Food & Drink

Halifax and area food thread - restaurants, food tourism, etc

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Deal Guru
May 23, 2003
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Halifax and area food thread - restaurants, food tourism, etc

Hey all,

Any recs from RFDers on food related places worth checking out in the Halifax area (or up to an hours drive outside of it).

Figure there could be a central thread for recs on "donairs", "lobster", etc. also looking for other unique food tourism related things. I will update the thread as I come across potentially interesting things in my travel plan prep.

Heard that "Tony's" was good for donairs ( saw a post by Duckdown on chowhound about it)
21 replies
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Sep 2, 2008
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When I was there, I liked donairs at Alexandras Pizza. Everyone always recommended me King Donair or something similar, and it was fine, but I like Alexandra's better. However, all are fairly similar so it really isn't a big deal. I love the mayo/condensed milk/garlic powder sauce but I guess its not for everyone.
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YLSF wrote: Hey all,

Any recs from RFDers on food related places worth checking out in the Halifax area (or up to an hours drive outside of it).

Figure there could be a central thread for recs on "donairs", "lobster", etc. also looking for other unique food tourism related things. I will update the thread as I come across potentially interesting things in my travel plan prep.

Heard that "Tony's" was good for donairs ( saw a post by Duckdown on chowhound about it)
We tried as many Donairs as we could handle over a 2 week period while on vacation in Cape Breton (and 2 nights in Halifax)..

Incoming picture spam, dialup modem users beware

King of Donair is what slowtyper is referring to, it's the most widely known and popular chain throughout Nova Scotia. It's where many scenes for Trailer Park Boys have been shot (Bubbles buzzing Ricky's half-burned hair inside the KoD, Randy hooking for Cheeseburgers outside of the KoD, Julian eating pizza crusts off the ground and dancing with a dirty dog behind the KoD). It's good, but not the best. There also is apparently one in Kingston, ON.



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Tony's was the BEST we tried in Halifax and on the entire trip actually, that is one wicked friggin donair. Lots of spice on the meat too.


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Athens Restaurant on Quinpool for a wicked hangover busting breakfast.. And after a night on Spring Garden Rd. you will definitely need it




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Fantastic wood burning oven pizza and overall Italian food at Piatto, and if you are there during nice weather their patio gives a decent view of the waterfront, you can watch huge ships float by as you enjoy your meal



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Alexander Keiths Brewery Tour is a must for any fan of the beer, you get 2 full sized pints on the tour. $20 per person IIRC. Lots of "theatre" in the tour, all guides and members of the tour dress in historical clothing and talk that way too (kind of annoying really)




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Peggy's Cove, besides being probably the most beautiful thing you may ever see in your life, has an amazing hand churned old fashioned artisinal ice cream parlor there.. One of the best ice creams I have ever had in my life, no *****



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Island Greek in Cape Breton is widely renowned as the best in the Cape, only picture I've got of it. This is the second best we had on our vacation for sure, an awesome product as well


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If you do the Cabot Trail, you gotta stop at the Wreck Cove general store. They specialize in all kinds of Cape Breton local products.. Homemade maple syrup candy, Covered Bridge potato chips, Scottsdale Chocolate Milk (best store bought chocolate milk you will EVER taste)



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We rented a cabin for 2 nights in Ingonish, which is where you will want to be if you want to do any swimming in the Cape. They have the most beautiful, pristine beaches and the most crystal clear salt water. 8 of us rented a big dual cabin across the street at Skyline Cabins and over the period of 2 days we ate at Main Street Restaurant & Pub _3_ times.. The food was fantastic, and the seafood is all local stuff from the Bay of Fundy.. Freshest, sweetest crab legs I've ever had in my life, and they have the best Butterscotch Pie as well, an east coast favorite which is near impossible to find in Ontario



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Peanut Butter and local Jam French Toast. Wicked!:
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As the Cabot Trail winds down, and you end up in Cheticamp, avoid this place. Was very ordinary


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Lick A Chick and Lick A Treat are also pretty cool to try. Had a quick bite to eat here on the way to the Drive In Theatre near our last days.. Kills Popeyes or KFC



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Worst Donair by a landslide was from Greco, had our final donair for lunch before starting the long drive back to Brampton, and it was really just not good at all, very processed tasting. Threw over half of it out.. Pizza slice was OK


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Phew, there we go.. We were there for 15 days and not included in the pictures are the fantastic lobster feasts and other amazing things we tried during our trip, because those were done in Big Pond at the waterfront cottage we stayed at, too many faces to blur out and I can't be bothered with it..

