Including a look at Victoria Harbour, my first (and potentially last) look around the Organic Underground, and a hidden garage on Maitland Drive.

• Click here to check out the set on Flickr

In a way, I feel like I should have retooled this posting series as “things to eat” in Belleville as opposed to “things to do,” with the high volume of food-centric posts. But like I’ve mentioned before, it’s going to be a while before I get to the boring historical things (Frink Centre, Glanmore house), and finish with my series of food-based landmarks. Will I ever get to after-my-time Organic Underground? Not likely.

At least the food things to do I’ve selected really centre around a type of experience, especially with places like Reid’s Dairy and the Nova Deli. “Taste of Country” is no exception.

While at first glance, “Taste of Country” appears to be like those really boring looking “country” type stores that sell cutesy country art, with wood cutouts of cows with folksy sayings written on them. There is a very large element of that to this store, but don’t let it drive you away: Taste of Country is like the IKEA of those kinds of stores. It’s a huge barn filled with all that crap. If you look carefully enough, you’ll see some really crazy stuff (think presents for mom!) and even a raft of John Deere merchandise.

But beyond the country crafts, there’s also a massive frozen food section, filled with lots of frozen dinner items, mostly deep fried. Lots of frozen fried chicken, french fries, fried pizza rolls, fried pizza roll fries, and giant slabs of frozen soup.

Then there’s the pastries/breads that are all made on site… if you go at right time, you’ll have one of the best apple fritters you’ll have in your life, even if it just appears to be a ball of dough (but trust me, back in the day, they were donut shaped). You can even pick up some treats like chocolate covered gummy bears on the way out!

To sum up Taste of Country, is that it’s essentially a boutique grocery store — with no fruit or vegetables. That, and one of the most dangerous intersections in Hastings county.

For directions, check out the official “Taste of Country” website here.

Previously:

• Part 1: Things to do in Belleville: Go to Reid’s Dairy
• Part 2: Things to do in Belleville: Go to Starbucks and Chapters
• Part 3: Things to do in Belleville: Go to the Nova Deli

Hard to believe this is only the third post in my unending series on “Things to do in Belleville, Ontario,” (And yes, there are far more “cultural” things you could do in Belleville, like go to boring places like the Glanmore House or the Frink Centre, but I’ll only turn to those once I exhaust a complete guide to things the locals actually do), so I’m already likely to peak with the greatest place to go and the greatest place to eat in the entire city, but here it is.

The Nova Deli.

The only place to get a “real” donair in Ontario.

Not that I’ve ever had a “real” donair from Canada’s east coast, but I hope to ratify that someday.

Anyways, a donair is pretty simple stuff: Take a pita, add some meat made out of 100% ground beef held together by soda cracker and spices (shipped from the east coast), add some cheese and some veggies, ladle on some of the sweet and sticky white sauce (secret recipe) and that’s it. Sounds a lot like a gyro, but totally different… there are lots of imitations of the east-coast donair, but none of them put together a fresh, juicy donair like the guys at the Nova Deli, who are all red blooded Nova Scotians.

I didn’t include more photos of the inside of the Deli, or the donairs themselves, because that is a pleasure I wish to let you find for yourself.

When you go there, depending on who is working, you’re likely to get a warm reception, and if you’re an old school regular (like myself), they’ll always remember your name, no matter how many months its been since you’ve been to the shop. It’s easy to find too: It’s more or less across the street from McDonald’s on North Front Street.

Donair toppings are sparse: I wouldn’t suggest ordering anything else but the TLC (tomato, lettuce and cheese). Other donair varieties include the “neat” version, which comes in a bowl, or a donair spread out on a bed of fries. Depending on their stock, you can also get donair sausages (frozen, and perfect for breakfast).

Sizes come in small, medium, large and beastie. Newbies should probably stick to the small, and I’m partial to a medium. As for the beastie, for size comparisons, it’s about the size of a pointy hand-ball. Once upon a time there used to be a hall of fame for those who could eat the entire thing in under 20 minutes. Don’t plan on eating anything else that day if you are attempting this… you’ll also need 2-3 cans of pop to help get all that beef down your gullet.

The hours are a little wonky, so be sure to call ahead to make sure they are open: the number is (613) 968-3357, and if you call ahead of time, you’ll have your donair there waiting for you as you brave North Front Street traffic (they make the donair fresh for every order).

Finally, this is how you eat it: Take your foil-covered donair, and hold it fold or pointy side “up” (if you are carrying donairs in the car, be sure to hold them all upright like so, so the sauce doesn’t go all over the place). Lift the fold or de-spiral the point. Next, tear the foil horizontally, from about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the donair, all the way around in one complete pull. Then, take that foil and fold it up against the bottom of the donair, like a reinforcement. DON’T take the donair out of the foil completely, you’ll just end up with a huge mess. As you eat your delicious donair, pull back a little foil at a time as needed, kind of like a banana. Near the end, you’ll have some pieces of meat that are totally soaked with grease and donair sauce… don’t be afraid, get your fingers in there are pull those bad boys out, as well as any leftover diced tomatoes or lettuce, and scarf them all down. Once your foil cup is free of all meat/veggies/bread, you should have a nice pool of sauce going on, which means there is one thing left to do: fold a little spout in the edge of the cup, and pour the rest of that sauce into your mouth — in one big slurp.

