After a less than stellar experience at Cafe Brio, a recommendations, and bad "small plates" at the Tapas Bar I was a little worried about another recommendation for a small plate/sharing concept place. Great sharing food with a good environment would exactly match the above tagline of 'social dining'.
Well, apart from one problem, the short version is the Superior is indeed superior, the food is excellent, the atmosphere conducive to a relaxed discussion and the beer list also meets my standards of being worthwhile.
We got there just around 7pm, and the place was already full, so we squeezed onto the end of the bar. Which isn't a problem for me, I like eating at the bar, as there's something going on there, and you can see whats on offer. Plus if the staff are friendly, you get quick service.
So we settled in, and ordered drinks while looking at the menu. Which is a single page divided into salads, snacks, plates, vegetables and flatbreads, with the dessert tucked into the bottom. A lot things are twists on bar standards, but which promised to show something quite difference. For instance, ox tail poutine, root chips and a grilled ceasar. I was particularly drawn to the battered oysters in a Salt Spring Heather Ale batter, but not knowing how great the food would be, I passed.. I've had oysters destroyed this way, but the thought of the botanical heather flavour of the beer batter is tempting.
I ordered a bottle of Phillips Double Dragon, a great Imperial Red Ale from Victoria. The rest of the choices were mostly Phillips bottles or taps, with one or two from Beacon and some imports (nothing exciting if you ever drunk in any bar in Europe though). Imperial means they've mad it along the lines of Imperial Stouts (though not a stout at all)... extra hops, more fermentable grains, longer conditioning for a great, rich flavour.
My friend enjoyed the Twisted Tree Red, but I'm afraid what I know about wine is minimal, so I can't describe anything more than the colour was indeed red.
Food arrived. The chickpea fritters were probably the best thing I have ever tasted mad from Chickpeas. I've had awesome Hummus, and chickpea pakoras that made me seriously consider vegetarianism (the lamb biryani that followed cured that idea), but these were fluffy, yet substantial, with a warm earthy flavour, and lovely crispy outside that reminded me of the fairground-fresh donuts.
My friends had gone for the Spinach Salad, with proscuitto ham, feta cheese and balasmic reduction. The Balsamic vinegar had gone sweet and this mixed well with the cheese, which was sharp AND creamy. I'm not a fan of spinach on it's own, but whatever they'd done, the leaves had lost the slightly waxy feel I can't stand.
Then came the wings. I ordered wings. There wasn't a TV in the place, no sport was on, but I ordered the wings. These were Korean sweet and spicy wings. These were a king among wings. The meat was succulent, the spice aggressive, yet not overpowering. It did remind me a little of Kimchee. But that might have been the name of the wings that recalled that memory.
Beer finished, I went for the Phillips IPA and waited for deserts. Someone had mentioned that Phillips had changed their recipe for the IPA, so I wanted to try it. And it has changed, there's a nasty aftertaste that catches the back of your throat. Ugh.
So, dessert. I went for the rice pudding. This came a 3 inch round pile with a pretty smear of raspberry 'gel' and a marscapone/white chocolate scoop. Rich, but the raspberry clean the palate and it was the end to an excellent meal. Except my friend let me try the ginger and stout cake. With salted caramel ice cream. The cake was moist, but not much stout in there. But tasty. But hold on...the salted-caramel ice cream was fantastic. Sweet, but creamy, but salty. I couldn't eat much, but I was left with the desire to try and make my own. Or get someone to make me some. Please?
So the meal finished, there was still a beer and a glass of wine to finish. The place was still busy... it's the inside of an old church (though looks like the inside of a mid-Oxfordshire barn conversion to me), and perfect for sitting around and catching up. The acoustics don't make the other conversations drown yours out, and there's a relaxed efficancy about the staff.
Then the jazz band came on. There's a comedy cliche about jazz, that it's smug and a-rhythmic and dissappears up it's own fundament. This is possibly unfair, but given the right mood, I'll let some of the more blues-inspired jazz wash over me, or tap along to 'Kind of Blue'. The trio on this night however were the cliche. The music noodled on, occasionally promising to stop, but never actually doing so. After 7.2 minutes of this, the conversation had lost it's rhythm, so we settled up to leave.
Still, I did get to admire outside the shoe tree... 400 pairs of trainers chucked over a dead tree in the patio garden. It looked good in the fading evening sun.
Will go back, but will check what the entertainment is next time...
Final Bill :
Spinach Salad - $11
Korean Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings - $13
Chickpea Fritters - $6
Rice Pudding - $9
Stout and Candied Ginger Cake - $8
Phillips IPA - $5.50
Phillips Double Dragon - $9
2 glasses Twisted Tree - $8 each
Location : 106, Superior Street, Victoria, BC
Telephone : (250)-380-9515
Website : http://www.thesuperior.ca/
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