It’s a very different type of hotel since it’s housed inside 3 different heritage properties. The end result is a lovely old Halifax feel, especially from the outside with pretty reasonable amenities on the inside. The bed was comfortable which is a tough thing for me to find. The highlight of the night though was the supper.

It was absolutely amazing. I had a starter that was a salad with absolutely stunning lamb. I’ve never had any lamb that was that delicious. For my main, I had been back and forth between the steak and the bison. I’d never had bison and the waitress recommended it so I decided to go wild (I don’t usually try new things) and order the bison. It was magnificent. The flavour was rather unique, almost seeming like a mix between a nice steak and liver. It may sound a little strange, but it ended up being very delicious, especially with the rest of the dish. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a nice restaurant, but even still this was clearly one of the best ones I’ve been to in Halifax.

We had a lovely evening and would recommend it to others. It’s not a cheap place to stay, but it’s actually affordable when you compare it to other nice hotels downtown. Being downtown, you’ll have options for supper if you’re not interested in the supper package. That can make it way cheaper. If you’re looking for a nice night away that’s not your average Hotel, this is a nice option.

Now hot chocolate isn’t exactly on your traditional list of recommended foods for young people, but it’s a whole heck of a lot less bad for them than the chocolates we were handing out the year before. Since the boxes of hot chocolate come with 10 small packs in them, you can hand them out in individual sizes readily in a sealed, safe package. Last year we thought we’d give it a try and overall the kids seemed to like it a lot. We went for it again this year and I think the kids convinced us to stick with it from here on out. There were lots of kids who got it and turned excitedly to their parents to scream, “Mom/Dad, hot chocolate!” but one kid stood out. He arrived on our stairs with half a can of pop in one hand, clearly riding the sugar rush through his last bunch of houses. We gave him some hot chocolate, he looked up with great big saucer-sized eyes and half-shouted, “Best House!” and promptly ran off to ask his mother if they could have the hot chocolate tonight.

Halloween’s great fun in our neighbourhood. It’s nice and brief (about a 2 hour window), the kids are mostly young and their costumes are always great.

It was his last date on his tour supporting the new album, three. It’s way mellower than the songs of his that I normally like, but it’s still pretty cool. We actually bought the album at the concert and were surprised/disappointed as to how much better he sounded live than on the album. Surprised because it either takes a terrible recording (which this isn’t) or a very talented individual to put on a better sounding live show than the studio album. Disappointing because in contrast, the concert makes the album sound a little crappy. Rose Cousins and Ana Egge in particular were always in perfect harmony and had great presence at the show. On the album… eh…

He did a great acoustic version of True Patriot Love which is my wife’s favourite song.

Unfortunately my favourite wasn’t on the list:

But that’s ok because there were so many great songs, new and old.

Finally, to top this post off, I thought I’d post a new find for Canadian music fans. Gord Downie with Joel Plaskett and The Emergency singing one of Joel’s most popular songs:

So the food at Steamy’s is meant to give you that authentic Montreal fast food feel. They do burgers, hot dogs, fries, poutine, battered fish, etc… How was it? Well it depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for something that has that definite Montreal flavour to it, you’re in luck. This is the closest you’ll get to it in Halifax. Have cabbage on your hot-dog, that ever-so-slightly spiced gravy on the poutine, it’s all there. If you’re not used to this kind of stuff, then it’ll be up to you as to how amazing their food is. It’s all good food so you don’t have be concerned about that, it’s just that you’ll likely hear things like, “the best poutine in Halifax!” Well I’ve come to find out that poutine is like wine, Everyone has a favourite and if you ask 10 people in a room, you’ll likely get at least 4 or 5 different answers.

The service was pretty terrible, mostly due to one employee who quite clearly did not want to be there and didn’t really seem to know much about what was going on. The owner(s)? were there and they seemed full of energy and very happy, but the front-line was about as upbeat as a goth funeral. My order only was put into a money saving combo after we asked for that. We also were over-charged for “upsizing” the combo from fries to a poutine according to their printed menu ($1.50 vs $1.00). Finally my apple juice transmuted itself into an orange juice somehow. Then again, I suppose if you’re used to Montreal, then this kind of service is about par for the course.

All-in-all, the food was a notch above average, service looks like a complete crap shoot, either great or terrible. Overall value wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. We both ate for a bit above $20 and got some better than average fast food.

If you want authentic Montreal junk food, this is the only place in the city to go. If not, this is just another place to get a hot-dog and hamburger.

For those less familiar with the wonders of a snowy winter, these acumulate after plowing the parking lots repeatedly. Sometimes the plows will shove along a grocery cart. That cart will only come out at spring. Rinse and repeat over a few months and you’ll have something like this.