I sing the praises of Opentable for its convenience and for its rewards, but often left unspoken is how it can be a good way to find a new restaurant to try. There are few restaurants in Victoria that use the service, but we found one,
Niche, and it was a keeper.
Conrad and I showed up for a late-ish dinner on Friday night after we'd checked in to the hotel. The restaurant wasn't busy; in fact, by the end of our meal we were the only customers. The long weekend may have taken its toll. We hope that's the case because the food was very good, the wine list was appealing, the service was fine, and the cost was quite decent. We had an especially good chat with our waitress, and we appreciated the wine she steered us to. Such an enjoyable dinner that we took Kendall there two nights later for the post-marathon celebratory dinner, all in hopes of trying more good things. Success again. may it win over enough others to keep it going for years to come.
Friday night's dinner:
An amuse bouche of a mussel fritter and an heirloom tomato sauce.
A clean little start to the meal.
Out came some slices of warm bread with an apple and turnip puree for spreading.
Tasty, and if I'd had a little sprinkling salt seasoned with cumin, I think it would have been a perfect course in itself.
Conrad decided against an appetizer, but I had the quail with sage, apple, and quinoa.
Again, very good, and I pressed some on Conrad so he could be convinced.
Conrad's meal was the snapper served with borlotti beans, chorizo, and olives.
He wished he had a spoon for the broth, but at least a bit of bread remained. What is interesting is you'll see the same menu item done a bit differently later in this posting.
My meal? Duck with chanterelles, parsnips (done as chips!), and vanilla.
I was immensely pleased and felt it was a good portion size, too.
Conrad declined to order dessert, but of course he tasted mine. The menu lists it as thyme and adds custard, maple, whiskey below that word.
It was a white chocolate and thyme custard (which made for a marvellous and subtle combination) with a maple and whiskey ice cream that Conrad liked a great deal.
Added to this was a bottle of a Vancouver Island wine, the
Alderlea Reserve Pinot Noir.
It cost more than all the food put together and still was not a bad price at all, especially given how well it opened and paired with the courses. The first sip was fine, the first sip alongside food had real impact. Conrad finished with a glass of a different Pinot Noir, and it felt to him like he was going backwards somehow. Not a bad wine, but not nearly so good as what we had by the bottle. Overall, a terrific dinner.
Sunday night:
We dined earlier and had the advantage of a table away from the large family with small children who came in later. Sorry. I think the kids were mostly well-behaved, in fact, but it was a test of their patience and endurance by the end of their evening.
So, the three of us sat down, watched the evening draw over the James Bay neighbourhood, and started with portion of aged cheddar and caramelized onion tart.
I ate it and should have tasted it, but you know, that marathon thing had happened. I was hungry.
Warm slices of multigrain bread came out, served with a dish of a smoky eggplant puree speckled with roasted pepper.
I attacked happily.
Kendall's first course was the soup of chanterelles, olive oil, and pumpkin.
It was lighter and less sweet than I would have thought. Very earthy, in fact. The grilled biscuit was good alongside and dipped in.
Conrad went for the squash with tuna, almonds, and butter.
He was surprised - not unpleasantly at all - to find that it was a serving of very flavourful filled pasta.
This time I had the liver with eggplant, red onion, and capers.
Chicken livers, as it turned out, and the eggplant made an appearance as the stuffing for a ravioli. That alone was remarkable, but the dish as a whole was very good.
Kendall opted for the same snapper as Conrad had had two nights before, but it wasn't the same.
Atop the fish was a fried egg, perhaps quail to judge by the size. He was delighted to see the egg there, and liked the combination overall.
Conrad had the sablefish, served with cabbage, miso, and apple.
More fun surprises. The apple slices were done as tempura and served atop what looked like a cabbage roll made from savoy cabbage. The roll, however, was simply rolled cabbage, and so it was a light counterpoint to the fish.
I had the special: halibut with mussels and chorizo risotto.
I think the risotto was a little stiff and dry, but the flavour was terrific, matching well with the fish and the little mussel fritters.
All of us were quite satisfied. Conrad and I challenged the waiter a bit on this one. I was in a mood for white wine, and Conrad deferred because it was my celebration. We wanted a BC wine, moreover, so that cut down options. The waiter came back with two Pinot Gris, one not on the list. It was that one, the
Black Widow from the Naramata Bench, that we went with on his recommendation. Again, a good choice, though I concede that I liked the Pinot Noir from two nights before more, but ah well.
With dessert, Kendall and I opted for the same thing: toffee, which turned out to be a sticky toffee pudding studded with bits of date and paired with an apple and cinnamon sorbet.
Tangy versus sweet, warm versus cool.
Conrad had the chocolate - no real surprise there.
A trio of little sweets including a pot de creme, a frozen mousse and a lemon and chocolate fudge. None of it was overly sweet, and I think the fudge had the most interesting combination of flavours.
So, we dined well in Victoria, you can see. Nicely treated, definitely, and we left thinking we would have to tell people about the restaurant and come back to it again one day.
We've been in this together all my life and most of hers.
my Best Woman (Allison),
Kendall,
CG,
Jeph,
Martin
(and Mark), BTH,
the SF,
Darth and Heidi
and the great group from library school, our Yoshi's friends,
the good friends who have stuck by Conrad since before I knew them and him,
Louise
and Sandra and Wayne and others in Terrace, the Don Diego's family,
the Smelts and other swimming friends like Chris and Brian and Daniel and Frank.
The list goes on, and I struggle to name every one.
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