Last weekend my wife and I headed into St. John’s for what we optimistically called a “relaxing” shopping trip. Between the walking, browsing, and inevitable purchasing — Christmas is just around the corner — we still carved out time to explore a few local restaurants.

This wasn’t a fine-dining weekend. Instead, I gravitated toward one of my favourite comfort foods: French onion soup. And in the span of three days, I managed to try it three times at three different spots.

Rustlers Restaurant — Torbay Road

I’ve been to Rustlers many times, but mostly for their excellent breakfast. This time, just before noon, I wasn’t in the mood for a full brunch. Shopping stamina requires strategy — I wanted flavour without the post-meal bloat. French onion soup felt like the answer.

The bowl arrived quickly and looked promising, crowned with an impressive layer of melted cheese. While cheese is essential, mozzarella can become aggressively chewy and overshadow the balance between broth and cheese. That was the case here — tasty, but a bit like chewing gum. Still, the flavour was genuinely good, with plenty of black pepper. I’d order it again.

Jack’s Restaurant — Capitol Hotel, Kenmount Road

I wrote about Jack’s recently, praising both their French onion soup and Jambalaya. Naturally, I had to revisit.

This time the soup wasn’t as visually appealing — darker broth and noticeably less cheese. The flavour was still deep, but the broth was scarce, and the croutons had become fully soggy. Not terrible, just underwhelming compared to my previous visit.

The Bagel Café — Duckworth Street

My wife’s favorite brunch spot in the city, and for good reason: massive portions and reliably tasty plates. We were there celebrating my son Kaegan’s birthday, and while everyone else had brunch on the brain, I was still committed to seeing this French onion soup journey through.

This final soup was fine — safe, ordinary, nice cheese, non-soggy croutons, and a solid ratio of broth to bread, but it lacked body and seasoning. A decent bowl, but not memorable.

French Onion Inspiration

After three soups in three days, I started thinking about my own recipe. I’ve been tweaking it for years, experimenting with butter, onions, salt, sugar, red wine, mustard, beef stock, cheese, bread, and herbs. I feel like I’m getting closer to my ideal bowl.

I made another batch this week to share with family and friends. After visiting my grandfather’s grave on November 11th — his birthday and a moment to reflect on veterans’ sacrifices — I returned home and slowly prepared a pot of soup to deliver that afternoon.

As for the recipe? One day, when I’m fully confident it’s the one, I’ll share it. Until then, take the ingredients mentioned here and freestyle your own version.