Anne Hardy’s "Where to Eat in Canada" is Canada’s only independent guidebook to restaurants across the country. Arowhon Pines is ecstatic to have received a 2 STAR rating.
Note: Every restaurant in the guide has been personally tested. Their reporters are not allowed to identify themselves or to accept free meals. They accept no advertisements. They accept no payment for listings.
The cooking at Arowhon Pines this year has been some of the best we’ve ever experienced. Major investments have been made in the property—a new kitchen, a new dining-room entrance and a new front office—and they’ve richly paid off. The chefs may be working from established recipes—Eugene and Helen Kates put everything into the computer—but there’s a liveliness and variety to the meals that we haven’t seen before, and the dessert buffet is more elaborate than ever.
The menus are all planned a week in advance so no guest will get the same meal twice. As you enter the huge hexagonal dining-room you’re confronted by a big buffet table loaded with soups (perhaps lobster bisque with truffle cream), pâtés, salads and things like crispy duck in moo-shu pancake, shrimp dumplings and scallops with watercress.
You can eat as much of any or all of these as you like. When you sit down—first come, first served—you have the choice of four entrées, one of which will be fish (baked halibut, say, in a parmesan crust) and another vegetarian. If you’re hungry, ask for a second helping (they’re free). If you’re not, ask for a half-portion. You can even get a different second entrée—if you don’t want to choose between the fish and the lamb you can just have both.
The dessert bar has too many choices to list, but among them should be maple mousse, fruit salad, blueberry tart, carrot cake and the resort’s famous butter tarts. And once again, you can help yourself to as much as you like. The price in parentheses at top right is for a room for two with three meals a day, plus all the recreational facilities—like canoes—that are available. Open daily 12.30 pm to 2 pm, 6.30 pm to 8 pm from 3 June until Thanksgiving. Bring your own bottle. Master Card, Visa. Book ahead. Wheelchair access.