Murray W.
Yelp
I'd heard that Field Guide was a hipster haven, but I wasn't quite prepared for the levels to which it's been taken there. They've taken a lot of the interior design straight out of a field guide for modern restaurants - open kitchen, exposed filament light bulbs, milk bottles and jars for table water. Yellow and back reign on the palette, with some light woods and the....interesting choice of a plain chipboard panel below the chalkboard menu on the back wall. While EDNA across the street gets a mix of demographics, FG is all young and hipster, minus myself and my girlfriend, who comments that many people remind her of characters on Portlandia. I don't not like the vibe, but my strong sense of cynicism is feeling the weight of the clichés. The small restaurant runs long, and makes for diverse people watching on the corner of Gottingen and Falkland.
They're well known now for their cocktail menu, but the strength of Nova Scotia's craft beer community is strongly reflected on their menu as well. Propeller, Boxing Rock, North Brewing, Hell Bay and Uncle Leo's all make appearances, as well as Vitamin O, which is a menu item with a shot of liquor, which deserves kudos. "When in Rome" though, so I went with a "whisky smash" - rye, muddled lemon, sugar and mint. It came in a tumbler with one of those huge ice cubes. I get that bar aficionados like them because they melt slower due to the reduced surface area, but I'm not a fan of getting hit in the mouth with ice went I'm finishing off the last few sips of my drink. That said, it was a good drink; tangy with just a hint of fresh mint, it went down with dangerous ease.
The menu is all about sharing here, so we ordered a couple small plates at a time, starting off with the pork carnitas tacos and a chorizo and asparagus plate. Three delicious looking tacos came plated on a small cutting board, topped generously with green onion, red pepper, red onion and just a bit of cilantro. The pork was moist and had a nice pork flavour, and I appreciated that they didn't overload the tacos with the big punch that cilantro packs. The only downside was the slightly dry taco shells. Also, I'm steadfastly of the opinion that this city is in need of quality, fresh, corn tortillas.
The chorizo and asparagus came with hunks of sausage, asparagus, pickled fiddleheads and arugula. The chorizo had a rougher texture than I prefer in a sausage, but it had a really nice spice to it without being overwhelming. The asparagus was cooked tender crisp and the arugula added its fresh, peppery bite. The fiddleheads were quite potent, with what tasted like balsamic vinegar taking front stage.
For the next round we ordered their donair steam buns and confit chicken wings. Healthy stuff, I know. The little, folded steam buns with a meatloaf-like slab of donair meat, with chopped onions, tomato and donair sauce on them looked good but unfortunately the execution was a bit off. While the bun was light and fluffy, the meat was bland and lacking anything remotely similar to the donair flavour that Halifax knows and loves. The donair sauce was plentiful like any good donair, but was also lacking the garlicky-ness of the real thing, and only registered slightly sweet notes. Good hustle on this creative interpretation, but it definitely needs more refinement.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the confited chicken wings. I was hoping for wings that were confited and finished in a fryer for a combination of ultra-tender and crisp. The pile of wings that we got were served with the sauce on and were crazy tender and flavourful, but alas no crispness. Still, very tasty and just as messy as a normal pub chicken wing.
Service was friendly and very helpful over the course of the evening.
Field Guide has some great ideas coming out of their bar and kitchen and with a little polishing, they'll be in the top levels of both in the city. Also if they cover up that chipboard wall.