Hope this helps, it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in my life, especially when you're spending it with a huge group of close friends, I just can't say enough positive things about it.. And they take their food serious out there as you can see!

Cheers!
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May 23, 2003
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Awesome, thanks. Good start to this thread.
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Thanks man :) .

Just a quick correction - the fresh caught seafood served at the Main in Ingonish isn't from Bay of Fundy but rather Bay of St. Lawrence
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Dee Dee's ice cream is very good.
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I will post more when I get a chance but I went to Mezza's on Barrington and I thought their donair was way better than Tony's.. but Tony's was pretty decent (better than the place in Milton). I would definitely try Mezza's (used to be named something else). The wait time was long to get an order though (line up, but, seemed to move slowly) so keep that in mind (late evening).
Deal Addict
Feb 27, 2005
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I grew up in Halifax and here's how I rate some of the donair places. From best to worst.

1. Sicilian Pizza (moist meat with great seasoning and good sauce)
2. Roberts Donair (big portions of hand cut/ground meat, heavily spiced with good sauce)
3. Rugova's (moist meat with ok seasoning and good sauce)
4. Tony's (dry overseasoned meat)
5. King of Donair (dry overseasoned meat)

Rugova's donair & garlic fingers
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/235/1583525 ... za-Halifax
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John's lunch in Dartmouth (fried clams, fried haddock, fried scallops, seafood platter, skip their frozen fries) Very reasonably priced.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/235/1462265 ... -Dartmouth
https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 7996_n.jpg

Jim's Seafood (seafood platter, panfried halibut, skip the pizza)
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/235/1538182 ... nt-Halifax
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Sicilian Pizza at the Pizza corner in Halifax (order a "works" or "donair" pizza). Pizza is very popular in Halifax and much better than the rest of Canada). Their Donairs are very good as well. Don't get a slice of donair pizza since it will be dried out...order a whole pie so it's fresh.
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/235/1113074 ... bs-Halifax
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[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 9749_n.jpg[/IMG]

Robert's Donair in Dartmouth (huge portions)
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/235/1473577 ... bs-Halifax

Bud the spud (french fry truck, and institution)
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/bud-the-spud-halifax
[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 6846_n.jpg[/IMG]

Cow's Ice Cream from PEI...best when their waffle cones are fresh.
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/cows-halifax-2
[IMG]https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 7678_n.jpg[/IMG]

Also. Eat lobster..it's so cheap. Last time they had it for $5.99/lb at Superstore.
[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 4208_n.jpg[/IMG]

They have lobster tanks at the Halifax airport so you can pack as luggage! How awesome is that?
[IMG]https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 7343_n.jpg[/IMG]
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Wow, 2 negative votes for Tony's, I thought it was awesome. Thank you for the suggestions, we are headed back next summer so I'll definitely be trying all of the mentioned places above!

Have you guys tried Island Greek in Cape Breton? Most people told me they were the best, great product as well...


Edit: Greco is worse than KoD
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Div wrote: Dee Dee's ice cream is very good.
Sure is! They had a type of ice cream flavored with Anise and it was delicious!
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Feb 27, 2005
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No worries! :) My experience at Tony's could have been bad timing where the meat with rotating all day and stale. I used to love Tony's when I was a kid. I did a mini donair crawl and had a bunch back to back so it was fresh on my mind...lol. I also hear Alexandra's has good stuff. Halifax Donair & Pizza is near and dear to my heart. We don't have that stuff here so I bring meat back with me everytime I visit. I also make my own meat from this recipe.

I use 2.5 times the spices for more kick. I also add more cayenne. The spices are right on.
http://greek.food.com/recipe/dash-ripro ... nair-90387

Donair Sauce, the easy way
1 can condensed milk (much easier than using evaporated milk)
1/4 cup of white vinegar (add a little more for more tang)
1 table spoon garlic powder
-whisk all ingredients together and refrigerate...done

It makes me happy to hear you love Halifax Donair. It can be an acquired taste if you haven't grown up with it. (the sweet sauce) Apparently it's quite prevalent in Edmonton of all places. Lebanese people make great pizza/donair.

