Madly in love in North Rustico
By my second day in Prince Edward Island I was pretty much in love. The rolling hills, the white-painted churches, the tidy barns, the fields of wildflowers; They had me at hello. But when I arrived in North Rustico, I was head over heels.
Fresh mussels overlooking the water. Oysters straight from Raspberry Point. The young couple beside us teaching their small children the finer points of how to eat a lobster. It was really too much. The sunset. My nearest and dearest right there with me. Yep, I was a goner.
The Blue Mussel Café was a bit of a find. Let me tell you, travelling with 4 others, 3 of whom are blood relatives, does not an easy restaurant selection process make. Allow an extra 30 -45 minutes to walk around eliminating those we do not care for. But everyone was happy when we found this place.
The setting is lovely. Casual and welcoming, the restaurant overlooks the water and the evening sun warms the patio. First rule broken. In my experience waterfront setting = bad food. OK perhaps that is somewhat harsh, but more than once, a beautiful location and a severe case of goldfish memory has conned me into spending too much money on something quite mediocre.
The menu features lots of Atlantic staples: chowder, mussels, oysters, halibut, haddock. I chose the fish cakes, served with crackers and a sort of mustard pickle. Not fancy but deliciously comforting. And exactly what I was after.
Portions were ample but we did leave room for dessert and these were wonderful. We devoured them too quickly leaving this paparazzo no chance to capture them on film.
We shared two desserts between 5 of us (pre-wedding diet in effect). They were a chocolate pecan tart with a caramel filling which was to die for and a blueberry bread pudding with a custard sauce that was like something someone's grandma made. No seriously a real grandma, not just a made up marketing one.
But the highlight of the night was the sunset. More beautiful every minute. We sat there hoping to hang on to it.
The Blue Mussel Café
312 Harbourview Drive,
North Rustico Harbour, PEI
http://www.bluemusselcafe.com/index.htm