For many people, food in Newfoundland means fish and chips. But if you take some time to look, Newfoundland has a lot more to offer in terms great restaurants, pubs and craft breweries. This list is just some of our favourite Newfoundland restaurants and pubs from our visit in 2022.
St John’s
There are so many good restaurants it’s hard to make a list of the best restaurants of St John’s. We managed to visit a few and also have heard of others.
Our friend Ali recommended Terre restaurant and we had a beautiful meal there. It has a high end menu of locally sourced food and a very good wine list.
The Rooms, a great museum / art gallery, has a very good cafe on the third floor which overlooks the harbour. The food is delicious, with lots of healthy choices and it’s easy to get a table without a reservation.
Georgestown Bakery just outside the downtown area has delicious sourdough bread. They only take cash and sell out early. The Georgestown Cafe across the road is also has good coffee and you can buy the beans if you’re brewing your own.
We loved the small town of Quidi Vidi just outside St John’s. The Quidi Vidi craft brewery is a great spot right on the water for a lazy lunch. We also had an excellent meal at Mallard Cottage which is split into a quaint cottage section in the front and then a large open area at the back. They serve top end fare, with lots of produce from their green on site. They also had one of the best selections of wine by the glass we’ve seen in a long time and the wine guy gave us a spontaneous flight of Pinot Noir which helped us feel even better about the experience.
If you happen to find yourself in Quidi Vidi be sure to pop in to the Inn of Olde and have a chat with the publican Linda. It’s a tiny, old school pub in the front part of her house. In the words of our taxi driver, Moose, you should be able to get in and out within half an hour.
Outside St John’s
We had dinner at the Bayieu Open Studio Restaurant, part of Grates Cove Studios, which is a unique combination of Creole and Asian cuisines, reflecting the background and experiences of the owners. It can be found on the the very tip of the Avalon peninsula in the tiny town of Grates Cove, home to just 130 people. We spent two nights there for a true small town experience and spent a day rambling around the coastline where we saw a pair of bald eagles nesting high above a turquoise bay. If you do go, be sure to follow the driving directions on their website as the road through Daniel’s Cove roads is impassable in a car; a fact we discovered first hand.
Dungeon’s Distillery in Bonavista. Step away from the waterfront to the back streets, follow the old disused railway and you’ll find this great little distillery run by Katherine and David. Here you’ll find tasty, fresh food influenced by their time living in British Columbia and some great conversation along with some local tips on places to visit.
Dildo Brewery was actually our very first stop on The Rock. It does have lots of tourists thanks to the name, but it’s still worth stopping for a craft beer. They had very good upscale pizza when we visited and it’s a beautiful spot right on the bay.
Port Rexton Brewery and Taphouse is just outside the town of popular tourist destination of Trinity on the Bonavista peninsula. They have a large outdoor area as well as a very cozy indoor space. There’s also a permanent gourmet grilled cheese sandwich food truck and the brie and partridgeberry sandwich was delicious.
Gros Morne
Merchant Warehouse Retro Cafe & Wine Bar. Despite the name it’s more of a pub. It’s a great spot with a patio right on the water where you can watch people pull up in their tinny to pick up some take away food. The family that runs it are fun and friendly. They were disappointed we’d already been screech’d in as apparently their Auntie does a great ceremony.
Black Spruce in Norris Point. We had a delicious upscale dinner here but you do need to book ahead and go a little out of your way to find it.
The Cat Stop in Norris Point is one of those places where everyone knows each other and the guitar player waves hello to locals as they walk in. This is more for the live music on the patio, the beer and the view at sunset rather than the food. If you do want to go, be sure to check their social media pages because the hours on Goigle weren’t up to date when we went.
Berry Picking
We ate wild blueberries for breakfast almost every day of our trip thanks to the bushes that were in full fruit on quite a few of the hiking trails. Wild blueberries, raspberries, bakeapples and other berries are on lots of the trails. We were feeling a little guilty at taking so many, right up to the point where we saw locals walking of a trail with a 2L bucketful.
