One Sydney restaurant temporarily reopens on Canada Day weekend, another temporarily closes

It was a tale of two restaurants in Sydney, N.S., on Saturday as one popular eatery reopened for a couple of days, while another has temporarily closed.

JJ’s Plant-Based Eats, Sydney’s only fully plant-based restaurant during its three years of operation between March 2020 and March 2023, came back with a two-day ‘pop-up’ event on the Canada Day long weekend.

On Friday and Saturday, the restaurant’s signature dishes were served out of a temporary location at Branch 138 Ashby Legion.

“Well, we’re back, kind of,” said James MacDonald, co-owner of JJ’s Plant-Based Eats along with longtime business partner Joseph Matheson. “We decided to do a couple of pop-ups, so this is episode one. We decided we were going to do a bit of a limited series, kind of like your favorite streaming show or something on Netflix and put out a few limited editions.”Dish from JJ’s Plant-Based Eats, a Sydney restaurant that temporarily reopened with a two-day pop-up on the long weekend after being closed for more than a year. (Courtesy: James MacDonald)

The restaurant, which originally opened just days before the COVID-19 pandemic came to the Maritimes, developed a cult following despite the closures and cancellations that resulted.

The owners of JJ’s decided to close the restaurants doors in March 2023, but despite the more than year long hiatus MacDonald said sales went well during the two-day pop-up on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s great to have a great day of sales, sell a lot of food, bring in some money which was a big factor and a big reason for doing this,” MacDonald said. “But it’s also not too often that you get to be a part of something special like this and put out news that you’re doing a little pop-up and have so many people kind of radiate that news around and just be so thankful and grateful and happy to see us come back.”

Meanwhile, another popular Sydney restaurant announced that it will be shutting down for the summer.

Selkie’s made a post to social media saying that it would be temporarily closing its Charlotte Street location because of major construction along Sydney’s main drag that is being done as part of the downtown Sydney revitalization project.

“Despite our, and your, best efforts to keep things running, we’re going to have to close Selkie’s for the rest of the summer,” the Facebook post reads in part. “You guys have been amazing for navigating the construction and supporting us during this weirdness, but without the walk-in traffic and summer tourists we’re just not breaking even at Selkie’s.”

The post went on to say, Selkies’ sister restaurant, The Mermaid, will remain open throughout the summer at a different location.

“We fully intend to reopen Selkie’s when the street is finished and to stay where we’re at for years to come, but sadly it’s just not working for now,” the Facebook post continued. “Come and see us at The Mermaid and keep supporting us like you have been and a bigger and better Selkie’s will be ready to reopen in the fall.”

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