NNS022 – The Press Gang Restaurant & Oyster Bar in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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Manage episode 172470990 series 42830
Address: 5218 Prince Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Social Media:
- Website: http://www.thepressgang.ca
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PressGangRestaurant
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thepressganghfx/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepressgang
Date / Time Visited: Evening, 2 September 2014
Genre: Maritime Formal Dining
Meals Served: Supper
Reservation: Yes
Here are some of our thoughts (please listen to the podcast for a complete description):
Ambiance / description of place / music / WIFI
Chris – A very historic feel, based on the stone structure and the strategic use of maritime memorabilia. Great weight to the utensils. I loved it! The place is dimly lit, so it was hard to take good pictures, although I’m sure that new iPhone 7 would do well… I can’t remember if there was music or Wi-Fi
Margaret – The restaurant’s location is in a historic stone building dating from 1759, 10 years after the founding of Halifax, the capital city of our home province. The doors aren’t that tall as a lot of historic buildings in our part of the world have. People must have been a lot smaller than they are now. The building has a number of smaller rooms for dining as well as a bar area.
Press Gang - Interior 1Press Gang - Interior 2 Greeting / reception
Chris – Very friendly
Margaret – Very nice, as Maritimers are known for
Press Gang - Wine BoardPress Gang - Wine Cellar Menu prices
Chris – The list themselves as a formal dining place – the prices match!
Margaret – Very pricey but as Chris said, it is a formal dining establishment so prices reflect that.
Press Gang - Appetizer MenuPress Gang - Martini Menu Variety
Chris – A wide selection of dishes. Even though our group treated this event as a tapas experience, we hardly put a dent in the array of choices. There is a wide variety of wines and cocktails to choose. The Scotch selection is admirable. Even the oyster bar has a wide selection!
Margaret – The variety is nice and there is something for every palate.
Press Gang - Main MenuPress Gang - Dessert Menu Smell / look / taste of the various dishes
Some of the dishes that we sampled included:
- Blueberry Cheesecake Parfait
- Honey Glazed Premium NS Pork Belly
- Lamb
- Chicken
- Napoleon
- Nova Scotia Mussels
- Panchette Crab Cakes
- Striploin and King Crab Leg
- Trio of Chocolate
- Vanilla Espresso Martini
- And many more!
Chris – We are going to break away from our regular format and simply talk about the richness of the experience. Look at the pictures on the website to see what we had, but very quickly we had a wide range of appetizers, main courses, and desserts. Every dish was flavourful, rich, and impeccably plated. It was a treat for the senses – okay, maybe not touch (formal) and hearing (you probably shouldn’t hear your food, unless it’s the cracking of the King Crab leg).
Margaret – As you can see from the pictures, we ordered a lot of different menu items and got to taste everything. We were treated to this magnificent meal by our Australian guests and this was a great place to showcase some of our Maritime foods.
Press Gang - Vanilla Espresso MartiniPress Gang - Nova Scotia Mussels
Press Gang - Pan-Seared Digby Scallops Why we chose menu items
Chris – Everyone worked together to pick a wide variety of dishes that touched all major themes of beef, pork, seafood, etc. I’m glad that we elected to go this way; we could try much more as a group than we could as individuals.
Margaret – There were so many things to choose from and with each of us ordering something different, we were able to experience many different tastes.
Press Gang - Honey Glazed Premium NS Pork Belly Press Gang - LambPress Gang - Meadowbrook Chicken Service / wait staff knowledge
Chris – They knew their menu – wine and food – to perfection. There was no hesitation when it came to the specials – some places the staff have to go back to ask, but not here. The staff were also very helpful in helping us pick complimentary dishes.
Margaret – I concur, Chris! As you would expect in a fine dining establishment, the food was superb and the staff, unobtrusive.
Press Gang - Panchette Crab CakesPress Gang - Striploin and King Crab Leg
Press Gang - Can't remember, it may have been a salmon special Overall dining experience
Chris – Wow – for me, this was one of those special nights where everything came together. Folks at the table next to us, however, did not appear to have the same experience. They stated that they “saw” a mouse (no, not a mousse – no one shrieks for a mousse!) Personally, I never saw a mouse, nor did any of my dining companions. Is it possible – yes; after all, it is an old building. Maybe it was the rat from Ratatouille checking on the dining experience… Nothing appeared astray for me, so I would definitely go back!
Margaret – This was a great night with my family and friends and it was a highlight of our friends’ visit. My only complaint would be that there is a menu with items we wanted to try but were told we could only get those items at the bar. I was not impressed with that since the bar was less than 10 m away from where I was sitting and the food all comes from the same kitchen. I said ‘I’ll go sit at the bar, then, and bring the food back to the table”. I didn’t do it but I would have!
Press Gang - Blueberry Cheesecake ParfaitPress Gang - Trio of Chocolate Why we chose this place and would we go again?
Chris – Our guests chose this place. I would go again, but I would want to save up before coming back!
Margaret – I have been here before so it wasn’t a surprise about the quality or cost of the food. I would go again, especially for the Napoleon dessert. It was delicious!!
Press Gang - Vision Closing comments- If you have any additional information about this place (Pinterest, Instagram, it’s now closed or changed names), please let us know. This goes double if you’ve eaten here!
- If you have any comments about the show, you can leave us a comment on the Facebook page, send us an email (details are on the website), or leave us a Speakpipe message (available on either the website of on the left-hand side of the Facebook page.
24 episodes