Haligonian chefs are storytellers. Their narrative-driven tasting experiences share the identity of Nova Scotia from terroir to merrior. Their menus tell of what the fishermen hauled in this morning, what the farmer harvested and the forager uncovered this week. They tell of the season, the history and a sophisticated aesthetic distinct in Canada. Their shared respect for origin enables each plate to convey, through cuisine, the culture of Nova Scotia’s land and sea.
The seven-course farm-to-table chef’s tasting experience at Lupin Dining & Pantry is like a walk through the restaurant’s forty-acre country-garden in Musquodoboit Harbour. Chef Kim MacPherson and her partner and husband, Mark Pehlke, host their guests with such charm and conviviality, that we feel right at home. Chef MacPherson’s French and Italian techniques showcase the best of her Maritime produce along the Eastern Shore. Intimate seating with an upscale-cottage vibe sets the tone.
A medley of fresh heirloom and champagne-pickled tomatoes with local mozzarella, garden radish, summer cucumber rolls, delicate nasturtium leaves and a light drizzle of nasturtium sauce is just beautiful and sings of summer. It takes a really special chef to plate an ingredient and somehow make it taste like it’s the first time we’ve ever tasted it.
A salad of crunchy broiled green beans with crisp shallots, toasted haloumi, and a gentle dill cream topped with a petite sunny side up quail egg, reflects the honesty, simplicity and love in Chef MacPherson’s cooking that we can feel. Zucchini skewers with blueberry cider reduction, puffed quinoa granola, roasted carrot puree and pretty purple bachelor button flowers are a flare of vibrant colours and flavours that, only moments earlier, were being nourished in the garden.
This is reminiscent of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse where the dedication is to a holistic experience in which the ambience, the place settings, the glass and tableware, are all part of the same philosophy in which the garden and local ingredients are presented.
Scallops, brûléed for a delicate crunch with a hint of sweetness to balance the creamy smoked paprika polenta, are buttressed with charred corn and sautéed jalapeño, herbs and yellow tomato with crumbled feta. We can taste every ingredient, every note, every texture, and they all harmonize together. A medium rare striploin with potato gnocchi, truffled cauliflower, and roasted and pickled shitake mushrooms, is a savoury, umami-laden dish that, while delicate in its composition, packs flavour in juicy parcels of steak that marry with the earthy tones that envelop it.
Our dessert is a delectably creative display of silky disk-shaped semi-soft cheesecake topped with a pretty sprig of lavender, accompanied by a dollop of haskap compote, fresh raspberries and one smooth scoop of bee pollen custard perched on a crumble of caramelized white chocolate. Who could ask for anything more?
Lupins symbolize imagination, nutrition, vitality and resilience. Lupin Dining & Pantry is farm-to-table in its purest form: rustic, refined, seasonal, hyper-local and reflecting a true taste of place.
There is no substitute for beautiful food. Inspired by nature, Chefs Andreas Preuss and Sophia Gruber love cooking and want to have fun. Each dish at Oxalis, in Dartmouth, is a totally unique and inspired work of art like we’ve never seen before. Seated at a cozy banquet in the back courtyard underneath patio lanterns, we know we’re in for a treat.
Our first dish immediately demonstrates how this kitchen can elevate one star ingredient. Start with a thick avocado. Encrust it in a light panko crunch. Drape it in a vibrant Pico de Gallo sauce. Top it with a crackling parmesan tuille, and rest it on a sauce of aji amarillo with an orbit of black garlic. The result is a melange of contrasting textures from creamy to crunchy with layers of mild heat that awaken our senses and set our palates alight.
Wild caught Atlantic halibut is a prize of Nova Scotia. Here, a delicately sweet portion is seared within a thin layer of tramezzini dough for a crisp crust, set on a piquant bell pepper sauce with garlic scape foam, and accompanied by pop-your-mouth nubbins of bell pepper gnocchi. Adhering to a zero-waste policy, the halibut trimmings are refined into a mousse-like mixture and stuffed into a tempura-fried zucchini blossom. The textures of halibut and of zucchini are such inventive pairings and so artfully composed, it’s really a dish to be admired visually first.
Marinated and poached Octopus is another dish that looks like it belongs in an art gallery. Perfectly tender octopus is torched and set within a mosaic of charred apricot, crispy shiso leaves, foraged sea greens and a mellifluous blending of bone marrow aioli, granny smith apple gel and smoky pimento oil. Every single ingredient enriches the collage of flavours and textures for a presentation that is sublime.
