Cider
A dry cider from Nova Scotia fruit. It sits well with the scallop and the cabbage. We keep one on the list and change it when the maker's season changes.
How we write a week
Saturday: the note. Wednesday: a last look at what actually landed. Thursday to Saturday: the same set, adjusted if a crate fails us.
The evening menu is a single path. There is no à la carte list beside it. We cook for the table in front of us, and we cook the same sequence for both seatings. If you need the kitchen to step around an ingredient, write that when you ask for a chair. We can usually move a course; we cannot invent a second restaurant at 20:40.
Prices sit with the set, not with each plate. The number covers the food as it is written that week. Wine, cider, and the extra cup after the last course are separate. We keep the list of pours short on purpose — two or three bottles that sit well with fish and cream, a cider from the province, tea, and the coffee we use in the morning.
Dinner example
A week in late September. Four savoury courses and a sweet. The set as posted: $78.
An evening set, as we cook it
- Scallop, brown butter, sea herbs Set A scallop boat out of Digby, seared and left nearly sweet. The herbs are whatever the rocks gave that week.
- Valley carrot, cultured cream Set Roasted until the edges catch. A dairy in the Annapolis Valley sends the cream we culture overnight.
- Hake, late cabbage, pan sauce Set Coast fish, a cabbage that has seen a frost, and a sauce from the bones of the same fish.
- Apple, rye crumb, whey $78 Valley fruit, a crumb from the morning bake, and the whey left from the cream. The number is for the whole set.
Some weeks a fifth savoury course appears if a crate of mushrooms or a second fish makes the work better, not longer. Some weeks the sweet is a cheese plate and honey. We do not print a tasting manifesto. We print the week.
Morning
Wednesday–Sunday, 8:00–11:30. No bookings unless you write with a need we can plan for.
The coffee-room counter
- Yeast bun $5 From the first bake. Butter on the side if you want it. When the basket is empty, it stays empty.
- Bowl of oats $8 Rolled oats, valley dairy, and a spoon of jam when the fruit has been put up.
- Toasted sandwich $11 Bread from the same oven, a filling that changes with the larder. Not every morning.
- Coffee or tea $4 Poured at the counter. We do not run a long milk list. Ask if you need it without dairy.
The morning prices are the current ones. If flour or dairy moves sharply we change the board at the door rather than hide the difference in a smaller bun.
Glass
What we pour
Wine
Usually one white and one red that can handle cream and fish without shouting. We will say what is open when you sit. Bottles can be asked for with the booking if you want a specific weight.
Tea and coffee
The same coffee as the morning, and a pot of tea if you would rather finish quietly. We do not run a dessert-wine theatre. If a bottle is open and it suits the apple, we will say so.
Allergies · notes
Write the kitchen before the day. The pass can move a course. It cannot rebuild the fire at 20:45.
What we can change
Dairy, wheat, shellfish, and nuts are the notes we see most. The room is small and the same boards are used for the whole set, so we cannot promise a separate kitchen. We can leave a sauce off, swap a bun, or build a plate around the fish and the vegetables when we have time to think.
What we will not pretend
We will not call a plate free of an ingredient if that ingredient has been in the same pan that afternoon. We would rather you eat elsewhere that night than sit through a performance of safety we cannot keep. Children are welcome at the window tables when the booking says so; the stools at the pass are high and close to the heat.
Menus change weekly; dishes listed here are examples of how we cook, not a fixed card. The Saturday note is the document that matters for the week you are coming.
Take a seat on the path
If the set above sounds like a week you want, write with a date and a seating. We hold chairs by reply, not by a public grid. The coffee room does not need a note unless you have a reason we should keep a stool.