Black Spoon
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| 320 Commercial Street, North Sydney |
This restaurant has recently undergone renovations and we can tell you that the new design is lovely. In fact, we can even tell you that the paint colour on the walls is "Venus Teal" and that you can buy the paint at Home Hardware. We are nothing if not thorough diners-out. The problem with the front door was, unfortunately, not remedied. You'll notice that every time the front door opens, a cold breeze blows in as far as the bar at the back of the restaurant. We can testify to this as that's exactly where we were sitting. But it warms up very quickly again and well, we all have short memories.
So, you must be asking yourself - what did the UAG think of the Black Spoon? We simply loved it. And we were starving when we arrived and ordered all kinds of wonderful dishes! With a shout out to our Sweetie of a Server, Glenn, here is what we ordered:
Appetizers
Mushrooms stuffed with spinach and artichoke dip and covered in cheeses.
Amazingly, this dish stayed hot - we had to be careful with the hot mushrooms for the longest time.
Spring rolls covered in a maple & curry cream sauce.
The picture is a little blurry and that's because we were all so anxious to try the rolls.
In fact, we are such a collegial group that we spent the evening tasting each other's food - with only the best in manners, of course. No double dipping allowed!
Spinach & artichoke dip blended with garlic and white wine and then covered with cheddar cheese.
That's crusty bread on the side.
This was one of the most popular appetizers - we all enjoyed this one.
Yes, those are mussels; they were steamed and then served in a white wine and garlic cream sauce,
These disappeared very quickly - I can only tell you that I heard down at my end of the table that they were cooked perfectly.
Apparently, this Caesar salad was voted the Best in Cape Breton in a poll taken by the Cape Breton Star.
Now, you can't believe most of what you read in the newspapers, but I can assure you that this salad was excellent. The UAG member to whom it was served did tell us that it was the best she had tasted.
The Black Spoon offers Soup of the Day and no, it isn't your regular what's on offer when you get home from school kind of soup.
This is Cream of Broccoli and it was totally not yucky.
In fact, the member who ordered the soup told us that it was wonderful.
Main Dishes
Chicken Parmesan
This was served on linguini with a home-made marinara sauce. Notice the large spoon for those who like to twirl and crusty garlic toast on the side.
Delicious!
Sesame Crusted Salmon
You are looking at a sweet chili glazed filet of salmon that was crusted in black and white sesame seeds, served with roasted potatoes and julienne vegetables.
It's just sparkling, isn't it? And let me assure you that the roasted potatoes alone are worth writing home to Mother about.
The Special
A couple of us ordered this dish and are thanking the Heavens Above for that decision. That's haddock on top, with a maple curry cream sauce (very mild), with those fabulous roasted potatoes, the julienne vegetables, and...wait for it, blackened shrimps and scallops.
The flavours were marvellous! And just like the mussels, these were each cooked perfectly.
There was also a bowl of Seafood Chowder but it was situated at the other end of the table and it disappeared before the camera could make its way to it. Just imagine the bowl of broccoli soup in shades of white and pink. It also got rave reviews.
Desserts
The Dessert of the Day was this, a Pavlova with fresh cream, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries.
And just a whip of chocolate on top.
Heavens Above again - some found this dish to be too rich for their tastes (we were still sharing at this point in the meal), but no, it wasn't.
It was perfect.
For those of you who don't like meringue (yes, it is possible to not like meringue), you can have the whole pavlova dish without the crunch.
Glenn was most accommodating with our requests.
This was the most popular of the dessert selections, the Banana Foster. Perhaps it was the pound cake or even the ice cream?
I suspect it was the coconut rum.
This tall delectable slice is of a Salted Caramel Crunch cake with a vanilla bean cream icing.
It was huge and so several people had their spoons dipped into this one.
Although we ordered dishes from all parts of the menu, the serving sizes were just right. We enjoyed all of our meals and left feeling, well, just right.
Tea Service
Our loyal readers know that we always comment on the tea service. Glenn made sure that our mugs of tea were refilled with hot tea (very good) and that there was milk and sugar on the table. In fact, we drank tea all evening. There is a problem with the service and I'm afraid that I just can't ignore it.
The tea service is fine unless you order a speciality tea, such as a Chai or herbal tea. Do you see that teapot? It contains Chai tea, only very little of it actually reached the mug. The mug in the picture is mine and it contains black tea. The member who ordered the Chai tea watched her tea travel down the pot and over the table. Luckily, she sopped it up before it reached her outfit! So disappointing when everything else was just wonderful.
The Black Spoon's reputation as a gracious restaurant with fine food remains intact after their renovations. We were lucky enough to get a table, but there was a line-up the entire time we were there. And no wonder - the food was delicious, the atmosphere was lovely, and Glenn was tops!
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