If the walls could speak at Blomidon Inn, I’m sure it would have stories to tell. From its construction as the Burgess family’s private home in the late 1800s, it has gone on to serve as apartments, the residence for Acadian University girls, before finally becoming the current inn in 1980.

The main floor of the ornate inn is largely used as the dining area for their restaurant. Where you can enjoy a 3-course meal ($62.50). Or add an extra $2.50 to receive a small salad course between the main and dessert. For those want a smaller dinner, dishes are also available a la carte (prices reflected in this post).

Their tomato bruschetta ($14) uses a decadent whipped ricotta as the base, building upon the classic ingredients of cherry tomatoes, herbs, and a balsamic reduction. With tons of flavours and not as messy to eat, this was a wonderful starting bite.

Arriving as a big chunk, the maple smoked salmon ($14) could benefit from a bit of preparation to present it in a crostini form. The candy sweet salmon was powerful on its own but balances out with the maple yogurt sauce and baguette. A bit of pickled red onion and/or arugula would add some freshness the dish needs.  

Save some of that bread for the steamed mussels ($14), classically prepared in a white wine and garlic broth. I rather enjoyed the bell pepper used throughout for colour and added flavour. The mussels just needed to be soaked longer as they were still several gritty crustaceans.

You can’t go wrong with seafood in Nova Scotia. The pan seared halibut ($37) was perfectly cooked to a flaky and moist consistency. The thick meaty piece could use more seasoning but if you get enough of the ‘hodge podge’, a medley of vegetables cooked in a cream sauce, onto the fish it helps to add flavour.

The scallops in the scallops picatta ($37) were beautifully seared and just cooked through. The natural sweetness of the seafood was also prominent since the lemon caper sauce used with the pappardelle wasn’t too strong. With a touch more salt, this dish would have been perfect.

While the lobster linguine ($44; $7 supplement with the prix fixe) smelled good, the dish was majorly lacking on taste. The spaghetti was overcooked, and everything screamed for more seasoning, butter, and acid. My nose was more impressed than the tongue.

The grilled filet of beef ($44; $7 supplement with the prix fixe) was a touch over cooked but nevertheless tender and did have a nice crust. I just found the sides of mashed potato and carrot date puree to be too similar and soft. And the red wine jus and bourbon bacon butter was non-existent on the dish. Like the other mains, it was bland.

If you still have room for dessert, I’d recommend the fruit cobbler ($14), which contained tons of berries while still leaving the sweet biscuit on top not overly soggy. Served warm, the vanilla ice cream adds a lovely cooling sensation and creaminess as it melts into the dessert.

Blomidon’s crème brûlée ($14) had a nice thin sugar crust and was flavourful of its own. The side of lemon curd was a nice touch, so you can combine into the brûlée to help balance out the sweetness.

If you like graham cracker crust, you’ll love the blueberry cheesecake ($14) since it has a thick portion of the pastry. The cake itself was a nice balance of sweetness and thickness. In the end, a solid cheesecake with plenty of blueberry flavour.

How anyone could even manage to eat a quarter of the chocolate mousse cake ($14) is a mystery. I could only manage one bite, the cake so thick and dense it’s like eating the chocolate ganache centre of a truffle. The intensity certainly didn’t make it very mousse like. Pack this up and you can have a couple bites per day to get a chocolate fix.

While the food wasn’t the greatest at Blomidon Inn, after a day of wine tasting, it was a treat to not have to leave the inn after showering and relaxing. Plus, after the filling meal, we could easily just roll into the sitting room to continue our conversation. After just spending a day in Wolfville, we had our own new stories to tell. 

Having taken over a defunct credit union’s banking location, Sibel’s dining room offers soaring ceilings that creates an airy comfortable environment. Its large bar and modern décor provides a swanky vibe to the place – it’ll likely become a popular destination for corporate parties, milestone birthdays, and showers buyouts.

The Turkish focused menu offers an array of dips. We started with the fatteh ($10), one that I’ve never had before. The pressed yogurt reminds me of a thinner labneh. Covered with oil, which the menu describes as infused with garlic and shallots, it tasted liked nothing except for the roasted cashews on top. The dip really needs more spices or seasonings to add interest.

