Where to eat in Newfoundland

**ElsieD** · April 14, 2015

We are going to Newfoundland in August for two weeks. We start in St. John's and leave from Deer Lake. We will be traveling along the coast covering most of the island. Does anyone have any suggestion on where to eat? I'm looking for anything from casual to fine dining. I know The Inn on Fogo Island has a great restaurant but that is all I know.

DGoosney · April 14, 2015

Hello Elsie,

Great to see tourists coming to Newfoundland! It's a wonderful place to visit. I have eaten in most of the restaurants in St. John's and I can make a few suggestions.

At the high end, Raymonds is probably the best restaurant in town. It has been getting lots of national and international attention in the past few years. Their specialty is local seafood. I have not eaten here but I have heard it is amazing. Also at the high end is the One11 Chophouse. It is a steakhouse specializing in dry-aged beef. They have one of the best steaks I have ever eaten (and I have eaten a lot of steak!). At both of these restaurants you will spend $100+ per person.

There are tons of restaurants in the mid range that are good. Stay away from the chain restaurants and go with one of the local options. Here are some recommendations: Piatto (great thin-crust pizza, my favorite restaurant in town), Bacalao (local seafood and meat, great cocktails), Chinched (local food and charcuterie), The Club (upscale pub-style food, great atmosphere). These restaurants are probably in the $30-50 per person range.

On the low end there is not as much selection. Some of the good, affordable restaurants are: Ches's (Fish and Chips), Gracie Joes (small local restaurant, cash only), Saigon Bistro (Vietnamese Food), Magic Wok (Chinese Food)

All of these restaurants are in downtown St. John's or nearby. There are tons of other good restaurants in town that I didn't mention. I don't get out of the city much so I don't have any recommendations for the rest of the island. Hope this helps!

Also, make sure to pack a raincoat. It can get pretty wet here in the spring

Edited April 14, 2015 by DGoosney (log)

Okanagancook · April 16, 2015

Sadly I have not been to the rock.

The Canadian Culinary Champion representing the rock was Aqua Kitchen & Bar in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, it’s Chef MARK McCROWE.

That should be good as I have been to the finale in Kelowna and all the city champion chefs are very talented.

Have a great trip.

**ElsieD** · April 16, 2015

Thank you both of your responses. We are spending 4 evenings in St. John's so your suggestions are welcome, both for the fine dining suggestions and the more casual places. I hope someone else might chirp up about where else to eat. We are going around the Avalon Peninsula then up through Clarenville, around the Bonavista Peninsula to Gambo. The current plan is to also visit Twillingate (we may do the coastal route around Gambo, Musgrave Harboue, etc.) and from there, we cross over to the west side eventually doing the loop to L'Anse aux Meadows and back down to Deer Lake. If there is time to do all that, that is. I'm busy plotting distances, etc. DGoosney, I have been there a few times before but not lately and my husband has never been. I am excited about going because I love the place. If I recall correctly, I was there one other time in August and bakeapples were in season. I even brought some fresh ones back to Ottawa!

Okanagancook · May 7, 2015

ElsieD, forgot about Raymonds. Article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/jeremy-charles-canadas-real-top-chef/article20495580/

Hope you got there on your trip.

suzilightning · February 4, 2018

bumping this up as we will be heading north the end of June/early July for birding, icebergs and Gander. We will be checking out Witless Bay, Gander, up to the L'Anse aux Meadows and in Labrador up as far as Cartwright. John just wants seafood....pasta....few vegetables. I am just looking for interesting LOCAL foods.

**ElsieD** · February 19, 2018

@suzilightning did you manage to have a look blog at the blog I did on Newfoundland? It lists a lot of the restaurants we ate at. Are you staying on the western side and Labrador or are you also going to the Eastern side? We have taken two trips there and the first-year included the Northern Peninsula. If you want any tips on where to stay, let me know. We are going again on June 23 coming back July 1. Any chance we might run in to each other? We are flying in to Stephenville, on the western side but ending up In St. John's.

suzilightning · March 18, 2018

@ElsieD.......sorry. I haven't scrolled down so much in a while. We are making final plans but it looks like we will be up that way from about June 20 to about July 10. We are driving up as I have a problem flying. Showed Johnnybird the blog that I had read when you were up there last year and his only comment was ....why are there so many pictures of food? I want to see what the place looks like. Philistine. Any suggestions as to seafood would be appreciated.

