Raymonds

Our verdict

A former bank building on Water Street sets the tone for what Raymonds became: a formal dining room where Newfoundland's land-and-sea larder was treated with the same seriousness usually reserved for the country's major urban restaurants. The kitchen, led by Newfoundland native Jeremy Charles, built its reputation on ingredients that most Canadian fine-dining menus overlooked — snow crab, sea urchin, ptarmigan, moose, local berries — presented with a precision that earned the restaurant EnRoute Magazine's Best New Restaurant award in 2011 and a Wine Spectator Best Award of Excellence in 2012. The cooking drew directly from the province's seasonal rhythms. Fresh cod and halibut anchored the seafood side of the menu, while game preparations — caribou ravioli, seared ptarmigan — gave the kitchen a distinctly Newfoundland character that no amount of sourcing from elsewhere could replicate. Jeremy Bonia's front-of-house and wine program complemented Charles's approach, and the Wine Spectator recognition reflected a list built with the same regional conviction as the food. The setting reinforced the ambition. The historic Water Street building, with its high ceilings and formal proportions, placed Raymonds in a different register from the casual harbourfront dining that dominates St. John's. At CAN$51 and over per person, it positioned itself clearly in the upper tier of Atlantic Canadian dining, a category with few direct comparisons outside Halifax or Montréal. For anyone arriving in Newfoundland expecting to find serious fine dining confined to the country's larger cities, Raymonds made a pointed argument to the contrary.