Hah..Greco is like the Pizza Pizza of Nova Scotia. ;)

PS. Some places have Donair Eggrolls and Donair Pogo's. Try those!
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Jul 14, 2006
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Hamachi House (sushi)
Fredie's Fantastic Fish House (fish-n-chips, chowder, etc)
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Oct 23, 2004
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bumping this thread and looking for some current recommendations. I'll be in Halifax this week and looking to try any good local Canadian new cuisine, seafood etc. Looking for unique local food and not really interested in anything like Italian, Asian etc you can find anywhere else
13inches wrote: Fredie's Fantastic Fish House (fish-n-chips, chowder, etc)
Stumbled on this earlier researching myself and it looks great. This is the type of thing I'm looking for
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The Bicycle Thief gets a lot of good reviews, although I've never tried it myself.
I'm a fan of Five Fisherman and The Press Gang.
Kaiser's in Sackville makes some great deli sandwiches
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ReeGee wrote: bumping this thread and looking for some current recommendations. I'll be in Halifax this week and looking to try any good local Canadian new cuisine, seafood etc. Looking for unique local food and not really interested in anything like Italian, Asian etc you can find anywhere else


Stumbled on this earlier researching myself and it looks great. This is the type of thing I'm looking for
In the Maritimes they like their Fish and Chips, and deep frying their seafood. Lol. Pleasant Street Diner is an institution in Dartmouth. Don't let the ghetto strip mall turn you off. They are run by the family who used to run John's Lunch nearby. Some must haves are the fried claims, fried fish, scallops, and haddock tips. Their fries are McCain frozen fries and you can tell them to skip the fries and they will give you more seafood. Pleasant St is newer and has way more seating than John's which is a hole in the wall. Food is identical.

When in Halifax, you gotta try some Halifax donair with the sweet sauce. Sicilian and King of Donair chains are all around. Pizza is very popular as well and get a huge slice from Sicilian.

I wanted to try The Canteen but the schedule didn't work out the last time I was in town.

John Catucci from Yougottaeathere also went to some HFX places.
https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/ ... ts-1426490

The NS clips are scattered around these episodes. The description at the bottom of video has details.
https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/big-fo ... 2540000000
https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/big-fo ... 2550000100
https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/big-fo ... 2560000100
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Deal Fanatic
Oct 23, 2004
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Back from my trip to Nova Scotia, tried a couple places mentioned here and found a few others myself. The seafood was absolutely incredible everywhere we went. I know I said I wasn't interested in Italian but the Bicycle Thief was so busy when we walked by on our first night that we decided to give it a try and it was so good we went back a second time. Fredie's and their Lobster roll lived up to the hype as well.
Here's a quick summary and pics of our dining highlights.

The Bicycle Thief - Everything about this place is outstanding. Location, atmosphere, service, and food are all A+. Best salmon I've ever had in my life and the lobster linguine was delicious. The apps were all excellent as well. Easily the best place we dined at during our trip.

Fredie's - Lobster Roll was unbelievable and well worth it. My wife had the fish burger and enjoyed it. They were actually out of lobster because of the storm the first time I tried to go, went back the next day and so glad I did.

Edna - This place is very well rated and it was pretty good but at the same price point as Bicycle Thief I'm not sure it was worth it. Maybe it's just me because my wife loved this place but the flavors didn't hit home with me the same and I felt it was a tad overpriced. YMMV

Grand Banker in Lunenberg - The pan seared haddock was amazing, probably the best I've ever had and reasonably priced. Nice view of the water here as well.

Lakeside Bar and Grill - We only ended up here because it was one of few places with power that was open after the storm. The fish and chips were pretty good, my wife enjoyed her cod tacos and the view of Chocolate Lake was nice.

Didn't take pics but we also had a really good lunch and coffee at The Nook on Gottingen. Nice vegan options there if you're looking for that. Also had a quick lunch at Stubborn Goat and it was good.

Overall we were impressed with the dining scene and had a great 4-5 days of sight seeing and stuffing out faces with delicious fresh seafood. I hope someone finds this thread and post useful in the future.
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