Me and three other fabulous foodies spent yesterday exploring downtown via food. Thanks to my friend Emily who knows downtown Halifax like the back of her hand, we got to try all sorts of goodies. We began at the relaxed and funky restaurant the Foggy Goggle on Argyle Street.
Relaxed and funky indeed! Lots of natural light at the front of the restaurant but we sat closer to the back. I love that the table we sat at, none of the chairs matched. They also had old fashioned high-back chairs along the left-hand side of the restaurant. The kind I adore because we had one just like it when I was a kid.
I have been living on chicken all week so I wanted a burger! Not just any burger but the Thai Peanut Burger with side salad that was $14.75.
It was a thing of beauty. Until I bit into it and it was pink in the middle. Oh dear. Jen got the regular burger and hers was pink too. We had to send them back.
I said they could make me a smaller burger, I just needed it to be cooked all the way through. The burger that resulted was just OK. I would not order it again but our server apologized and treated us to a free pop. Which immediately threatened to give me hiccups. Water was just fine…
Drinks seem to be their specialty! How many places can you go with $2 drinks these days? Too bad I don’t drink alcohol!
This was definitely a cool place to begin our foodie day downtown. Their brownie dessert looked amazing but it was almost $8 and kind of small. We decided to go find some place for a sweet treat. We had no idea that would result in quite the odyssey.
The Middle Spoon Desserterie & Bar
We checked out The Middle Spoon Desserterie & Bar. I have been wanting to go there despite the warnings I have heard that it is over rated and over priced. I wanted to give them a fair shake but…
They were closed?! On a Saturday afternoon?! I was not a happy camper at all. In fact, we walked by Chives and its cafe and neither were open either! Unbelievable!
Across from Chives is DeSerres, an arts supply store so we went in there and I finally got my porcelain pen (OMG, so happy, thanks gals!) and when we were leaving saw this surreal sci-fi inspired parade with no explanation at all.
We wandered all along the waterfront and ended up walking up to Spring Garden Road to Bakewells.
It is a good thing that Emily knew about this place because I would never have discovered it without her. It is on the market level in Spring Garden Place. It looks like Bonne Cuisine takes up the entire floor.
Wow, REAL desserts! We had definitely worked for these beauties.
The only problem? What to pick! There were so many choices. This is what I wanted…
Because we also wanted coffee, we had to take our desserts across the floor to Le Bon Cafe where we also paid for our dessert.
There I discovered and fell in love with this blueberry torte. I will be back for you one day!
I stuck with this mocha treat instead. Their decaf coffee had gone cold so they made me a decaf Americano instead which was just fine with me.
We were all quite thrilled with our desserts. With coffee, mine came to just over $6. Eating in the basement in a sort of food court was not the cafe experience we were looking for but it appears that Halifax continues to be lacking in this foodie department.
We did go off the foodie page a bit but Emily had told me about this amazing retro clothing store I just had to check out. Dress in Time. The hard part was finding it! Yes, it is located on 5670 Spring Garden Road but the entrance is on Brenton and you kind of have to go around the corner to find the front door.
The ever-changing mannequin on the street does help as a marker for the store, especially since it is only open Monday to Saturdays 11 am to 5 pm.
I know this is not about food at all but this is a gem of Halifax. Red chandeliers, the funkiest clothing you will ever find. This takes me back to my vintage shopping days in Toronto.
The most gorgeous mirror in the world, I wanted to take this home with me.
It is a seriously tight squeeze and there were a ton of people in this shop. I could only stay so long before I started to get claustrophobic and had to leave.
Emily has been helping me find clothing for Reg’s top secret 2013 Hal-Con costume and we found the perfect boots. Too bad the store was closed by the time we met up with the guys!
It was international record store day yesterday so we had to stop by Taz Records on Market Street. Reg was so sad he couldn’t go I took a quick video of the band playing (and Emily knew members of the band, she knows everybody!).
Sawadee Tea House in the Historic Properties District on Granville Street is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful and smells heavenly. I am pretty sensitive to scent but I could have hung out in there all day.
OMG, the plate with the Queen on it right where you walk in made me laugh though, I have to say. This is so much more than a tea house. You can find stunning jewellery and even Tibetan singing bowls. Oh how I wanted to go crazy and buy all sorts of cool stuff!
We sat by the window and there was this fountain to divide the tea bar from the seating area.
I have to admit that when I was in Vancouver, I was not quite a fearless foodie yet. There were hundreds of place that served bubble tea but the tapioca pearls freaked me out.
I was determined to try it yesterday. In fact we all got bubble tea. Here is Jen’s milky strawberry with lichee fruit at the bottom. When I found out you could have lichee fruit instead of tapioca at Sawadee’s, I went for it!
Lichee and peach?! I thought it would be a fabulous combination. And I was right! The only problem? I had such issues getting the fruit up the giant straw. The owner came over with spoons. So sweet! And, I was very grateful. Turns out, I love bubble tea and if it was made with tea that had caffeine, I did not have an adverse reaction to it so yay!
I wanted to buy some of their stunning decaf English Breakfast and Earl Grey tea. They both smelled heavenly. Turns out one bag of the tea was $14 which I just could not do. The woman was very sweet about it but I felt sad that I had to leave the tea behind.
If you have the budget to invest in the best tea around, I bet Sawadee’s will blow you away. I was amazed by the teas’ high quality and will go back for that some one day.
So that was our foodie day out! I am amazed I lasted that long but it must have been because of the fabulous company. It was truly a perfect day out in downtown, Halifax with friends.
My family is originally from Nova Scotia. Leblanc and Lebouef are the family names. I personally enjoyed the pictures. Wish you had more.
I love these kind of tag-along posts. I always enjoy seeing cities I have never visited. It can even be fun to see places you are familiar wit through someone else’s eyes. Never been to Halifax so thank you for the tour
I don’t understand the trend lately toward uncooked hamburger and pork – yuck! That was a fun tour Suzie, Halifax is one of the places I want to visit. I’ve been to New Brunswick and PEI so far…
What a fun day you had, it really is great to get out with friends for food, fun, and laughter….so good for the soul. It’s been awhile for me.
Love all the places on the tour, the retro shop is so cool and yes that mirror is absolutely gorgeous. Food looks so yummy too. BTW, I’m a tapioca gal, love sucking those babies up the straw and chewing away 🙂
What a fun day: walking and food — definitely my kind of fun! And I’ve loved Dress in Time for years; my daughter and I used to go there on our annual Spring Garden Day outing!
So glad you enjoyed the tour! And I don’t get the whole raw meat thing either, unless it’s sushi, no thanks! Isn’t the retro shop amazing? We are definitely going back… soon! Sandy, I think that’s a tradition for a lot of people. For a sort-of-obscure location, it was packed and I totally see why.
What a fun foodie tour!!!
I enjoyed tagging along on your foodie tour. I am spending July in Halifax for work, so I hope to visit some of these places as I eat my way around the city.