We are going to do quite a bit of birding/driving near the peninsula then up to the Viking area with a stop at Gander as my uncle was there and it means a lot to me and then back home. I want to see Campobello as I am a history person and see any kind of crafts/quilts .

Edited March 18, 2018 by suzilightning (log)

**ElsieD** · March 25, 2018

On 18/03/2018 at 6:11 PM, suzilightning said:

@ElsieD.......sorry. I haven't scrolled down so much in a while. We are making final plans but it looks like we will be up that way from about June 20 to about July 10. We are driving up as I have a problem flying. Showed Johnnybird the blog that I had read when you were up there last year and his only comment was ....why are there so many pictures of food? I want to see what the place looks like. Philistine. Any suggestions as to seafood would be appreciated.

We are going to do quite a bit of birding/driving near the peninsula then up to the Viking area with a stop at Gander as my uncle was there and it means a lot to me and then back home. I want to see Campobello as I am a history person and see any kind of crafts/quilts .

@suzilightning Once you get to Gander, are you going further towards St. John's are are you going back the way you came? If going further, i have two places we ate at on our first trip that were outstanding, Also, you need to book accommodation ahead of time. If you wait until you get there you may be out of luck. If you are a birding person I'd think Gros Morne would be right up your alley.

suzilightning · March 25, 2018

If I can pin Johnnybird down in the next week I will be making res like crazy. Will pm you .........we are doing the Avalon staying in St. John's for a few days... to Gros Morne and then up to the Viking area..

**ElsieD** · March 25, 2018

Two of the best places to eat tgat we found are

Doyle Sansone & Sons, in Hillgrade which is near Twillingate. Best chowder on the planet. Cod is caught, cleaned and cooked for you.

Cashin's Chestnut Tree Cafe in Gambo, on your way to St. JOHN'S. It is inside a general store and doesn't look like much, especially from the outside. There are about 4, maybe 5 tables in the place. It is home cooking at It's finest.

If you are staying in Port au Choix on the Northern Peninsula, about halfway up, try and stay at Jeannie's Sunrise B & B. Try to get one of their cottages.

Let me know when your route gets sorted out and I'll give you some more suggestions.

**ElsieD** · March 25, 2018

@suzilightning Did you contact the tourism department of the government of Newfoundland? They will send you a bunch of stuff including a map. You can also go on-line to their site and they have a driving distance calculator so you can calculate the distance between places and the length of time it takes to drive.

MelissaH · March 25, 2018

43 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

@suzilightning Did you contact the tourism department of the government of Newfoundland? They will send you a bunch of stuff including a map. You can also go on-line to their site and they have a driving distance calculator so you can calculate the distance between places and the length of time it takes to drive.

Don't underestimate the distances, in terms of drive time. We had two weeks in Newfoundland, and it was barely enough time for us to see the Avalon Peninsula (including St. John's), Fogo Island, and Twillingate. (I second Doyle Sansone & Sons, BTW.) If you only have about three weeks for the trip, which will presumably include the time it will take to drive and ferry there, it sounds like you might be trying to squeeze in too much for one trip. We were warned by a native that it is NOT wise to drive after dark there, and he was absolutely right!

**ElsieD** · March 25, 2018

14 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

Don't underestimate the distances, in terms of drive time. We had two weeks in Newfoundland, and it was barely enough time for us to see the Avalon Peninsula (including St. John's), Fogo Island, and Twillingate. (I second Doyle Sansone & Sons, BTW.) If you only have about three weeks for the trip, which will presumably include the time it will take to drive and ferry there, it sounds like you might be trying to squeeze in too much for one trip. We were warned by a native that it is NOT wise to drive after dark there, and he was absolutely right!

