St. John’s NL Restaurant review
One of my favorite things to do is to eat out. I cook every day and to be able to take a little time to sit and enjoy someone else’s cooking is one of my small pleasures in life.
I have been eating organic foods for many years and only purchase organic for my household…..nothing else will do. After all, we are what we eat and even if sometimes you pay slightly more for organic foods you get a great savings on your health!
I used to eat out in restaurants occasionally. I would try to choose the best available food on the menu and though the food was not organic I could at least avoid genetically modified organisms by avoiding foods containing soy, corn and canola and since I only did it occasionally I reasoned that my healthy body could surely handle a little non-organic food? Servers in restaurants would look at me in an odd way when I asked what kind of oil they were using on their grill and in the foods. If it was canola, corn or soy I would not eat there. Then it became more difficult to eat out as more foods became genetically modified and I had to avoid grain to be sure I was not eating genetically modified organisms which many animal studies show adversely affect immune function and I do not want to be the human model of guinea pig as these studies are now being conducted on the human population. So I avoided all grain. Then a couple of years back I read that some vegetables and fruits were being genetically modified so at that point I stopped eating out all together.
Recently, I was given a gift card for a high end restaurant in St. John’s, Blue on Water and I decided to call them up to ask if they had any organic food I could eat there. I spoke with two persons before being passed on to one of the chefs and our discussion began. I asked about organic offerings there and at first he said they had none and he commented that there was no demand for organic. After we spoke awhile he mentioned that they did have some greens and maybe eggs. So I asked if I were to book a reservation, could they possibly bring in an organic dressing for the salad greens. I also asked if they had any “wild’ fish, wild berries? He said they did have some wild fish and if I could give him a few days notice he would bring in some dressing and see what kind of a dessert he could come up with for me. I was elated! I told him I was going to book for the coming weekend…..Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and he said he would pass me on to the girl to take my reservation.
Saturday came and I was excited to be going out to dinner, something I hadn’t done now in a few years and a friend was joining me.
When we arrived at the restaurant I mentioned my telephone call earlier in the week to the server and she had no idea what I was talking about. She went inside to ask the chef I had spoken with earlier in the week however he was not on duty that day, my heart sank. All I could think was I come all this way downtown on a cold wintery day for nothing. I spoke with the owner, who was a friendly man, to express my disappointment and he said there should have been a note put on my reservation and that there must have been lack of communication. He did say he would work on having more organic offerings available in the future should I come again.
They managed to put together a nice meal for me. I had wild cod, cod tongues and a nice green organic salad with organic olive oil. They did not have dressing but the olive oil was fine. I had a glass of organic red wine, the only organic beverage they had available. I would have liked to have a dessert and a cup of tea but they did not have organic tea or organic coffee. They did not have even one organic dessert however the owner did say he would work on having at least one organic dessert available in the future.
I am disappointed in the fact that local restaurants offer so little this day and age when there is so much information available about the importance of clean sustainable foods and I feel this should be their top priority. I understand that some fresh foods are a little difficult to find during the winter months but hey organic coffee, organic tea, organic salad dressings, organic flour, organic cane sugar, organic cream etc etc? These products are available in our local supermarkets so surely restaurants have access to these products also. And surely I cannot be the only one who would like to consume quality foods when I eat out?
A great dessert could have been made with wild berries, organic flour, organic cane sugar and organic cream.
As for rating Blue on Water, I will give them three stars out of five for having some organic offerings and at least appearing to listen to my suggestions.
I will continue to look for restaurants that offer organic foods and I will post reviews in the near future.
Carolann Hamilton
Conception Bay South, NL
