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If you're looking for a drive in the country, The Pommeraie
Bistro at the Merridale Cidery is among your better destination choices.
Not only do you get a good meal, but you get to drink yummy cider and
frolic around the orchard. This is agri-tourism.
They've got a pretty tight ship sailing the great commercial sea -
almost like a tiny cider-fuelled Disneyland. They've got the cidery
tours, a gift shop, a restaurant, the orchards and these peculiar
fairy-themed dioramas. That said, bottom line, the food and restaurant
was above average.
The restaurant is nestled in the orchard, in a new building with
atrium like ceilings, a large interior fire place and a wraparound
veranda. They serve their own products, including a flight of six
ciders for six dollars, as well as a small selection of wines, with good
local representation.
With a reasonably lengthy menu, their attention to local products is
the highlight, but I was similarly impressed by their multiple and
innovative vegetarian selections. This is one of the best
vegetarian-friendly menus I've ever seen.
We started with the Cowichan Valley Ploughman's Platter ($18). Split
between four people, this was the perfect lunchtime starter. Everything
on the plate was local, except for some prosciutto (which kinda made me
wonder, why they had tarnished the theme with the Italian import). A
selection of salami, sausage, pickles, liver pate, chutney among other
things, it was a really good sampler. I thought they could have spiffed
up the presentation a bit (it looked good, but it could have looked
awesome) and a couple of the items lacked a little intensity of flavour,
but all in all it was a tasty and fun dish.
For our mains, I had the Pulled Pork and Apple Crepes ($13), Patty
had the Cassoulet ($13), my sister-in-law Krista had the Pizza Basquaise
($12) and Ryan had the special of the day - a lentil and grilled
vegetable salad ($10).
My crepes were good, I was able to appreciate the distinct flavour of
the filling and I liked the creamy, smoked mozzarella topping. While not
entirely traditional, Patty's Cassoulet, was among the better
interpretations of the dish I've seen and was another good example of
local product use. I have no idea how authentically Basque-style
Krista's pizza was, but the combination of pulled pork, caramelised
onion and soft cheese, was light, but satisfying. Ryan's salad was
a winner - simple, but the ingredients were painfully fresh.
While the service was good, these are your fine dinning servers of
the future - i.e. kids. No big deal, but it is a limiting factor.
Similarly, the space is nice, but needs to get broken in a bit, it feels
new and a little sterile. While the glassware they use is attractive and
is provided by a local artisan, I didn't really enjoy drinking out of
it. For example, the glasses used for the flights are beautiful, but are
made from coloured glass, a bit of a problem when you're looking to
compare qualities like colour and clarity. My final poke - the signage
for the toilets is labelled 'water closet,' besides being pretentious
(Europeans at least abbreviate it, since the term only refers to a
flushing toilet, in contrast to a pit toilet - it's not as if Merridale
gives you the choice of a non-flushing toilet), I can only imagine how
many of their guests find it confusing.
For the quality of the food, I was delighted by the value pricing of
the menu. It's always a concern when you go to either a destination or
tourist-oriented restaurants, that you're going to get gouged, but this
was not the case. If you're looking for an afternoon drive or your
heading up the Malahat, the Pommeraie is a restaurant worth visiting.
Reviewed June 26, 2006
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