In recent times, St John's
restaurant
scene has broken free of its
rather humdrum traditions with
a rash of bistros featuring
good-quality seafood or ethnic
cuisines. Slightly cheaper are
a number of central
cafe-restaurants
catering for the city's office
workers, while many of the
downtown pubs also sell
reasonably appetizing
bar
food at lunch time and
sometimes at night. There's
also a clutch of inexpensive
snack
bars , usually
fish-and-chip shops, the best
of which serve hearty meals
for as little as $5. For
drinking
, St John's has dozens of
bars
- it's said to have more
drinking places per square
kilometre than any other city
in North America - though many
of them get rowdy late at
night: as a general rule,
stick to the pubs where
there's
folk music ,
which you shouldn't miss in
any case. You'll find a number
of Newfoundland
beers
worth trying, such as Red Dog
and Black Horse, but the best
is 1892 Traditional Ale, a
dark golden ale with a rich,
tart flavor, brewed in Quidi
Vidi Village.
There are a decent number
of pubs and bars dotted around
the center that regularly
showcase island musicians, who
vary enormously in quality and
the type of music they play,
ranging from what sounds like
C&W with an eccentric
nautical twist, through to
traditional unaccompanied
ballads. If you're content to
take pot luck, follow the
crowds along George Street,
but otherwise ask for advice
at O'Brien's Music Store
, 278 Water St (tel 753-8135),
where you can also get a
comprehensive list of future
gigs. Another good contact is
the St John's Folk Arts
Council, 155 Water St (tel
576-8508), which organizes
regular folk-music concerts
and a monthly folk dance at
various locations where you
can learn the dances and join
in a "real Newfoundland
time". At the end of
July, George Street
comes alive for a few days
with a street festival
featuring lots of good folk
music. The best of the
island's dozen folk festivals,
the Newfoundland and
Labrador Folk Festival ,
is held in Bannerman Park in
St John's on the first weekend
in August.
The Friday and Saturday
editions of the local
newspaper, the Evening
Telegram , have arts and
entertainment listings. The Express
publishes comprehensive
listings on Wednesdays, and What's
Happening is a monthly
arts and entertainment
magazine available at hotels;
the latter two are free.
Cafes and restaurants
Bianca's , 171 Water St (tel
726-9016). One of St John's
most elegant eating places,
this attractive bistro
specializes in
Mediterranean-style cuisine.
Reservations recommended.
Closed Sun. Bruno's Fine Foods
, 248 Water St (tel...
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Music bars, pubs and clubs
Blarney Stone Irish Pub ,
corner of George and Adelaide
sts. Good live folk acts, with
rather a boisterous atmosphere
after about 10pm. Foot-tapping
Newfoundland Irish and
traditional music nightly. The
place is a bit hard to find:
at the street...
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