All true (including Doyle Samsone & Sons). One night we stayed at a place in Springdale and had to drive a ways to a restaurant. We were fine getting there, but going back it was pitch black and we were worried about meeting a moose. We drove back at a snail's pace.

chromedome · March 30, 2018

You'll pass by me on your way home (I'm on the way to/from the US border, as you pass through New Brunswick) so I can probably help you with a few things to do/see/eat on your way through the area.

suzilightning · March 31, 2018

Thank you all......

looks like we will be ferrying over to Newfoundland and then up the west coast then down to St. John's and the Avalon peninsula then home.

We have already decided we are going to do another trip in a few years so I can get to PEI and Nova Scotia.

suzilightning · June 23, 2018

So...

We have been in Newfoundland for a week. Not many memorable meals as Johnnybird thpught it would be a good idea to have a dental extraction the Tuesday befote leabong on Friday. Needless to say he developed dry socket.

We dod have a wonderful meal of salt fish cakes, turnips and carrots for John with soe 1892 malt beer. I had sauteed halibut with the same veg but ordered some tucca with partridgeberry jam to eat om the morning. Believe it or not it was at St. Chrostopher's Hotel restaurant.

We stayed in a B &B in Norris Point and enjoyed talking with the owners mom and da who manage the place. Breakfast was blueberry waffles,fruit and yoghurt. We also talked quilting, canning and preserves

Other places were OK. We are now in a cabin outside of Deer Lake and getting ready to head for Gander or Twillingate tomorrow.

The only absolutes for this are we have to be in Bay Bulls on Friday at noon for a sea expedition and then back to St. christopher's on 3 July so we can take the ferty back to Nova Scotoa on our independence day

Have seen icebergs...some good birds..

visited the Norse settlement near St

Anthony's...met some wonderfuly funny and kind people amd seen some amazing sights....with a week and a half to go..........

**ElsieD** · June 23, 2018

http://www.sansomeslobsterpool.com

You need to eat here if you go to Twillingate. It is on the way. Trust me. You won't be sorry. We are in Newfoundland as well, just arrived today.

suzilightning · July 21, 2018

Just getting some stuff together to let some people know about our trip and came across an article in the July 2018 Downhome magazine : Eat and Drink your way Across Newfoundland and Labrador. Pretty good article and features some things that are a bit off the beaten path...

Since it is the current issue it seems to be embargoed from the Downhome website for now.

**ElsieD** · July 21, 2018

1 hour ago, suzilightning said:

Just getting some stuff together to let some people know about our trip and came across an article in the July 2018 Downhome magazine : Eat and Drink your way Across Newfoundland and Labrador. Pretty good article and features some things that are a bit off the beaten path...

Since it is the current issue it seems to be embargoed from the Downhome website for now.

Did you or I eat in any of the places mentioned?

suzilightning · July 22, 2018

Absolutely!!!! And you and I missed each other by about an hour and a half at Sansome's. We stayed and ate at Grates Cove Studios in Grates Cove, did a Lighthouse Picnic in Ferryland.....did you eat at Tavola or O'Reilly"s Pub in St. John's? Also met one of the guys behind the Roots, Rants and Roars festivals in Elliston and we can't wait to get back...I want to do one of the trips in Norris Point or Woody Point and John wants to check out some of the music and beer(of course) in St. John's.

**ElsieD** · July 23, 2018

Sorry, just saw this. We ate at Tavolas and really liked it. We had a terrible meal at Bacalao, one of the highest rated places in St. John's. That was the only bad meal we had. Newfoundland gets under your skin, doesn't it? I won't go again in June. The snow we drove through was too depressing.

chromedome · July 24, 2018

Yeah, June's a bit early. I've gotten pretty bad chilblains hitchhiking there in June. Mind you, I've also sweltered at the roadside in February, which was an equally odd feeling. Much-loved Newfoundland humorist Ray Guy (now sadly deceased) joked that mainland bunnies got to wear white in winter and brown in summer, while their island equivalents were forced to stay mottled all year in the interest of camouflage.

suzilightning · July 25, 2018

I don't freaking give a rat'ass. We were invited to the east coast so her husband and mine could climb

I want to be back there like you guys don't guess...……..

chromedome · July 25, 2018

I remember some mention of icebergs being a priority for one or the other of you. Kinda have to go early for those, regardless.

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