Don’t forget to use the hand wipes.

• Part 1: Things to do in Belleville: Go to Reid’s Dairy
• Part 2: Things to do in Belleville: Go to Starbucks and Chapters

I’ve stayed at a few Bed and Breakfast places, mostly awesome, and one horrible one (Hello “A Pillow and Toast” in Niagara-on-the-Lake, you are the horrible one… two single beds pushed together do not make a king), and I would put “Norfolk Guest House” in the AWESOME side of the scale.

Like any B&B, staying at a place like Norfolk is a little pricier than a regular hotel; but when you factor in things like breakfast, personal service and a unique experience, places like this one shine, especially in terms of value. We ended up staying in their “Grandview” suite, which came with a queen sized bed, jacuzzi hot-tub, “custom” shower w/ multiple heads, separate office, usual TV & DVD player, fireplace,  available internet, and a wrap-around balcony. It was seriously nice.

Janet, the owner and operator of the house, was very friendly and very enthusiastic about Norfolk: you can tell from her passion that she’s in it for professional service, and not a retirement hobby. She gave us great suggestions for eating in Guelph, and was very helpful whenever we had questions, and has elegantly decorated the entire place.

Despite our many picky food requirements, breakfast was great, and served at a table spread with a subtle jungle theme (cheetah plate, leather ostrich place-mats). Personally, I’m not a fan of eating breakfast with strangers, but the table at Norfolk was big,  so when others joined us, we didn’t feel like our space was invaded.

Because I’m suspicious of any overtly glowing review, I’ll mention a couple things that I didn’t like. We spent a lot of time in the room, and while it was housed in a gorgeous antique wardrobe, the flat-screen TV could have been larger, and I would have liked to have had proper HD in the room. There were lots of strange “signs” all over the place, explaining every light switch and other functions, which while I’m sure prevents having to explain them all the time, detract from the overall classiness… especially when the most confusing thing, turning on the fireplace, had no “guide.”

As for the city of Guelph… it’s a small campus town. It’s not very large, but it has a quaint little downtown core that’s within a 10 minute walk of Norfolk, and can be traversed in about 15 minutes. There’s a large amount of bars on MacDonell street and the area around it… Jimmy Jazz is the notable rock club, but your typical college circuit bands pass through many of the core’s other venues.

Sadly, some of the places I’ve heard about before and went to check out, like the “Daydream Nation” record store seems to be long gone, as well as a few other places, which look like they have been replaced by much more upscale places.

However, my own highlights while visiting Guelph included:

• Bin 23, hands down the best restaurant in Guelph. The owner, Gus, is extremely friendly and serves up a well-rounded, fresh menu with a strong local flavour. If I was in the area again, I’ll go back.
• Planet Bean Coffee, which I assumed would be teeming with student life, but wasn’t, made great coffee they roasted in-house, and had some awesome merch for sale, including ceramic mugs with the shop’s logo. In my opinion, the only place to get coffee in you’re in Guelph.
• The Soccer Fanatic, a well-stocked store with everything football related you could ever want. Jerseys, flags, keychains, totebags, mugs, pins, plush Manchester United sneakers, everything. I knew when I saw the custom stain-glass TFC logo in the window that I would find some kindred spirits inside. The stained-glass logo wasn’t for sale, but I would imagine if you wanted to procure one for yourself, they could put you in touch with it’s creator.
• This antique/curio store that opened a few weeks ago had just incredible objects, mostly toy-focused, but also had lots of outdoorsy items procured from estate sales. I picked up a couple things for a great deal, which I’ll blog about in the future… but a couple things I didn’t get but still found awesome was a vintage Granada fake SG and amp set (only 200 bucks!), a vintage Gibson electric lap steel (no amp, but a steal at 450), screen printing blocks from a funeral home (morbid, but awesome), and lots of cool x-rays. I would do a road trip to Guelph next summer just to check this place out again, a lot of their stuff matches our light industrial/messy apartment style.
• We had another dinner at the Albion hotel, which was a little overpriced for it’s decent pubfood, but the atmosphere was nice and comfortable, very worthy of some hang time.

As for other things we never got around to, we never did get to have a decent look around the Bookshelf Cafe and Cinema, or eat at restaurants that also sound amazing, like Ein-stein’s Cafe, Other Brothers, Diana’s Downtown, Bistro Six and the Red Brick Cafe.

Because the weather was lousy when we were in town, we took a lot of cabs back and forth between downtown and the Norfolk, but each trip was only around 5 bucks, which wasn’t bad. If you found yourself in Guelph, don’t bother waiting for a cab on the street… just call. They’ll come quickly.

Overall, I would describe Guelph as the kind of place Belleville could be if it really wanted to. If Belleville cleaned up it’s downtown core (ie maybe moving the strip club more than 20 meters away from downtown city hall and farmers market), then a Guelph-type potential might be in it’s grasp.

So that’s about all I have to say about Guelph. If you’re looking to take a short vacation outside of the city, I can’t recommend the Norfolk highly enough (it even has online booking!!) as a great place to stay, with a handful of interesting options in the city to keep you entertained.