OUR GREAT MINDS

    The Reluctant Chef Exposé

    The Reluctant Chef – An Unconventional Dining Experience

    After a long day of making important decisions, it’s sometimes nice to kick back, relax, and be taken care of. The Reluctant Chef in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada offers a truly unique restaurant experience where its patrons trust the kitchen, take a break from the daily routine of decision-making, and allow themselves to be catered to.

    Located at 281 Duckworth Street, the Reluctant Chef presents a multi-course meal with a menu that changes every couple of weeks.  In the absence of a written menu some treat it as a blind tasting while others inquire in advance. With that said, to avoid any adversities, a friendly and knowledgeable staff will ask about allergies and aversions and the kitchen will plan accordingly.

    “The concept stems from my own past experience”, says owner and original reluctant chef Anthony Butt. “When I dined out, I would ask if the kitchen would just feed me. Sometimes I would stay for hours while other times, when time was of the essence, I would ask for a chef’s plate. I always found chefs were more than pleased, even flattered, to accommodate.”

    They do that at The Reluctant Chef, too.  You can make an evening of it with a five-course experience or you can pop in for a quick bite and be on your way. “It’s best appreciated”, says Anthony, “if you have an adventurous palate, but we do accommodate”.

    When I sat to speak with Anthony about the menu, they didn’t tell me, they showed me. They started my experience with a fresh baked French loaf. Then, I was served a beef tenderloin Carpaccio drizzled with a parsley-shallot citronette and topped with dehydrated goat cheese for a texture contrast. Third I was served tuna sashimi on sticky rice with a soy-based dressing. Afterwards, a cod bake with a homemade pastry. And, finally, oven-roasted chicken, marinated in a salt water brine that also held rosemary, lime and garlic. Prior to roasting, the chicken was rubbed with a Chinese red plum and gun-powder tea paste. To say it was exceptional would be an understatement! Dessert scored big-time with homemade macaroons and local berry jams – yum! Anthony collects what he can in the summer and fall and preserves for year-round use.

    As for the drink menu, it is reflective of a boutique restaurant. Anthony says, “We keep our beer menu exotic and we maintain a selection of whiskeys, scotches and ports. Our wines are carefully selected by our red seal chef.”

    The Reluctant Chef makes dining out a relaxing experience that promotes conversation by its very casual nature. They invite you to sit back and enjoy your company while being served extraordinary foods in a unique culinary affair.

    Tina Olivero

    30 years ago, Tina Olivero looked into the future and saw an opportunity to make a difference for her province and people. That difference came in the form of the oil and gas sector. Six years before there was even a drop of oil brought to the shores of Newfoundland, she founded The Oil and Gas Magazine (THE OGM) from a back room in her home on Signal Hill Road, in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A single mother, no financing, no previous journalism or oil and gas experience, she forged ahead, with a creative vision and one heck of a heaping dose of sheer determination. With her pioneering spirit, Ms. Olivero developed a magazine that would educate, inspire, motivate and entertain oil and gas readers around the world — She prides herself in marketing and promoting our province and resources in unprecedented ways. The OGM is a magazine that focuses on our projects, our people, our opportunities and ultimately becomes the bridge to new energy outcomes and a sustainable new energy world. Now diversifying into the communications realms, a natural progression from the Magazine, The OGM now offers an entirely new division - Oil & Gas Media. Today, The Oil and Gas Magazine is a global phenomenon that operates not only in Newfoundland, but also in Calgary and is read by oil and gas enthusiasts in Norway, Aberdeen, across the US and as far reaching as Abu Dhabi, in the Middle East. Believing that Energy is everyone’s business, Ms. Olivero has combined energy + culture to embrace the worlds commitment to a balance of work and home life as well as fostering a foundation for health and well being. In this era of growth and development business and lifestyle are an eloquent mix, there is no beginning or end. Partnering with over 90 oil and gas exhibitions and conferences around the world, Ms. Olivero's role as a Global Visionary is to embrace communication in a way that fosters oil and gas business and industry growth in new and creative ways.

      Would you like to know more about this story?

      Let us know who you are and how we can assist you.

      First Name *required

      Last Name

      Company

      Website

      Email *required

      Mobile required

      What are you interested In?

      Learning more about this story?Contacting the company in this story?Marketing for your company?Business Development for your company?

      I am interested in...


      Did you enjoy this article?

      Get Media Kit


      OGM - Our Great Minds