taking a freaking beer tour! I’ve visited beer-boroughs like Munich, London and Chicago and never once did a beer tour — what was I thinking? I haven’t lived! So, when I heard Kayla Walters (I follow her fab account on Instagram) was starting up St. John’s Beer Tours I knew I had to see what it was all about!
Ultimate Townie Brew Tour
There are four different tours to choose from, ranging from a scoff and a sip in Quidi Vidi with Scuff & Scoff in the Village to axe-throwing and beer tasting with the Axes & Ales Tour. The tour I did was the Ultimate Townie Brew Tour. It takes places on Saturday afternoons, the perfect time for day-boiling. All the locations of the Ultimate Townie Beer Tours are in Downtown St. John’s making it easy to walk around and enjoy the scene (and all the beer).
Yellowbelly Brewery beginnings
The first stop for St. John’s Beer Tours’ Ultimate Townie Brew Tour is Yellowbelly Brewery. We all met in the Underbelly, the speakeasy-type bar in the basement of the brewpub, to hear brewmaster Liam Mckenna talk about all things beer. I won’t divulge all the interesting hoppy bits (you’ll have to take the tour), but did you know the main pigment in beer is red? Even those yellow-looking wheat beers and black-as-night stouts are shades of red!
Liam showed us around the brewery — which is housed in a building built in 1740 — explaining the process of making the standard beers at the brewery. There’s a lot of technical talk, but there’s a reward: BEER! We sampled the four regulars — Fighting Irish Red, St. John’s Stout, Wexford Wheat and Yellowbelly Pale Ale, along with a surprise sampling of their cider (bonus).
Brown bottle history
After Yellowbelly we followed Kayla as she led us to some historical points of interest in Downtown St. John’s. You know there was some good beer history in there too (yes, there was a bucket of beer involved with the Great Fire of 1892). Even as a born-and-raised St. John’s resident, I learned a lot and went down some streets I’d never seen before!
Fifth Ticket munchies
The second pitstop on the Ultimate Townie Brew Tour is The Fifth Ticket. This restaurant and lounge offered up samples from two different breweries: Port Rexton Brewing and Quidi Vidi Brewing Company. We also got to choose from a special menu; from polenta fries to chicken wings, there’s a nice selection pairing well with beer (obviously)! I went with the poutine made with fat curds from local cheesemaker Five Brothers.
Mill Street local brews
The third stop brought us to St. John’s Mill Street Brew Pub. I’ve had Mill Street brews before — I basically lived on top of the brewery in Toronto — but I didn’t know they brew their very own beers here in St. John’s. Dan chatted to us about the beer while we sampled two classic hops; the ever-popular Mill Street Organic and the West Coast IPA. I fell in love with the Capelin Hound, the locally-brewed Session IPA, and the Terrazza Italian style lager is perfect for sunny days on the patio.
Screech-In (not) optional
The fun doesn’t stop if you want to keep partying. St. John’s Beer Tours will take you to Christian’s Bar for a Screech-In if you want to become an honourary Newfoundlander (believe me, you want to), or just to keep drinking with all the friends you made along the way!
The Ultimate Townie Brew Tour is a great tour to go on with a bunch of friends (hello awesome bachelorette), or alone if you want to make a bunch of new ones. It’s the perfect crash course in Newfoundland beer, or a revitalizing refresher if you know them well.
*THANK YOU TO ST. JOHN’S BEER TOURS FOR THE COMPLIMENTARY TOUR TICKET. AS ALWAYS, ALL OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST ARE MY OWN.
Brunch at The Merchant Tavern | St. John’s
In my lifetime, the dull grey cinderblock building on the corner of Water and Becks Cove has been home to a bank and two restaurants sequestered to the dim ‘vaultish’ basement. Now, the Jeremys of Raymond’s have reestablished this downtown cornerstone with a modern yet verdant …
The Adelaide Oyster House | St. John’s
The second last night of Christmas vacation the girls and I headed for Chelsea’s farewell meal. We are grownups now. Babies and houses and jobs have spread us across the world —the five of us don’t spend much time together, a couple days a year at most—but …
Mohamed Ali Middle Eastern Cuisine | St. John’s
My sister Maggie and I recently had a lovely lunch where I ate some of the best falafel I have ever had.
Mohamed Ali Middle Eastern Cuisine is located in downtown St. John’s on Duckworth Street and this place competes with any falafel I ate in Istanbul.
After hearing rave reviews from Maggie, and having myself experienced the deliciousness of owner Ali Al Haijaa while he was cooking out of The Sprout kitchen in the wee hours of the morning as a late-night pop-up, I was excited to try out the food at the new digs.
The bright sunlit room is simply decorated with walls covered in bright turquoise paint and paintings by Middle Eastern artists that you can purchase. We were the only people there at 11:30, but by noon, the place was buzzing.
We ordered, sat down, and waited for the tastiness to arrive.
To start, we shared the falafel.
This is up there with the best falafel I have ever had; perfectly crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside, and don’t even get me started on the hummus, sweet merciful!
Maggie went with the Chicken Shawarma for the main event.
Filled with shaved chicken (for those few who aren’t familiar with shawarma, it’s meat, of various types – chicken, beef, or lamb- that is fire roasted on a vertical spit simmering in it’s own delicious fatty juices until the meat is shaved off and served to salivating people), the warm homemade pita was stuffed with lettuce, tomato, pickled red turnip, and topped with tahini sauce. We also piled on the side of hummus we ordered.
I went with the Beef Shawarma option, even though I had been eyeing the Kofta Kebab Sandwich because it’s a personal favourite, but alas, it was sold out.
The pickled red turnip is what really makes the flavour pop, and with the crunch of the cucumber, the tender beef, and the oh so delicious tahini and hummus, I wasn’t too sad about missing out on the kofta.
And it cost $6.
While we were eating, I couldn’t help but overhear a few girls asking for ketchup for their shawarma. Word to the wise: please do not do this. You will ruin it. Slap on more tzatziki, hummus, or tahini, but try and avoid our friendly neighbourhood condiment shall we?
The lunch menu is well priced, with apps/sides ranging from $2 to $9 and the mains (mostly sandwiches) going for around $6.50. The dinner menu looks equally appealing with items such as Tobouli Salad, Shish Tawouk, and the Mixed Grill which consists of a plethora of meats like kofte and BBQ beef skewers.
The best part about this place? It’s open until 4am on Friday and Saturday nights; say goodbye to that crappy slice of za, and say hello to Mohamed Ali.