Luckily, the starter arrives with complimentary feta, butter, and hummus. Ultimately, with some feta on the fatteh it helps augment the flavours with a bit of saltiness. Maybe Sibel just likes to shy away from salt, as their hummus was also served neutral so tastes like nothing more than blended chickpeas with a bit of oil.

Even the Turkish babaganoush ($9) was also relatively tasteless. There wasn’t the expected smokiness from using grilled eggplant any any onion, garlic, or parsley was muted. If anything, the sweet and tangy pomegranate glaze stood out the most.

The best thing about the dips is having the pita. Freshly prepared in a wood burning oven, it was sizzling hot and delicious. Sprinkled with an everything bagel seasoning, it thankfully adds a bit of zest to the plain dips.

Sibel’s fried kubbeh ($14) was surprisingly fluffy in the centre, the mixture of beef, bulgur, onion, walnuts, and spices crumble onto the plate upon breaking through the crispy coating. Dipped with pistachio it’s beautiful to behold and tasty, just a rather small portion (two per order) for the price.

The mixed kebab platter ($38) is a great way to try several proteins:

• Despite the lamb chop being cut thinly and being overdone, it was still tender and well seasoned.
• In comparison, the cubes of filet were done a perfect medium rare but wasn’t as flavourful. While not necessarily bad, I’d recommend you having these first, so it doesn’t seem as plain.
• The full adana kebab was juicy and mixed with enough spices so it’s flavour without being overwhelming.
• Lastly, the chicken wings were done well, cooked through without becoming dry and having a nice char on the skin.

Overall, for incorporating so many different types of proteins with bones and different cooking times, the platter came together well. Made to feed a sumo wrestler, it’d be a lot of food for one, so is ideal for sharing. Aside from all the proteins, there’s also a bed of deliciously saucy bulgur, fluffy white rice, bread, shredded cabbage, onions, spicy grilled peppers, and half a tomato. It’s not a lot of vegetables, so if you want something to balance out the proteins, pair this with a salad.

On another visit, I stuck with just the adana kebab ($34) and it was equally juicy. It’s just surprising that by itself you don’t get much more of the kebab despite the main being almost equally priced to the mixed kebab platter. In my books, the mixed platter is a much better deal.

At least that had more sides than the shrimp kebab ($35). It was almost comical how noticeably smaller it was than the other two mains, served with only bulgur and a roasted tomato. You'll only want to order this if you're in the mood for a very light meal. At least the shrimp were sizable and cooked well. 

Their pide are a great option for any pizza lovers. A thinnish chewy toasted bread forms the base and the chicken fillet pide ($24) was filled with a healthy portion of mozzarella and chicken. It was enjoyable, but a little plain since there were scant amounts of other ingredients listed on the menu (mushrooms, olives, and tomato). I would have liked more of the vegetables to balance out the dish.

Their display case of desserts will beckon you to take a closer look. Warning: once you get there it’ll be very difficult to say no.

If you don’t mind the sugariness, the triliche ($11.50) is an ideal option for sharing. The moist cake was soaked in the sweetened condensed milk mixture until it had a pudding consistency. Topped with caramel or strawberry, we likely should have gotten strawberry as the caramel’s sweetness mixed with the already sugary cake was a lot. Still, I enjoyed the caramel’s depth of flavour.

Sadly, the baklava ($10) must have been sitting around for too long after being precut and plated. The bottom layers were completely fused together so the honey mixture had a glue-like consistency. It’s a shame, as there were ample amounts of ground pistachios within the pastry that gave it a lovely richness. On a return visit, a fresher version of the dessert was better, but didn’t have as many pistachios. I guess you can’t win with the baklava.

Sibel’s dining room has a lovely modern feel, but the hulking television screen suspended on the ceiling was almost too modern. It kept showcasing a loop of footage from the Maldives. While beautiful, the tropical scenes were out of place – something sultry like whisps of swirling smoke may be more appropriate. I guess the enormous screen will be useful for hosting viewing parties for final sporting events or even broadcasting something during private events. Who wouldn’t want to see their slide show in all its full glory? 

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!