KLONDIKE RIB AND SALMON

Our restaurant is housed in the two oldest buildings still in use in the Yukon‟s Capital. The dining room was originally opened as a tent frame bakery called, MacMillan‟s Bakery around 1900.

In 1929 the building was purchased by T.C. Richards and Willard Phelps. They called it “Klondike Airways” (as seen on the North side of the building) and it became a mail and freight business. Although the partners hoped some day to buy a plane as a means of transporting freight and mail, they neverdid. Using snowmobiles and caterpillars, the company carried about 110 000 lbs of mail to Dawson City each year. Before 1921 only  first class mail was delivered in the winter. The rest of the mail waited in Whitehorse for the ice to break up and the steamers to sail. This usually happened sometime in May.

In the 1930’s, the building was used by Jack French as a carpentry shop; and coffins were constructed for a mortuary in downtown Whitehorse…. Thankfully that business “died”… and today we have this quaint little “Northern Klondike Theme Restaurant.”

Normally we’d be very wary of anything this obviously (to us) tourist oriented kind of restaurant.  So we did our due diligence and checked Trip Advisor which rated it really well.  Then we ran into some locals who spoke very highly of it … and we were hooked!

We were told to get there around an hour before we wanted to eat as they don’t take reservations and it’s a VERY popular place.  So we got there around 5 – but this was late May on a Thursday night – and there was only one other table of people so we got right in.  No worries as they have good local beer to get you started!  Lots of neat weird things on the walls and ceiling to look at while you wait as well!

Having some local beer at the Klondike Rib & Salmon

We were also warned that the portions are large, so we opted for an appetizer and one main course to share.  Well.  The appie was great (Rocket Prawns) and the main was super good (The ‘signature dish’ Rib & Salmon Combo) but so huge that even splitting it we couldn’t finish it all!  No way we could even attempt to eat dessert which looked promising … maybe next time.

Rocket Prawns Appetizer

Rib & Salmon Combo at Klondike Rib & Salmon

So … definitely a good place to go if you’re a) very VERY hungry or b) want to share with a crowd!

It’s not a place to linger … as they do get busy they tend to hustle you through your meal … but not badly.  Oh … and it is a bit cool in there as there’s really no insulation – so bring a sweater.

Parking is on-street.