Portugal Cove
Ph. 895-3536
Restaurants with a view appeal to me, and, I dare say, to
most people. When I travel I always look for restaurants at the top of a tower
or skyscraper, especially ones that revolve. - What can I say? It’s the “kid”
in me. - So, it’s always been a puzzlement to yours truly when restaurants that
have the right location for it don’t take advantage of a good view. Beachy Cove
Café in Portugal Cove is not one of them. Situated on the main road through
Portugal Cove, close-by the ferry dock, Beachy Cove Café has a picturesque view
of the Bell Island ferry, the ferry dock, the tickle and of Bell Island itself,
depending on where you happen to be sitting in the restaurant. You see, the
café has two dining rooms - one large and one small with big picture windows -
as well as a large deck for dining when the weather’s fair. The day three
friends and I visited it was fair but, as it was evening, the wind was starting
to acquire a chill so we opted to sit in the largest of the café’s dining
rooms.
Beachy Cove Café had a very homey atmosphere. That didn’t
surprise me because I’m sure that at one time it was actually somebody’s home.
The floor was hardwood and most of the walls appeared to be wood paneled with
light varnish. The back wall in the large dining room featured a large stone
firewall area with stone base, upon which rested a cast iron stove that vented
through the stone wall. The room also featured framed reproductions of
Newfoundland art, as well as some amateur paintings, including a door that was
itself a rough painting of a Newfoundland seascape, above which the line “ Coil
your ropes and anchor here ‘til better weather doth appear” was inscribed. I
liked the sentiment. My ropes were coiled and I was happy to anchor myself in a
place with such a beautiful view.
Beachy Cove Café’s dinner menu was somewhat sparse. They
offered fish and beef, a few appetizers and a pretty good selection of homemade
desserts but there wasn’t the kind of variety you see on many restaurant menus.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with that as long as they do a good job in
preparing what they do offer. I’d rather see a restaurant do a fabulous job on
one or two soups than a mediocre job on nine or ten.
As an appetizer we all shared a plate of cod tongues with
scrunchions. The plate contained ten medium sized golden brown tongues and
about twice as many large scrunchions - cubes of fried pork fat. The
scrunchions were curious because they were white and dry on the outside, not
dripping. They looked to me like they might have been dusted with flour - a la
the tongues - and fried. At any rate, they were delicious, not to mention the
intoxicating aroma of freshly fried seafood with pork fat. The cod tongues were
also very good, crispy and flavourful on the outside with tender, silky centers
inside. For anyone wanting to try cod tongues and scrunchions for the first
time, I’d recommend these any day.
My friend Rick had the pan-fried cod with mashed potato for
his main course. It looked wonderful. The cod and three ice cream scoops of
mashed potato came with a large serving of coleslaw and a thick slice of
beefeater tomato. The fillet of cod was thick and beautifully browned on top.
He thought everything on the plate was delicious. I thought the cod tasty
enough but also a tad overcooked. The coleslaw, however, was the best I’ve ever
tasted, incredibly fresh and creamy. The crunchy cabbage released lots of leafy
vegetable essence.
While we were dining I couldn’t help noticing the way the
servers at Beachy Cove Café were dressed. There was no uniform as such and - to
be frank - what they were wearing, cut-offs, sneakers, something that looked
like a nurse’s top and white, disposable hairnets gave the impression they’d been
pressed into service unexpectedly, perhaps to feed some unfortunate stranded
refugees. The hairnets really looked odd to me. I sought an explanation by
asking our server if they - the servers - were also cooking the food. “No,” she
said, “we wear them because the owner, my sister, doesn’t want us to get any
hair in the food.” That’s admirable but unnecessary. Yes, the cooks should be
wearing caps or hairnets because it’s during food preparation where things like
that happen. However, unless they were all having a bad hair day, the servers
should not have been wearing them. If the owner wants servers to cover their
heads then perhaps they should be wearing properly designed uniforms with
matching caps. Hairnets, pulled from a box like Kleenex, are not the kind of
fashion statement desired for a restaurant with a wine list.
Being reasonably certain I wouldn’t find any foreign objects
in my roast beef dinner I sat back to enjoy it. My plate was laden with a
couple of thick slices of beef with gravy, a large mound of previously frozen
green peas, a serving of sliced carrots and plenty of golden brown fries. The
beef tasted like pot roast. In other words, it tasted like braised beef - beef
cooked in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot. Roasted beef - beef cooked
in dry heat on a rack at a temperature of at least 400 degrees - tastes
completely different. It is much more flavourful and has a completely different
texture. Nevertheless, I like pot roast, and this beef was good. It broke apart
easily, was reasonably moist and, as is absolutely needed with pot roast, got
good enhancement from the gravy. The fries were especially tasty at Beachy Cove
Café. They had the kind of dangerously addictive deep-fried flavour that makes
you want to eat more and more of them.
Audrey, Rick’s wife, had Beachy Cove Café’s poached salmon.
It was served with baked potato, broccoli in a cheese sauce and carrots. She
loved this entrée. I agreed with her on the salmon. It was flaky, flavourful
and moist. However, the broccoli in cheese sauce suffered because the florets
had not been drained enough. They were waterlogged. Consequently the cheese
sauce became diluted and wouldn’t stick to the broccoli.
Desserts at Beachy Cove Café were comforting, freshly made
delights. We tried three, the cottage pudding, figgy duff and blueberry pie.
The cottage pudding was a high square of cake studded with wild
partridgeberries, full of fruit and vanilla flavours, not to mention a slightly
molasses flavour from the sweet brown sugar sauce - circulating over and around
the cake - that had launched a successful invasion from all directions of every
crumb of this dessert. With a good strong cup of tea it was manna from heaven.
The figgy duff studded with plump raisins was beyond moist, having been steamed
and then placed in the brown sugar sauce as if it were a sponge to drink up the
dark, glossy liquid. Finally, the blueberry pie with ice cream had a
classically fresh and flaky crust. That, combined with the berries - from
central Newfoundland apparently - and the vanilla ice cream made for a dessert
to rival your grandmother's. It was a sweet denouement for our meal of
traditional Newfoundland victuals.
Our meal for four at Beachy Cove Café, including three
glasses of wine, two Jockey Club and tip, cost $148.33.
Best Points:
Fabulous view and homey atmosphere.
Areas for Improvement:
Lose the hairnets and don’t overcook your cod.
Ratings Category:
Beachy Cove Café gets 7.5 out of 10 points.