Newfoundland Restaurants Worth the Drive
From pastry pit stops to dining destinations, these are the Newfoundland restaurants to stop on a road trip.
From pastry pit stops to dining destinations, these are the Newfoundland restaurants to stop on a road trip.
The ultimate bucket list to make sure your Newfoundland staycation is the best summer vacation you’ve ever had!
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.
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?”
The best part about a staycation? There’s no pressure to leave the hotel! I’ve spent a lot of time taking photos of hotels, and I usually don’t get to enjoy them as much as I should because I’m busy Instagramming my stay. But I still love hotels. I still get excited walking through the lobby, my head on a swivel trying to take it all in. While I’m all about AirBNB for longer trips, the magic of a freshly made bed, a chocolate on my pillow and a fluffy bathrobe get me all riled up (I still always check if there’s a pool, my eight-year-old self insists). As part of a media event, I was lucky enough to win a stay at the Alt Hotel St. John’s, so Adam and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to enjoy a night in a hotel without leaving the room!
I ate all of the food during my winter stay at the Fogo Island Inn. Bread on bread on bread at Newfoundland’s most luxurious island hotel.
Skerwink Hostel is named after the epic awe-inspiring hiking trail just down the road. It’s also happens to be a short walk to my favourite Newfoundland brewery, Port Rexton Brewing.
Newfoundland’s Baccalieu Trail sits on peninsula of the Avalon region with over 200km of roads, leisurely encircling abandoned fishing villages, colonial archaeological sites and brightly coloured B&Bs. I’ve lived in Newfoundland my whole life, but it took six years living on the mainland to appreciate what it means to be a tourist at home. A summer road trip on assignment for Travel Maritimes brought Adam and I to the Baccalieu Trail, and we rediscovered hometown hospitality and some freaking delicious food.
Once the home of a rich merchant and a base for the whole community, this restaurant is three floors of historical restoration worth a stop even if you aren’t hungry. The BLT is the best I’ve ever had with house-cured bacon.
The first of its kind in the province. Visit the tasting room for their juniper gin.
The town of Dildo was named after a piece of a dory in the 1700s, long before sex toys were advertized in your sidebar.
Meals at this B&B are seafood heavy, with traditional Newfoundland steamed pudding for dessert.
The dam of craft beer in Newfoundland is about to be tapped. When I left home six years ago, there wasn’t much of a scene here. Besides mass produced beers like India and Dominion (made by Molson) or Quidi Vidi’s small selection, there wasn’t much happening. Storm …
The recipe for the ever-delicious-certainly-not-low-fat Carmen’s Capers (with no capers) from a Company’s Coming cookbook by Jean Paré.
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 when we’re together, we’re 16 again.
It’s probably annoying to everyone else, but to us it’s the best thing in the world.
Chelsea, who lives Australia, has a penchant for oysters and it was only natural I experiment with the newest restaurant in downtown St. John’s.
Let’s start with the decor. We all know I’m sucker for mood-lighting (Agricola Street Brasserie post from last year) and this place has it in spades.
Industrial lighting with filament bulbs casts a comfortable yellow hue over patrons, dark wood and tarnished metal makes the small space contemporary, and the hip playlist is unapologetically loud.
The small details are minimalist and modern. This place is cool.
The menu changes daily with a selection of small plates arriving whenever they are ready. The plates alternate like a revolving door with servers constantly bringing new bites to the table.
My first dish was the Tuna Taco ($6) with avocado, local cabbage, pickled red onion, cilantro, and baja suace. Delicious. I definitely could have eaten 10 or more, and the girls agreed with me. Big hit at our table.
The Kobe Beef Lettuce Wrap ($7) is flavourful with pickled scallions. The toasted wild rice puffs add a great crunch.
The food at the oyster house is beautiful.
The Composed Beet Salad ($10) was a work of art. The giant wooden plank was the canvas for ash covered goat cheese and cranberry chutney, while nuts and yoghurt punctuated the plate and the palate.
One of my favourite dishes, per usual, was the pork belly. The Thai Style Pork Belly ($16) is one of the bigger and pricier dishes on the menu, but certainly lived up to the description. The sauce was tart with the perfect amount of heat.
The Salt & Pepper Squid ($9) was also a big hit at the table; there were numerous orders. Simple delicious breading with a great chili-lime sauce, you can’t go wrong.
The only gripe I had was with the oysters. While I understand the methodology of small plates, and I’m completely comfortable grazing over multiple plates throughout the evening —in fact, I love it, St. John’s totally needed a place like this— I didn’t like the fact that the oysters for the table didn’t all arrive at the same time.
How many oysters can a shucker shucking shuck in the span of a night?
One hell of a lot, there was one person shucking for the whole restaurant. But between the entire table we only ordered 18 oysters, and they arrived at different times, mine actually arrived as the last dish of the evening. I would have liked them to arrive at the same time, mostly because I was left drooling after everyone else’s tasty oysters.
Their mignonette is killer, for the record.
I did like that the oyster shucker personally delivered the freshly shucked delights to the table and talked about the varietals. Chelsea preferred the fresher, sweeter, west coast oysters, while I preferred the brinier east coasters.
Oyster virgins beware: if the staff figure out you’ve never eaten an oyster they are coming at you with an oyster and a chant just like they did with our dear friend Meghan. They make a big deal out of it, and I love it.
Dessert was delicious, chocolatey, reeese-pieces amazingness. Enough said.
An evening at The Adelaide Oyster House is well spent; Grab a table, have some drinks, and spend the night eating, one delicious plate at a time. Overall, a great night out with the girls, per usual. They are my home, where I laugh the most, and every minute —however few and far between— is always super special.
334 Water Street | St. John’s NL | (709) 722-2222
Open Tuesday- Sunday 5pm until close.