Great Food, Great Beer, Great Neighbourhood

The Sovereign Room in the Heart of the Waterfront District

One of the staples of the culinary scene in Thunder Bay is The Sovereign Room. Known to the locals as simply, The Sov, the restaurant/bar opened in the Waterfront District late in 2010. It’s a gastro pub, but don’t be fooled by the yellow sign above the window that reads, Kim Lee’s Restaurant. Kim Lee's is long gone, but the owner of the Sovereign was nostalgic for the old place.

The Sovereign Room caters to a mix of young and old, sometimes making it difficult to find a table or booth. The noise level increases as well. The place has character as it is fairly small, dark and decorated with rusting signs, odd advertisements where Chinese girls smoke Hatamen cigarettes, and where a couple particularly horrible mass-produced oil paintings hang.    

The owner, Scott Arnot, felt this type of bar/pub was missing from Thunder Bay. Without any previous experience he renovated and found chefs who helped him get started. 

Once featured on the Food Network's You Gotta Eat Here, you can be sure the food is awesome. The Sovereign burger and duck confit poutine are favourites where the serving size is so huge it could kill you. But you will die happy. They have a large range of very tasty pizzas and are also known for their wonderful salads like, prosciutto and nectarine, grapefruit cured salmon, charcuterie, and asparagus and pear salad. They have nachos, wings, empanadas, pan roasted duck and other temptations, catering to both meat lovers and vegetarians.    

They also have one of the largest selections of premium and domestic beer in town - with up to sixty different selections!

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About Duncan Weller

A writer and visual artist, Duncan Weller is a Governor General's Award winner who lives in Thunder Bay. You can visit his website at www.duncanweller.com. His latest two books are a novel, Flight of the Silk, and an expanded edition of the award-winning children's picture book, The Boy from the Sun.

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