salty goodness

Last night, me and Shar had dinner at the Salt Tasting Room, as part of the dine-out event that's happening throughout the city. Located in Blood Alley (it's not that bad, really), it's a small inconspicuous nook at the end of the alley, easily missed if you're not looking for the salt shaker flag above its door. Once inside, it's a busy hub where you can enjoy fine wine, artisan cheese and delicious deli meats paired with strange but yummy condiments (fig bread anyone?).

I had a glass of Elephant Island Crab Apple Wine 07 from Naramata, BC along with my dinner which was very nice and very unexpected and grown-up of me. Usually, I order cocktails. The wine tasted like fermented apple juice, sweet but also tart and smooth. I wouldn't mind having a bottle of that in my fridge. I ordered the Potato Leek Chowder garnished with Organic Olive Oil and the Salmon Pate with Cornichons as my appetizer. The chowder needed just a pinch of salt, but the salmon pate was delicious. For my entree, I chose the BC Plate: Wild Boar Salami with Rosemary paired with Piparras Peppers (Spain), Ash Camembert (from Salt Spring Island) with Marcona Almonds (Spain) and Fruilano Salami partnered with Quince. Dessert was Lemon Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce, which was wonderful. Light, fluffy, with a hint of lemon... loved it! Shar ordered the Chocolate Pate with Strawberry Compote, which was also good. The chocolate was so smooth and just melted on your tongue as you savoured it.

Potato and Leek Chowder garnished with Organic Olive Oil. The place is called Salt Tasting Room, but not a single salt shaker to be seen... interesting.

Salmon pate with cornichons. Superb! Tasted really good with the sourdough bread and the waitress kept refilling our basket, over and over again.

Fruilano Salami with Quince. I liked the fruity quince; it was paired nicely with the salami, which was a little salty. A small slice of sourdough smeared with Camembert, a slice of wild boar salami and topped with a little bit of quince = a lovely sandwich.

Ash Camembert with Marcona Almonds. Shar wanted a more pungent cheese (something like goat cheese or blue cheese), but I really liked the Camembert. The almonds were super yummy. Shar kept mentioning how much better they would be If they were chocolate covered. LOL!

Wild Boar Salami with Rosemary and Piparras Peppers. The pickled peppers went well with the meat and wasn't too spicy. I liked the wild boar salami, but couldn't really taste the rosemary in it.

Lemon Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce. Licked my spoon clean, it was that good.

Chocolate Pate with Strawberry Compote. Went down smooth.

I'm persuading my chef friend to have her birthday dinner at Salt. I think she'll love it. I know I did.

Sorry for the way the pictures turned out. It was dimly lit inside (to create that special ambiance, ya know!) and I didn't want to use flash. I was already getting looks from our neighbours. The tables were very close together. I could have reached over and grabbed a slice of olive bread. I really wanted to, it looked so good.