HALIFAX: Jane’s on the Common

I know Halifax has scores of excellent restaurants downtown and on the waterfront but I wanted to try a laid-back gem that only locals know about. My friend and Haligonian Tom M. directed us to Jane’s on the Common and boy, was it a perfect recommendation.

Jane’s faces the Common, a huge park with soccer fields, softball diamonds and a fountain. The Rolling Stones played to a crowd of 50,000 there in 2006.

The restaurant itself is immediately comfortable with a small diner counter as you walk in, an expansive wall of windows on one wall, and a large blackboard on another with the day’s specials and desserts.

Jane’s doesn’t take reservations, preferring that people drop in for neighbourhood comfort food. We had no trouble getting one of the 14 tables at 6:30 p.m. on a Saturday, but they did fill up quickly.

Jane’s started us off with some delicious homemade lemon parsley biscuits. Right away, I knew we weren’t in Calgary anymore.

Our server was friendly and extremely professional. Wine and water glasses were always topped up and she checked in on how things were going at least twice. And then there were the astonishing prices. No tiny $10 appetizers or $30 mediocre entrees here.

Jason and I shared the seared scallop bruschetta ($7.00) on grilled bread. Four plump scallops (four!) were lovingly paired with roasted tomatoes and basil oil.

Nora and Tom shared the shrimp cake ($6.50), which also blew me away. A light potato cake with bits of red onions, perfectly crispy on the outside, topped with two delicious gigantic shrimp and drizzled with cilantro lime aioli. It also came with some dressed greens too. For $6.50!

The sun started to set, casting Jane’s in a lovely, familiar light. Unfortunately, that also meant the end for any usable photos since I hate using a flash in restaurants. You’ll just have to take my word that the entrees that followed were divine.

My cornbread-crusted haddock ($15) with fresh fruit chutney is how I imagine standing on the ocean would translate to a plate. Simple, fresh, and invigorating.

Nora’s salmon fillet ($16) was encrusted with black sesame seeds which I’ve never seen before, with a soy-lemon-maple glaze. Also delicious. (There was a lot of taste-tasting going on.)

Jason’s charbroiled pork loin ($15) we took to calling “pig on pig action” but in a good way. It came with a pancetta-molasses cream that somehow didn’t taste as heavy as it sounds. The pork came from the Martock Glen farm in Windsor, N.S.

All of those mains came with vegetables and the starch of the day, which was horseradish mashed potatoes.

Finally, Tom’s seafood pasta was loaded with huge pieces of shrimp and scallops with sundried tomatoes, pine-nut pesto, white wine cream and fresh Parmesan.

We washed it all down with a soft but surprisingly spicy red made in Nova Scotia. The Jost Trilogy 2003 ($32) is blended from three hybrids grapes: Foch, Leon Millot, and Baco Noir and well worth trying.

We all shared a great creme caramel ($5) for dessert with a hint of orange liqueur. After all that, Jane’s sent us home with a plate of homemade shortbread cookies. Now, this is a place that cares about food, its customers and their wallets. Amazing.

Jane’s on the Common, 2394 Robie St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, (902) 431-5683. Closed Mondays. Click for hours and menu here.