Bermuda was a difficult place to do research on from a culinary perspective. It was clear early on that the island was kind of stuck in a culinary time capsule. Now don’t get me wrong, I love classic food, (see for example, this review), and I believe that the best way to learn about a place is through its cuisine, but I also like modern takes on cuisine. Anyway, you cannot get more old school than Bermuda’s oldest restaurant, Tom Moore’s Tavern. Here is a bit of the history:
…upon pulling up to the place, and seeing the dining room, I was immediately brought back in time, and in a good way. I imagined all the people that had come through this place. The service by the way, is excellent. It was raining that day and someone came out to the taxi with an umbrella.
As for the food, sadly, it was not that great. Lets start with the soup. A traditional Bermudian fish chowder. It was prepared tableside.
However, I found it to be unbalanced with the rum finishing and a strong taste of alcohol the predominant flavors.
In keeping with the old school theme, I had the veal loin with veal sausage (but it tasted more like bacon wrapped to me), corn pudding, spinach stuffed crepe, and roast garlic sauce (to give you an idea of how expensive Bermuda is, the dish below was $46).
The veal was cooked very well and thats about the only positive thing about this dish. It was salty. The items on the plate did not come together well. Why was this served with a spinach crepe? I didn’t get it. My wife had the truffle pasta which was a bit better, but the pasta was overcooked. For dessert, the souffle, which was average.
Surprisingly, I would not say that I would not return here. I may. The service and old school atmosphere were that good, that it does somewhat offset the mediocre food. However, in the end, dining is about the food, so I would lean more towards not coming back. 6.5/10