Lost in Paradise at The Galley

When you drive to The Galley, you’ll probably think, for an instant, as you wind down a narrow tree-lined lane, that you are lost.  In paradise.

You’ll probably think the same thing when you take your first bite of chef Jeff Wiper’s Lobster Poutine, a potato cake topped with bocconcini, lobster claw meat, roasted corn and an immaculately seasoned lobster velouté.  The melted bocconcini will stretch from your plate up to your fork and you’ll need to twist the cheese around the tender flake of lobster you’ve speared in order to take that perfect cheese-lobster-sauce-laden bite.

Paradise indeed.

For those who have been driving up and down the south shore for decades, slurping chowder and enjoying ocean vistas, The Galley is a familiar name.  Famous in its’ 1983-2005 heyday, the restaurant garnered national attention for being one of the best places to eat in Nova Scotia. 

The eatery had been closed for a number of years before Jeff and his brother Ben took over in 2012.  After working in the restaurant industry in Ontario for fifteen years, Jeff moved to the Chester area, hoping to get away from the city.  Little did he know that shortly after moving, he would have the opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of opening a restaurant of his own.

With The Galley’s reputation preceding it, Jeff had big shoes to fill.  Taking his lead from the local food movement, his philosophy in the kitchen is to use quality ingredients, season them perfectly and allow them to speak for themselves when presented to hungry patrons.  The Galley’s slogan, “casual dining for all,” ensures that the menu is resplendent with favourites like perogies (be still my fluttering prairie-girl heart!) and haddock, but Jeff focuses on creating unexpected riffs on this traditional fare.

Hence this “poutine,” which, after I devour it at a slightly alarming rate, is followed by The Galley’s signature buttermilk haddock.

Unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before, this local fish is completely encased in a coating of buttermilk, where it poaches as it cooks, never actually directly touching the cook-top. The final product resembles a savory pancake enrobing impossibly tender fish, taken to the next level with a creamy lemon curry sauce.  (This is the part where I really wanted to write something about buttermilk pancakes giving local haddock a hug for being so incredibly awesome.  But I didn’t.  I draw the line at anthropomorphizing local food).

After debating with my extremely friendly and attentive server the merits of licking my plate, I chat with the chef, who has ducked out of the heat of the kitchen to tell me about what’s next for The Galley.  As the eatery builds its reputation in the local community and beyond, Jeff’s attitude towards business is open, eager, and hallmarked by the motto “the answer is yes, what is the question?” 

For The Galley, it’s all about making customers happy.  So far, that means that Jeff has been making connections with local producers so that he can offer the freshest food possible, and creating a menu for which most of the dishes can be made gluten-free.  With three separate dining areas, over 160 licensed seats, and a view that just screams photo-op, The Galley is the perfect venue for weddings and other functions.  And, for those who prefer their own views but can’t get enough of Jeff’s cooking, the restaurant also has a thriving catering business.

I’m full. 

Watching yacht owners shuttle back and forth between their water-bound maidens, I settle into my chair with the satisfaction of a belly stuffed with local seafood prepared with creativity and whimsy. 

But then, of course, there’s cheesecake.  Fried cheesecake, actually.  And so it is that I straighten my back and summon the wherewithal to crunch the side of my fork into cinnamon sugar-dusted pastry, causing creamy cheesecake filling to burst across my plate and mingle with whipped cream and caramel drizzle along the way. 

I can guarantee that this won’t be my last time at The Galley, nestled between floor-to-ceiling windows, sipping an après-lunch cappuccino and wishing I had a really big boat. 

Maybe the next time I visit I will try the chowder and a glass of local white, crossing The Galley’s creamy soup off on my Taste of Nova Scotia Chowder Trail passport.  Or perhaps it will be the perogies.  Possibly, I’ll just let Jeff wow me with whatever “twist on the traditional” he’s got up his sleeve that day.  Or maybe I’ll follow suit from my first Galley lunch, and have a little bit of everything.