M&T Deli

Well, it seems like time to get back to the old bread and butter of this blog-restaurant reviews. I originally thought that not travelling as much this year meant that I wouldn't really have the chance to do these-and to some extent, it is true that I've seen a lot less new restaurants this year than years previous. What I didn't realize was that staying mostly in Fredericton does give me the opportunity to get to know places better before I review them. Such is the case with M&T Deli.

I actually first went to M&T (and first meant to review it) over a year ago, while out for a walk downtown and in search of lunch. We really enjoyed the food and the vibe of the restaurant, and I've been meaning to go back for a while. Fast forward to this summer, when I've had the chance to enjoy lunch and many, many snacks in this cool little downtown spot. M&T has the kind of vibe that you want from a little café-local art plasters the walls, and the building still retains some of its architectural charm. The Queen street location also means that, if you don't want to eat in, you can take your sandwich to any of number of lovely nearby spots for a picnic-I suggest Officer's Square or the river bank.

The food consists of several variations on a similar theme, with your choice of sandwich, panini, wrap, or salad. The flavour combinations are what you would expect from a hip downtown café-think various combinations of ingredients like chicken, avocados, cranberries, and the like. Lighter, summer-y sort of flavours. A meal will run you around ten dollars, and that includes Covered Bridge Potato Chips (made in nearby Heartland), and a pickle.

As I mentioned, M&T also offers lots of great bakery-style snacks. What originally kept me coming back was actually the highly reasonable prices-you can pick up a cinnamon bun (my personal favourite) for under two dollars after taxes, and treats like giant cookies or muffins run at similar prices. I've spent many a coffee break running down here hoping that there were still some cinnamon buns left (they can sell out quickly some days). Though I've never tried it, they also offer breakfast and have daily specials on a chalkboard out front.

Blue Door

I was recently treated to lunch at the Blue Door by a family member. I hadn't been there before myself, but was under the general impression of the place as being sort of ritzy and expensive. That impression turned out more or less correct-the décor is nice, but not necessarily fancy, just classy. The prices, on the other hand, are rather expensive-everything on the lunch menu runs in the $10-20 range, with a tendency towards the top of that scale. The both of us settled on the $15 Blue Door burger. The menu does a good job of gushing about a variety of local and high quality ingredients in the burger (and all of the menu items), and this was what really got my attention. It came with fries and a giant knife stuck through it so you could cut it-a messy job indeed. The burger didn't hold together super well, but it did taste very good. I couldn't really distinguish any of the individual, high quality ingredients I was excited about-the cheese didn't stand out, nor did the sauce-but the whole thing was enjoyable; probably not Fredericton's best burger, but definitely up near the top. The dessert menu ran in the $8 range if I recall correctly, and I'm told it tends to vary. I liked the way in which the menu was divided-a chocolate dessert, a cheesecake dessert, and a cardamom dessert-but found the layout confusing, as descriptions of the dishes weren't really kept separate from the names. I wound up choosing a foam blueberry cheesecake with toffee crumble. I didn't fully appreciate what was meant by the description until it came in a bowl of whipped cheesecake innards and blueberries. To be sure, the individual ingredients were tasty (particularly the toffee) but I wouldn't order a foam cheesecake again-it just lacked the texture. Overall, it was an enjoyable meal and a good place to bring someone if you're looking for something classy, and willing to pay for it.

Cha Baa Thai

Thai food seems to be popular as of late, with restaurants opening up in several Maritime cities. I'd heard many good things about Cha Baa, and so on a recent trip to Dartmouth made a point of stopping in for some Thai food. You'll notice two things when you first walk in: the decorations are great, very tropical and festive, and the place is packed. It seems to have become quite popular; at the Dartmouth location I went to, I wouldn't be surprised if it's become a favourite lunch spot in the industrial park where it is located. Although I've had Thai food before, I haven't been to many places with as extensive of a menu, and there were many options I didn't recognize. I was definitely not the only person there with that experience, as I overheard many people asking the staff the same questions I did- is this spicy? The staff were very friendly and accommodating, and after a few questions I chose the Massaman curry combo, with a fresh spring roll. I must say, the food was delicious. The massaman curry is more sweet than spicy (although I still found it had a kick to it), and you can definitely taste the coconut in it. The spring roll was also delicious- a good upgrade for only 50 cents more. What's more, the costs were quite reasonable- mostly in the 10-15 dollar range for lunch. I hope that Cha Baa's popularity is an indication that it will stick around for a while, because it has definitely been added to my list of favourite places in metro.

