Vikas Sharma

It’s been a little bit since my last post at the end of June.

We were in the Okanagan Valley during the first two weeks of July for a whirlwind tour of vineyards with a lovely couple of friends. They have been spending a fair bit of time out there, and had put together a three-day junket to many of their favourite vineyards.

Coming from Ontario, where the wine isn’t good, it was so nice to have a majority of great experiences in the 20 or so vineyards we visited.

I had put a lot of thought into writing about some of the food we had on the trip, however, there were so few great food experiences; any positive food experiences were at vineyards, to where our friends brought us.

My partner and I did have a very nice tapas lunch at Black Hills Estate Winery – where we also purchased a wine membership. I was once gifted a 2011 Nota Bene by a business partner – and it was fantastic.

Quick story on that.

About six years ago, I was staying at The Cove for business, on the same trip when I was gifted the 2011 Nota Bene. I was meeting some business partners for dinner at the restaurant in The Cove, and was scoping out the wine list. I noticed that there was a bottle of 2013 or 2014 Nota Bene on their wine list – and it was rather expensive. I asked the host what the difference would be between the 2011 and 2013/14? He mentioned too many benefits of the 2011 to remember, but he said that it would be a fantastic wine in a few years.

I mentioned that I had a bottle.

His eyes and ears perked up – and without dropping a beat – he said that he’d gladly give me a bottle of the 2013/14 in exchange for my 2011, as well as pay for mine, and my guests’, dinner.

Fast-forward to a couple of years ago, I cracked open that 2011 with my Wine Specialist partner, Mike Correia, back home in Toronto. It was splendid.

Back to the Okanagan. In addition to about four days there, we also spent about four days in Nelson – where the food was decent, but nothing to write about. The one thing I’ll say about Nelson, is that they have a great café called Oso Negro (Black Bear in Spanish). The food was good, and their drip coffee was great – but I couldn’t bring myself to have a coffee from their espresso machine. Why? Because they had the portafilters sitting on the drip tray instead of in the group heads. Call me a princess, but I’m a former barista – and unless there’s something I don’t know about their reasoning behind this – that’s a non-negotiable for me.

Now – over to this past weekend.

My partner booked us a trip to Salt Spring Island, which is one of the Gulf Islands (a group of islands between mainland BC and Vancouver Island.

On the Friday of our weekend trip, we had a late lunch booked at Salt Spring Wild Cider, which we knew about, as I had purchased their dry cider at the Lonsdale Quay Farmer’s Market (across from our home) and had enjoyed it.

What I wasn’t expecting was the fantastic quality of food at the cidery.

It was so good that we went back the next evening for dinner – we figured it would be a sure thing, and weren’t 100% sure about the rest of the options in Ganges (the town centre).

Before I get into the food, let me start with the cider.

Since I’m very traditional when it comes to my drink, I like the driest possible cider (anything like a good culín de sidra from Spain and I’m happy), so I took their dry cider, which I’ve had before, and enjoyed.

My partner had the Traditional Flight, which she also enjoyed.

They make a very good cider product – and, to be fair, the other cidery (Ciderworks by the Salt Spring Apple Co.) on the island also does a good job.

On the food side of things, over the two visits, we tried the following items:

• Cider House Tempura
• Country Style Tofu (for me) and the AAA Striploin (for the lady)
• Moroccan Mushroom Toast
• Farm Fresh Salad
• Chef’s Veggies (done the way the chef likes ’em – as the menu says)
• Spicy Burrata

The first thing I’ll say, is that whoever is running the kitchen back there at Salt Spring Wild Cider is a champion.

Everything was done in a fine manner.

It was everything you wouldn’t expect from a cidery.

The tempura was nice and light. I wasn’t sure if they used amaranth or quinoa to coat the veggies, but it was so light that the coating was off in some spots – not a bad thing – just a measure as to how light it was. The tamari sauce for the veggies was also nice and flavourful.

The cashew gravy that was served with the tofu almost tasted like a bit of a curry. It was very good. The tofu was light, perhaps pan-fried (the way I usually do it at home).

The Moroccan toast was super delicious. It had whipped feta, zhug (which is where the spiciness came from – and happens to be one of my favourite condiments of all time) and duqqa (another lovely condiment – this one from Egypt). It was a home run. The first day we had it with Salt Spring Island goat cheese.

The salad – you could tell that the leaves were farmed recently and locally – tasty and just right.

The Chef’s veggies tasted broiled with a bit of olive oil and salt. Again, just right.

Now, the Spicy Burrata – what a treat. It was served with a compote-like sauce that had a bit of a curry flavour – it was a bit spicy (but flavourful) and was served with a grilled (maybe barbecued) bread. Never in a million years would I have prepared burrata like this … but hats off to the chef for stepping outside of the box and putting together a great flavour combination.

I can’t vouch for the steak, but my partner said it was good. It was served with lentils and a Moroccan spice that I picked up, incidentally, the next day at a local shop that sells wonderful spice mixes (I also got a pretty straight up tandoori masala from the same place – no colouring, no MSG, or other garbage).

If you’re going to visit or stay in Salt Spring Island and want to make dinner reservations, I’d pick Salt Spring Wild Cider as my food destination over anything else.

The folks working there are super nice, but one thing I should mention is that there’s no table service.

You order and pay inside and then you get a little pager that buzzes when you’re food is ready.

It’s kind of nice, because you don’t have wait for your server to bring you the bill and all that jazz at the end of your meal.

You order what you want – if you want more, you go order it – and then put your dishes in the bussing tray after and walk to your car.

Return: Yes – I would, but I’m not sure I’m going to return to Salt Spring Island anytime soon.

Rating: 8/10