One day before the annual tourist season opened, my wife and I were going along the North Coast of Cape Breton in search of something good to eat. At the time, very few restaurants were open and there was one we saw on Yelp that sounded very interesting.
We rode through Dingwall Nova Scotia to the end of the road where we came upon several vacation style cabins along a beautiful coastline and drove up to what we thought was the office. Nobody was there. So that evening, I called the restaurant and found out it was open, that someone was there all day, and I made reservations. The next evening we retraced our steps down the meandering road and sure enough it was the same place. Again, no signage, but we saw some cars parked and we so we rambled about to figure out the way to the front door.
The chef of this restaurant is a well schooled and self-educated wonder! We came on the first night the summer season, so there were only four tables dining. The menu is simple, and the waitress said everything they prepare there is simple and local. We ordered salad, mussels, halibut and a bottle of wine.
Wr ordered Mussels as an appetizer in white wine and herbs and all were plump, sweet and devine!
The salad was sinful, it was so fresh and made with beets shoots and all sorts of other tender shoots apparently grown across the harbor by locals. The dressing was just a hint and really didn't impact the flavor of the shoots.
The halibut came out nicely golden testing on top of a bed of homemade mashed potatoes and a side of delicate fiddlehead fern shoot as vegetables. The thick piece of halibut was so fresh, just like the mussels without even a hint of ocean. All were very very sweet, very very tender. And unlike so many other places that over cook their fish, this was to perfection.
The chef came over to chat with us after our meal was done. What a delightful fella from Toronto where he worked for several fine restaurants before moving East with his family. Tall, red-headed and full beard he's the epitome of somebody living out here on Cape Breton. He could run an award-winning restaurant anywhere, but he chose this for his family and he is unequaled as far as we're concerned! A must in your list of restaurant experiences. Still number one on our list from the whole of Cabot Trail. read more