Andrew Coppolino takes a tasty tour of new Waterloo region restaurants

From noodles, to Cajun shrimp and Italian Parm, or from supper clubs to science fiction and games for breakfast, restaurant openings always cause a bit of a buzz in the Waterloo Region food scene. 

Perhaps you're looking for a new dish to eat and a new venue to test out during the holidays? If so, here's a short list of possibilities for your dining pleasure. 

(Please check with the individual businesses regarding hours of opening and availability of menu items.)

Cambridge

Notable in Cambridge (Galt) is Fistro Supper Club and Bistro. The chef is Kitchener-native Darnell Gregg who trained for a decade – nearly half his life, in fact – at Langdon Hall under Jonathan Gushue and Jason Bangerter. You can join the supper club, replete with Indian-style "dubbawalla" delivery containers – or visit the restaurant for upscale casual dining.

The Loose Grape is open on the main street of downtown Preston, Cambridge. Calling themselves a wine and tapas bar, they serve lunch and dinner as well as brunch and fondue. 

Kitchener

​The Mississauga-based flame-broiled chicken outlet Nando's has opened on Fairway Road South. Hundreds of years ago, Portuguese explorers to Africa brought home a chili pepper they called "peri peri" or piri piri. It was used to season butterflied (or spatch-cocked) grilled chicken. 

Also on Fairway Road, a busy food thoroughfare to say the least, is the upscale casual restaurant State & Main (also newly opened in Cambridge) as well as Firehouse Subs. The latter was founded by Florida firefighters and has grown to about 1,000 firehouse-themed restaurants in the U.S. Accordingly, you can try the "hook and ladder" sub sandwich.

Near downtown Kitchener's centre block is the new home of San Francisco Panini for pasta, pizza, panzerotti and veal, meatball and sausage sandwiches. It seemed to me that this place was at one time called San Francesco, was it not? Or do we just have a hagiographic rivalry over – whether the Spanish or Italian Saint Francis?  

Staying downtown, Scott Street between Duke and King streets is now home to Elevenses on Scott. They serve coffee and pastries; as the name implies, around 11 a.m. is a pretty good time to snack. Just around the corner on King in the Region of Waterloo Building is Café Joy.

Heading to the Southdale area of Kitchener, the shiny new expansion of the popular Nougat Bakery and Delicatessen is on Stirling Avenue. It was once on Queen Street near Highland Road, which has become their production facility. Nougat has been a home to dobosh, vanilla Napoleons and many other pastries in Kitchener for decades.

Waterloo

Now, I'm sure the pun in the name was not intended: The Captain's Boil, soon to open on King Street in Uptown Waterloo (former Watami Sushi location), takes Creole and Cajun ingredients and adds ginger and lemongrass that, the story goes, came together when Asian fishers migrated to the U.S. Gulf coast. Just a warning: this is seafood with plastic bibs and no plates or cutlery. Your food is unloaded directly onto your table for you to consume. Other boils include L.A. Boil Seafood on Westmount Road, as well as Bar Boil coming soon near Laurier on University Avenue at King Street.

Near the universities

The number of restaurants that now exist adjacent to the University of Waterloo is astounding; the range of foods is equally so. The area is now home to "Waterloo's nerdiest restaurant" (their words): The Watchtower on Lester Street where they serve games and fantasy alongside breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Also on Lester Street is another unique name (and a game). While at Bogda Restaurant near Laurier we have Uyghur cuisine (from China's Xingjiang province), we now also have Shaanxi food at Rock Scissors Paper. They serve wide-cut noodles in dishes such as yo po mian (hot oil noodles) and what they describe as "self-serve fruits and all-day breakfast." (Please note: closed for the holiday season.)

Near sister university Wilfrid Laurier at Campus Crossing plaza a few blocks away, you will find a relatively new Jamaican restaurant, Uptown Jerk, as well as hand-stretched noodles at Noodles One. The latter has a huge menu and is a visual and auditory feast as the cooks whip and slap one large rope noodle into dozens of smaller ones.

In a small block around King and University, there are at least three shawarma restaurants. Mozy's has been there for years and has a solid reputation, as has Shawarma Plus. To these we can add relatively new chain shawarma venues Lazeez Shawarma & Mediterranean Grill and Shawarma Royale, both chains, virtually across from each other on the east and west sides of King Street, respectively.

I need to also mention the semi-recumbent audio-visual food experience that can now be had at the movie theatre. It makes for a pricier movie night, but the Cineplex Cinemas VIP Theatres on Fairway Road provide a licensed lounge, surround-sound, a massive screen and in-theatre wine-and-dining in puffy reclining leather seats. It's quite the experience.