Even though she couldn’t resist the horrible pun of calling the Pine Grove Grill a diamond in the rough, I’m indebted to brilliant reader Cynthia for tipping me off about this place.

Good food at golf courses in the province isn’t unknown (Chester, Lingan and Cabot Links come to mind) but is rare, and this restaurant at a nine-hole course in Mount Uniacke is an addition to that short list. Since the Pine Grove Grill is equidistant from the house I live in and the house I grew up in, my parents joined us for supper on Sunday, a day so gloomy that there were diners, but no golfers.

This 48-seat dining room doubles as the pro shop, and looks out to a large deck, a pond and the course, with a wall of windows providing natural light. Tables and chairs are oak, and there are half a dozen thickly padded stools at the bar.

Appetizers got us off to an excellent start. There are various ways to interpret what the word “ebi” means when paired with prawns, but chef Tyler Redding’s version has big, meaty prawns fried in a beer batter, drizzled with a chili aioli and served with candied almonds. Both BJ and my dad thought they were fantastic.

Everything in a mixed-greens salad, including asparagus, was vividly coloured and discernibly fresh, dressed with a white-and-garlic vinaigrette and topped with crisped, julienned won tons. At a buck a pop, the chicken wings were going to have to be very good to impress me. They’re breaded, crisp and large, and I tried two sauces, maple chipotle and honey garlic, both of which I liked.

We continued to be impressed when our mains were served, both by the way the food looked and the way it tasted.

Yellow lemon-grass curry is based on a paste made with the spice turmeric, then simmered with lemon grass, ginger and shallots and served on rice with either chicken or seafood. Kath had it with chicken, of course, and while some might like the heat turned up a bit, it is a very flavourful dish.

Redding’s version of beef stroganoff is perhaps a bit less creamy than is traditional, but slow simmering had imparted the flavour of red wine and beef broth into the vegetables, and made chunks of beef tenderloin extremely tender. A chicken burger is made with a real breast of chicken, and is juicy and tender, and fish and chips feature a very light beer batter, house-made tartar and hand-cut, non-uniform potato wedges, sprinkled with a barbecue seasoning mix. Absolutely wonderful.

The dessert menu features three of the sweetest words in the English language: homemade baked pies. We ordered a slice of strawberry rhubarb, along with Turon, which is fried banana with house-made ice cream (!), chocolate sauce and candied almonds, and a piece of Nanaimo bar ice-cream cake. The sourness of the rhubarb somewhat overwhelmed the sweetness of the strawberries, but equalled my disposition when I learned the Nanaimo bar cake was made with mint ice cream, which I loathe. (Others at the table said it was extremely good.)

However, I salute the effort that goes into making homemade ice cream. We were told the flavour changes frequently, depending on what ingredients the restaurant’s baker stumbles on.

I’d like to see more imagination in the Pine Grove Grill’s beer and wine lists, but that’s my only real criticism. Supper for five, including tax and tip, was $150.