National Geographic Traveller UK 10.2019

TOP TIP

Join the locals on their

daily commute aboard the

Halifax Transit. Running since

1752 between Dartmouth and

Downtown, it’s the world’s

second-oldest saltwater

ferry service.

IMAGES: TOURISM NOVA SCOTIA; PRIMAL KITCHEN; MICHAEL CARTY PHOTOGRA

PHY

RACHAEL SHEPPARD’S

top laces o eat

LEMON TREE

I adore this family-run Turkish

restaurant. Housed in a pink,

one-up, one-down house on

‘vintage row’ (Queen Street), you

can’t miss the lemon tree painted

on the facade. The welcome’s

extremely warm and the food

— from the kofte to the

baklava — is faultless.

lemontree-restaurant.ca

TEMPO

There are loads of places to

eat lobster in Halifax, but this

open kitchen is usually the

cheapest and they also offer

great grab-and-go lunches.

tempofooddrink.com

PRIMAL KITCHEN

This rustic joint ages and

butchers its pasture-raised beef

onsite. It’s dished up on wooden

boards, with homemade ’slaw

and bone-marrow butter, but be

sure to try the truffl e parmesan

fries too. Whenever I have

friends visiting, I always take

them here. primalhfx.ca

TRIDENT BOOKSELLERS & CAFE

For ‘me time’, I head to this

30-year-old neighbourhood gem.

It’s a Parisian-style coffee shop

inside a bookstore and I love the

straight-backed mahogany cases,

yellowing chequerboard fl oor

and the quiet jazz they play while

you browse. Plus, the coffee is

also roasted onsite.

facebook.com/tridenthalifax

GIO

Housed in the Prince George

Hotel, this is no bland hotel

restaurant. The chef, Vince

Scigliano, lets the talent of his

team ‘run free’ on Tuesday nights

with a six- or eight-course tasting

menu that’s out of this world.

giohalifax.com

Rachael is the owner of Local

Tasting Tours, which offers

food-centric tours of Halifax.

localtastingtours.com

Queen’s County Chowder — a warming bowl

of lobster, haddock and potatoes. “It’s one of

the closest to my grandmother’s recipes I’ve

found,” says Rachael Sheppard (see column).

“It takes the chill out of your bones in the

winter and harks back to the days when

lobster was cheap as chips.” splitcrow.com

Also providing comfort is the ‘donair’

— the city’s o­ cial street food since 2015.

When two Greek brothers emigrated here in

the 1960s, they couldn’t sell a single gyro to

locals who preferred their lamb with mint

sauce. So, they swapped lamb and tzatziki

for spiced ground beef and ‘salad sauce’ (a

tangy mix of condensed milk and vinegar)

and instantly had queues around the block.

It’s all freshly prepared at spit-and-sawdust

SNAPPY TOMATO — a local institution that’s

been dishing up ‘donairs’ for generations.

snappytomato.ca

Halifax hums with maritime history, and

its seafaring heritage comes alive amid the

briny air of the 18th-century pub, THE PRESS

GANG. Here, platters of milky oysters are

washed down with a single-malt whisky to

a soundtrack of live jazz and blues on Friday

and Saturday nights. thepressgang.ca

If beer’s more your thing, you’ll be well

catered for in this city of cra” breweries.

In fact, Haligonians are such fans of beer

that Alexander Keith, the city’s most-

famous brewmaster, was mayor three

times. Head to the tongue-in-cheek CHARM

SCHOOL pub, run by UNFILTERED BREWING,

where a number of local beers are on tap.

unfuckingfi ltered.com EMMA THOMSON

SMART TRAVELLER

October 2019 37