The duet of PEI Blue Dot striploin and short rib showcases the high quality of this Canadian beef. The striploin, beautifully cooked to medium rare and seasoned with Maldon salt, is juicy and robust. The short rib, seared with a crisp panko and cornflake crust, is fall-apart-tender and crowned with a broccoli floret, gently tempura-fried in a puffed quinoa crunch. But wait! There’s a surprise. Hidden within a hollowed-potato is a stuffing of minced beef. I watch my son who, with closed-eyes savours the last morsels, leaving not one crumb behind, and ask him, “How good was that?” He replies in a happy dream-state, “My brain stopped functioning and my mouth exploded.” Rounding out this duet is a symphony of garlic mash and lip-puckering port wine sauce.
Our dessert looks like it was sourced from an enchanted forest. One chocolate log chock full of pistachio sponge cake, mascarpone cream, chocolate bark and jewels of strawberry coulis and strawberries, is decadent and whimsical and in keeping with the visual stimulation of each successive course.
Every dish here is beautiful. This is a kitchen that clearly cares and enjoys cooking with creativity, meticulous precision and pride in their quality locally-sourced ingredients. We are their happy beneficiaries.
Perched on the waterfront, together we will float into the mystic; the pinnacle of Halifax’s modern fine dining with immersive tasting menus that draw directly from Nova Scotia’s varied ecosystems.
The Mystic kitchen, helmed by Chef Malcolm Campbell, reimagines perfection. They’re deriving ingredients from the surrounding nature that are so varied and so unusual that we happily submit to a sensory narrative that is not only unique to this region, but also to this night.
Upon entry we pass through a live pantry of fermentation jars. Fruit, mushrooms, seaweed, moss are all being fermented to infuse unique accents to cocktails and dishes. Seated before the open kitchen we observe a theatre of preparations and presentations, and can choose between multi-course experiences like the Fauna or Biota menus, or surrender entirely to the Discovery menu, where each dish unfolds as a surprise of seasonal, in-the-moment nature.
Smoked-egg yolk, slow-cooked for three-hours to a divine creaminess is crowned with Atlantic sturgeon caviar, and sits on a crunchy sourdough toasty, amidst edible flowers and leaves in a pomme seaweed emulsion. Lobster raviolo topped with a lobster cracker luxuriates in Nova Scotia saffron sauce with trumpet mushrooms and a seaweed brioche. Digby scallop tartare is nourished by goldenrod and lemon grass cream, complemented by crispy nori tempura and pickled cucumber, and bejewelled with pearl berries and strawberry gelée.
Each dish is an invention of textures and compositions with techniques reflecting the chef's untrammelled imagination and curiosity to expand the geography of his ingredient palette, to include every nook of the forest and the ocean for recipes that redefine Maritime cuisine.
Nova Scotia asparagus is lightly poached in mushroom dashi and set with agar agar and in-house made sunflower seed miso, accessorized with a quail egg and purple cauliflower, and brushed with a sea truffle butter sauce. Braised lamb shoulder is lacquered in a lip-smacking dandelion mint jus, and duck breast is decorated with pickled morels, wild garlic, gooseberries and samphire puree. Each dish frames the season, the moment and a harmonious bounty of the land.
As each course is cleared we ask, "What could possibly come next?" Even dessert is a multi-course experience beginning with an extravaganza of chocolate ganache and sea buckthorn ice cream and ending with a moose antler cradling two types of pâte de fruit: one of haskap and juniper, the other of rose and quince. There are hazelnut financiers dipped in pineapple weed syrup, sea salted caramels, and two types of chocolate truffles: one burnt honey and spruce, and one smoked bone marrow fudge.
Dining at Mystic is reminiscent of a European countryside Michelin restaurant, where the restaurant team leaves no stone left unturned to provide the most inimitable experience they possibly can—and they succeed. It is no wonder it is repeatedly ranked as the number one restaurant in Canada.
Located within the stylish Muir Hotel along the waterfront, Drift celebrates Atlantic Canada’s culinary heritage, from Atlantic cuisine to Acadian cuisine. Its menu is a familiar but polished homage to the traditions that make Nova Scotia a culinary jewel of the Maritimes.
For breakfast we crave Atlantic smoked salmon with soft poached eggs and meaty salt cod cakes. At lunch, the traditional lobster roll is elevated to a fresh-from-the-oven croissant packed with buttered local lobster, citrus aioli, celeriac remoulade and organic greens.
