The catchphrase of the mixed-use Queen’s Marque development on Halifax’s waterfront is “Born of This Place.” This promise is reflected in the stunning harbour views that encircle the city’s first luxury boutique hotel, The Muir, and the architecture and craftsmanship that tip a captain’s hat to the area’s shipbuilding past. But nothing delivers on the hyper-local notion more than the complex’s new marquee restaurant, Mystic.

The fine-dining destination, which opened last September, has a lofty ambition: to introduce locals and tourists alike to Maritime terroir through local ingredients and global techniques.

Head chef Malcolm Campbell, originally from Newmarket, Ont., is what locals might playfully call a “come from away.” Campbell made a name for himself after a decade in London, including a stint at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, and a chef de cuisine post at Toronto’s Auberge du Pommier. Before relocating to Halifax, he spent five years at Cabot Cape Breton, an acclaimed golf resort. During that time, he fell in love with Nova Scotia, spending his off-hours trout fishing on the Margaree River and tending to asparagus bushes on his own land.

Still, he felt the siren call of haute cuisine. “I was missing this,” he says, gesturing to the restaurant’s artisanal ceramics, pristine open kitchen, and chic marble shelves of backlit glass jars full of preserves. “This is my kind of food and style.”

Campbell’s vision? Not one, but three eight-course tasting menus that showcase the excellence and abundance of local ingredients from land, sea and air. The first menu, “Flora,” is a plant-forward vegetarian selection. “Biota” is for omnivores and includes fish, meat and game, while “Discovery” is a mélange of seasonal ingredients highlighting the chef’s creativity. While the bulk of Mystic’s seasonal produce comes from farms like Abundant Acres, an organic farm about an hour from the city, the restaurant’s chefs also go on frequent foraging missions, scanning fields, branches and ditches for treasures like goldenrod, a flowering plant that makes a tasty vinegar. “We use that as one of our main acids,” says Campbell. “You won’t find as many lemons or limes in our kitchen as you might at other restaurants.” When adding sweetness to dishes, Campbell swaps in the darker and more robust black honey for maple syrup.

Though the menus change frequently, some dishes seem destined for mainstay status — swordfish bresaola with turnip; rack and shoulder of lamb sourced from Shobac, on the province’s south shores; and baby halibut with crispy seaweed. One of Mystic’s signature, and arguably most Instagrammable, dishes is dessert — a selection of petit fours that, depending on the day, might range from juniper pâte de fruits to sea-salt caramels and smoked bone-marrow fudge served on a moss-like bed that resembles a tide pool.

Both outdoors and in, the environment supports Mystic’s ambiance and desire to take guests on a sensory journey. Designed by internationally recognized Nova Scotia architect Brian MacKay-Lyons, the restaurant is housed in the development’s wedge-shaped Rise Again building, underneath steps that lead to artist Ned Kahn’s rooftop Tidal Beacon sculpture, which lights up to chronicle the changing tides.

Inside, Mystic is a study in elegant contrasts, with materials like locally quarried sandstone slabs and metal-panelled walls in the reception area, designed to recall a ship’s cabin. The expansive stainless steel kitchen is fully open and calls to mind house party tropes, but in an upscale, understated way. The palette is natural (think tones of driftwood, pine and ocean) with curved banquettes and custom rugs that highlight the region’s topography.

With water views on three sides, the dining room juts out into the harbour on a wharf, making the space feel yacht-like. In fact, above the open kitchen is a sculpture built into the ceiling that resembles the underside of a ship’s hull — the pièce de résistance of Toronto-based DesignAgency, the firm tasked with the restaurant’s design.

“This was our first significant project in Eastern Canada,” says Matt Davis, who founded the firm along with long-time partners Anwar Mekhayech and Allen Chan. “We didn’t want to part from the region’s history.”

As for the decision to keep the kitchen open and “showcase the artists at work,” Davis says the designers finalized that direction in close consultation with the chefs. “They were all in from the beginning with no pushback. It’s a theatre-style approach, like watching a play in real time. You’re at an upscale restaurant, but you still get that kitchen-party feel.”

Hard work, tasty food and a flair for the dramatic — “born of this place” sounds about right.

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By Beth Hitchcock — *This article originally appeared in Insight: The Art Of Living Magazine – The Connection Issue.