Heading to the island and I am on a budget…..but I love seafood…clams and mussels…can you recommend of place that the locals go to because of the fantastic flavour and great pricing. Thank you so much ….in advance. ?

Hi Shari,

Being from PEI, we were raised eating clams and mussels. We would head out at low tide with buckets, plungers, forks, and shovels to get of feed of clams to cook up! It’s a real Island tradition! 

On a budget, I would recommend picking up some fresh clams and mussels at any of our fish markets:

Basin View Seafood in Darnley or Stanley Bridge
MR Seafood in Charlottetown 
Doiron’s Fish Market in North Rustico
Julio’s Fish Market in St Peter’s 

It's very easy to steam up a pot with a splash of wine, cider or beer, a few aromatics, onions, and celery for about 10 min. When all the shells are open you are ready to feast with a dish of melted butter and you are all set!

Fresh mussels are available in most restaurants you go to and are pretty reasonably priced. Fresh steamers (clams) are a little harder to find in a restaurant but you're sure to find fried clams! They are double the price of mussels as they are all dug by hand and will be more expensive in a restaurant.

For some great fried clams, try:

Clamdiggers in Cardigan 
Stella’s in Montague 
Frosty Treat in Kensington 
Jolly Rogers Seafood in Summerside

Hope this helps and hope you find your feed of PEI shellfish!

Cheers
Chef Jeff McCourt