The dinner menu perfectly suits my indecision, as it features duets like pork belly and scallops, Nova Scotian shrimp and smoked sausage risotto, and a rich dynamic duo of roasted mushroom tortellini and duck confit tortellini with cherry crema, crispy sage and maitake, lavender ricotta and a dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Tucked into our warm and cozy banquet we watch platters of oysters and seafood towers whisk by. Our sunflower-crusted Atlantic salmon rests on a fluffy bed of fregola with land and sea asparagus, lemon salsa and crème fraiche.
Pictou Island Sandbar is a collage of crunchy buttermilk-fried oysters and marinated local mussels on a couscous salad with sea-truffle aioli and dill sea foam. A hodge podge of cod is a hearty bowl of meaty salt cod croquettes with a delicate butter-braised cod, locally-sourced potatoes, carrots and leeks in a gentle dill cream.
From Atlantic cuisine we move to Acadian cuisine, and indulge in a rustic Rappie Pie, served in an individual-sized iron pot for a perfect cook. The potato, onion and chicken are packed snug into the pot, and as the stock bubble, it softness the pie but leaves a crispy, caramelized edge like a frico. Partnering with the rappie pie is a tender, seared-crisp chicken breast, given the added flare of a savoury truffle chicken jus.
Dessert of artisanal cheeses accompanied by a dulse and dark chocolate truffle, fennel pollen and white chocolate bark is a sweet coda that hits all the right notes. There is a common Acadian expression, bènaise, that describes the feeling of being satisfied after enjoying a good meal with good company. In the comfort of Drift, we linger a little longer, before a leisurely stroll along the boardwalk just outside the door.
The talk of the town is Tribute where the three pillars of the evening are food, wine and fire. Chef Colin Bebbington, trained in Bologna, Italy, makes pasta by hand and uses traditional cooking methods to create authentic dishes centred around a live fire and charcoal cookery.
Even the house bread makes it to the grill for a smoky crust, brushed with a melt-on-contact herb butter, and accompanied by a creamy house-made Stracciatella cheese. This begs for a wine or beer pairing.
Handmade pasta is the cornerstone of Tribute. Word on the street is that we have to try the Lasagna with green sheets of pasta. After all, Chef Bebbington studied how to create it at the source. Next time. Tonight we're tempted by the Cappelletti di Caffè, a coffee-infused pasta dough with a three-cheese filling of mascarpone, asiago and taleggio. It is tossed with cinnamon cap mushrooms in a garlic lemon butter sauce, and sprinkled with grated parmigiano. The mouthfeel of this fresh pasta, prepared with beautiful ingredients is a sublime indulgence.
Seated at the counter facing the open kitchen, we observe a veritable masterclass in how to grill the perfect steak.
PEI Blue Dot tenderloin, apple wood-fired at a distance enough for a slow-cook. It's smoky essence and light seasoning of sea salt add complexion to a steak so evenly tender that, had we not witnessed the cook with our own eyes, we'd think it was sous-vide. While the chef lets the steak rest, and checks its temperature for carry-over heat, the kitchen plates the accompanying wood-fired zucchini with a Calabrian chili glaze, mirin-marinated eggplant, tomato, ramps, and a creamy scoop of polenta.
This is the best tasting steak in Halifax. Smoky, with beautiful caramelization, and a perfectly tender medium rare. Its soft, buttery marbling and rich, juicy, beefy flavour for which PEI Blue Dot is renown, is in the right hands with this kitchen. Who needs wagyu when you’ve got Atlantic Canadian beef?
Asado aside, we’re tempted by dessert. Even though our flavour-forward Tribute leaves us bursting at the seams, we indulge in rich, moist, dense forkfuls, of Gooey Butter Cake with white chocolate, and the mic drop of cake experiences, Coffee Cake with espresso, peanut butter and chocolate.
This is a kitchen that illustrates the simplicity and high flavour-quotient of quality ingredients handmade or seared over an open flame for rustic refinement that is a fitting Tribute to Nova Scotia’s identity as much as its flavors.
In Halifax, farm-to-table isn’t a trend, it’s a natural extension of geography; a part of the cultural and culinary milieu in which restaurants can source ingredients from every direction at peak freshness, often within hours of harvest. High-end farm-to-table dining here isn’t about luxury in the traditional sense. It’s about experiential fine dining with authenticity, craftsmanship, and connection to place.