Roast, Downtown Victoria

Unexpectedly, I won a $30 voucher for Roast courtesy of the Zone FM and Pol's Burger club.  I have no idea when I entered this draw, but here was a gift card, loaded with money to spend on food.  Sweet.  So after watching the very silly and very amusing WEREWOLF improv show at the Intrepid, myself and the Brunette of my Acquaintance headed over to the Victoria Public Market.  This is a space that always seems under busy.  It some excellent food vendors.  The pie shop (Victoria Pie Co) is wonderful and makes pies (both proper savoury pies and fruit pies) that are sublime.

But on the other hand, it has over-priced Olive Oil (Olive the Senses), a shop whose business must be doing well, but I don't get why.  In fact, most things in the market seem over priced for what you get, but the shops seem to be staying open.

So Roast.  They specialize in serving up roasted meats in sandwiches or salads, to go.  They have large slabs of meat on display, all roasted and ready to carve. Huge triangles of pig fat, all crisped up, just like a massive pork scratching.  And a large rack of rotisserie chicken, turning and cooking just so.

For $13, we got a fresh roasted chicken, straight out of the oven.  The skin was crispy, and the smell of rosemary and lemon wafted over us briefly before the bird was sealed into a plastic to-go bag.  It was a no-brainer for me.  Half a pound of beef, or roasted chicken.  As previous readers will note, I love chicken in all its forms.  Oh yes, it was local and ethically raised. The Brunette checked.

We added in a hand tossed salad.  That consists of a big tray of leaves, a scoop of meat and some extras.  We decided on lettuce leaves, rare beef cubes, black quinoa, pumpkin seeds, cucumber and tomato mixture.  Unsure what to dress it with, we asked for some advice.  The gent behind the counter suggested the simple Italian.

Good call by him, as I would have ruined it with a garlicky Ceasar topping.  Instead we had this lovely light, tasty salad, that mingled the flavours well, and kept its crunch.  The meat in the salad was pretty secondary to the effect.  Though it was nice and all. If I ordered from there again I'd not bother with the protein additions.

The roast chicken we paired with some home cooked potatoes and a big baguette from the French Oven.  Such beautifully light bread.  The chicken was crispy and moist, with the rosemary coming through, but not obscuring the meat.  There's probably four good servings on the bird. Maybe more if you stretch it out a bit more.  A bit more than a Thrifty's fresh roasted bird, but tastier too.

We could have topped up the meal with meatballs, or sauces.  They do a line of sandwiches as well with fresh roasted meats.  But this set up did us well.  $25 was pretty good value. Not outstanding bargain of the week, but worth it for a good quality of food.




We did have dessert with a cherry and custard brioche from the French Oven Bakery, which we paired with a Persian ice cream from Kid Sister.  Both were fantastic, with the Brunette still lyrcial about the lightness and taste of the brioche twenty-four hours later.  I think it fair made her day.