Dining Out
Karl
Wells
The Rooms Cafe
9 Bonaventure Ave.
Ph. 757-8014
I envy Philip Pratt. In designing The Rooms he has
made his province a fitting repository for its cultural treasures and given
himself a kind of immortality. Positioned prominently on the St. John's skyline
the building commands attention. It is telling the world that we in
The interior of The Rooms is striking. All three of
its cavernous treasure stores - art gallery, archive and museum - are connected
by a glass atrium so impressive that the sight of it takes my breath away every
time I walk inside. I feel small and humble as in great cathedral where one is
almost compelled to say a silent prayer.
The third and fourth levels of The Rooms have
observation areas where the entire downtown - Southside Hills, Signal Hill and
narrows - are visible. Since a few months ago the fourth floor observation area
now houses The Rooms Café, a restaurant that’s open Monday through Saturday for
lunch, as well as dinner on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
I am not keen on the name of the restaurant - “The
Rooms Café.” Such a significant structure should have a restaurant with a less
mundane name. Perhaps a name associated with the restaurant’s most remarkable
feature - the view - would be in order. When you ascend the stairs to the top
level the first thing that strikes you is the sky over the Southside Hills
pouring through the giant sheet windows. Walking closer it’s like being part of
the sky itself as you look over the expanse of water, land and buildings.
The Rooms Café is one of the most attractive dining
rooms in the province. It affords patrons no less than an eagle’s view of old
St. John’s. Low hanging lights and whimsical mobiles mitigate the outstanding
height of the ceiling-free restaurant. Underfoot, as with most of The Rooms’
flooring you’ll find an expanse of large, square, shiny granite tile.
The furniture is bright and contemporary. Much of the
furniture is made of light polished wood, with the exception of an arrangement
of comfy upholstered chairs at the centre of the restaurant. Square tables of
normal height and round high ones - with bar height chairs - are blended
throughout the café.
Lunch is the high traffic time at The Rooms Café. They
open at 10 am so it’s also possible to enjoy a late breakfast sandwich, pastry
or muffin there. I arrived at lunchtime for a meeting and quick bite with three
friends.
The Rooms Café menu was small with lots of variety. In
addition to breakfast items, lunch selections included soups, salads, Panini
sandwiches and flatbread pizzas - with ingredients like proscuitto, smoked
salmon and roasted vegetables. Those with large or dinner-sized appetites could
choose from “chef’s specialties” like linguine carbonara, fisherman’s pasta or
seafood casserole.
I tasted three of the soups on offer. “Soup of the
day” was an unimpressive crab bisque. It tasted tentatively of the ocean but
had neither crab nor - more importantly - crab flavour. On the other hand, The
Rooms Café seafood chowder was everything the crab bisque was not. It had
texture and taste from a combination of fish, vegetables and milk. And, like
many chowders, it was stick-to-your-ribs thick. My favourite soup, however, was
the Roma tomato and juniper berry. I’ve always favoured simple soups with a
single main ingredient and heavily concentrated flavour. That’s what the Roma
tomato delivered - fresh, rich, red tomato flavour with a hint of juniper
berry.
Apart from the upscale ingredients offered with their
“gourmet flatbread pizzas,” The Rooms Café also made a flatbread version of
regular pepperoni pizza. It was meaty, spicy, loaded with mozzarella and had a
crispy, fresh, aromatic base.
I chose a couple of moderately substantial plates for
my lunch: smoked salmon salad with dill dressing and crab cakes with apple,
tomato and red onion relish. Both dishes were good although I would have
preferred my greens tossed together with the dressing for even distribution of
the dressing, as opposed to having clots of fresh dill sauce sitting on
individual lettuce leaves. As for the crab cakes, I would have liked them more
if they had been thicker and if they had employed less potato filler.
The Rooms Café makes some tasty traditional desserts.
We tried the wild berry buckle and the chocolate bread pudding. The buckle
contained a mixture of berries but blueberries dominated. It made a comforting
last course, as did the bread pudding. I thought the dark, powdered chocolate
used in the chocolate bread pudding gave it a somewhat bitter, dry edge. My
favourite chocolate bread pudding is one that employs actual chunks of
chocolate that melt and run through the pudding like rivers when it’s served -
hopefully with lots of freshly whipped cream.
Food service at The Rooms Café is currently provided
by an outside company called Red Oak. Usually their food has more hits than
misses. Their service staff, however, is consistently good, always courteous
and efficient. Our lunchtime server was no exception. I also liked her and the
other servers’ snappy uniforms.
The noise level at The Rooms Café was moderate and it
was wheelchair accessible.
A three-course meal for two at The Rooms Café -
including two glasses of wine and gratuity - cost approximately $55.
Best Points:
Magnificent setting and view.
Areas for Improvement:
Beef-up your crab cakes.
Ratings Category:
The Rooms Café gets 8 points.
7 points = satisfactory, 7.5 points = good, 8 points =
very good, 9 points = excellent, 10 points = perfection