Duncan's Pub

"I asked our buddy at the front counter where to go for food, and he recommended Duncan's pub" my coworker said. We both looked down and noticed that Duncan's was the place with ads emblazoned across the front of our hotel key-cards, promising good food, and a free dessert with every entrée. After checking online, and seeing that it came highly recommended, we headed out. At first glance, Duncan's is a dark little building squished into Amherst's main street. It's so non-descript, in fact, that my coworkers actually made me hop out of the car and check that it was still open before they parked. Open it was; upon entering the door one is greeted by a dimly let but tastefully decorated restaurant, with cozy (albeit sometimes crowded) chairs, and a very visually appealing bar in the corner. The menu was certainly not standard pub fair- I can't remember the last time I saw escargot on any menu, let alone at a little bar. The prices are also a little higher, but, as we soon found out, do you ever get what you paid for. I ordered the Greek chicken linguine, a pasta dish involving chicken breast, olives, and peppers in linguine, all topped with Greek dressing and feta cheese. The meal was fantastic- the olives and peppers still had a sweet, fresh taste to them, and the feta was soft and tasty, all complimented by perfectly bite sized chicken breast pieces on top of good quality pasta. At around 16 dollars after taxes, the price was as fantastic as the dish. After dinner, our hotel key cards entitled us to a free dessert- the waitress explained that the desserts change daily as they are freshly made in-house. The selection when we were there offered a choice between blueberry cobbler, chocolate-orange cheesecake on a pretzel crust (which I chose), or strawberry chocolate cheesecake on a coconut crust. The dessert was fantastic- rich and creamy, with chunks of chocolate (rather than a chocolate base) nicely joining the orange flavour. Each of my coworkers tried one of the other two desserts and reported that they were both also fantastic. The waitress told us that the desserts usually run about six dollars- worth it for sure! Overall, Duncan's was really, really impressive. Every menu item sounds delicious, and the food I got to try was fantastic. The service was incredibly friendly, and the food was all freshly prepared. It's certainly neither cheap- with my meal being one of the cheapest options- nor is it quick. We probably spent about 45 minutes between waiting to receive the bills, and waiting to pay, and they should certainly work on reducing that time. I can certainly see it being a great place for a dinner meeting, date, or get together where you plan to spend a lot of time talking, perhaps while enjoying a slice of cheesecake. Overall, well well worth pulling off the highway for.

Fans Chinese Food

Fans has been a favourite in my family for almost two decades now. No one can quite agree who first spotted this gem, but we can all agree on one thing- it is easily the best North American Chinese food in the province, if not the entire region. Having gone to Fan's over the yeas, I've seen a lot of changes to their North End Dartmouth location. It's gotten much bigger, and nicer, and the name has changed. But the fantastic food certainly hasn't. I'll cut right to the chase: the showstopper at Fan's is the ginger beef. Undoubtedly the best I've had, when it's good it's amazing; when it's bad it's still very good. Just spicy enough, but not too much so that you can't taste the food, this dish is what has kept us coming back for years. Their spring rolls, lemon chicken, and chicken fried rice are also family favourites. All are deliciously well-prepared. I've also heard fantastic things about their weekend dim sum, although I haven't had the opportunity to try it in recent memory.

Seoul Food

A few years ago, I found myself spending a couple of weeks in PEI. After a little while, we were looking for something different from the burger-pizza routine, and spotted this little place alongside of the main road in Charlottetown. Seoul Food was my first introduction to Korean food in Canada (I had had Korean BBQ previously in Asia), and so neither I nor my friend really knew what to order. We both grabbed bulgogi with rice. I can distinctly remember feeling that the food was fantastic, but way too small of a portion for the price. Fast forward to this year. I've had a good amount of Korean food, and was anxious to see how I felt about the place now. A few years later, Seoul food is still a very clean, well decorated establishment with friendly and helpful staff. The menu prices no longer seemed high to me- for Korean food, they're relatively cheap. This time, I ordered my favourite dish- bibimbap- and my friend ordered gimbap. The first thing I noticed was that the food was spicier than I'm used to. I've had a lot of Kimchi with little to no spice in it, and this place certainly does not fall into that category. There was also a very generous amount of hot sauce in the bulgogi- I removed as much as I could before mixing the food, and still found it too spicy. Now, I'm going to admit that I'm a bit of a wimp for spice, and so I'm sure that the amount given was probably actually pretty typical for Korean food. However, I would have appreciated had the sauce been on the side, or put on in a way easier to remove. The food itself was actually excellent, very flavourful, both dishes. The seaweed on the gimbap and the beef in the bibimbap were particularly high quality. Overall, the food is good, and the prices reasonable for Korean food. It would be nice if they asked how spicy you wanted, or made it easier to remove the spicy sauce, but don't let that stop you- the food is definitely worth a try. Also, I have to give them big props for the pun- that's what drew me in in the first place!