E-Pin Korean Grill House’s novelty concept is fun for a while, but if you’re cooking your own food, it needs to excel, says Melissa Buote. It’s hard to review a restaurant where you cook much of the food yourself. I imagine writing, “Great job, me,” before reaching around to pat myself on the back. “And […]
Melissa Buote
Posted inFood + Drink
Source is a force
There are big goals stored in the little hole in the wall that is Local Source Market. Their aim is to build community through food culture, connect the peninsular population with the province’s farmers and promote quality food that is healthy and organic. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a few hundred square […]
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Vinnie’s loves food
A row of stools lines each of the large windows at the front of Vinnie’s Pasta Bar. From the outside, it looks like just another take-away joint. Inside it’s warm, the air tinged with the scent of tomato. It’s dim, almost dark inside. It’s an easy atmosphere. Chocolate and caramel tones give an intimate-date-restaurant feel […]
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Rani’s rocks
The beiges, browns and bolted-down seating at Rani’s Curry & Roti Stop will never look like anything but a Tim Hortons. But if you close your eyes when you walk in, you’ll see nothing but the rich golds and copper of curry. The smell is a delight, an inviting combination of spices like cloves, allspice […]
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Brunch bunch
The Coastal Cafe is busy, as always. My two friends and I have dared to go for a weekend brunch, arriving just after 10am hoping that we’ll find a tiny window between market-goers and late-risers. The Coastal is, after all, tiny. You can count the tables on your fingers, and they are so closely situated […]
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How to order for value
Everybody wants a “good buy,” whether it’s based on issues that are important to you, pinching a penny or two or just avoiding buyer’s remorse. “Value should be based on a number of factors, not just how cheaply someone can fill up,” says Taste of Nova Scotia’s Doug Townsend. “In the end, dining out is […]
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Polish delight
I had never heard of Janina’s Cafe before l last week. It’s not a restaurant with a storied mythology or a celebrity chef. It’s not in a popular neighbourhood or on a convenient nearby corner. It, like dozens of other tiny mom-and-pop places that pepper the city, anonymous and unheralded, is just a small storefront […]
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Ship Shape
It’s hard to miss the sails on the mast in front of the Ship Victory Restaurant & Lounge. The sign, which completes the pub’s intricate boat theme, is almost like the X that marks the spot of a neighbourhood pub that doesn’t have a neighbourhood. Surrounded by a sea of dusky parking lots, it feels […]
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Mixed bag from Ray Bear
It was in fine dining that Ray Bear made his reputation—one he has spent a lot of time cultivating since his Gio days in 2006. After the closure of Bear in 2009 there was a lot of curiosity about his movements, which got interesting last summer when he announced the opening of MIX Fresh Kitchen […]
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Champagne cocktails!
Last year, as the clock struck midnight, I stood out on a snowy deck with two bottles of cheap sparkling wine tucked into a snowbank that ran against the side of the house. We shoved the stems of our champagne coupes into the snow that piled up on the thick railing, and watched the fireworks […]
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Lebanese delight
As Dartmouth Crossing continues its seemingly endless expansion, so grow the options for lunch spots within easy distance from the thousands of Haligonians who spend their days toiling in the offices of Burnside. But they needn’t look as far as the shopping mecca—nestled right in the middle of the industrial park is Kababji. I head […]
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Slow tourism
There’s a routine to my mornings in Colledardo. I wake up, my nose pink from the November chill that has fallen over the mountains of Italy, and wander to the kitchen where a fire is burning in the woodstove and coffee percolates on the stovetop. On my small plate, I arrange fresh persimmon, sliced tomato, […]
