June 13th 2008: Ferry to Vancouver Island, Sooke Harbour House, and More

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Another shot, just in case the others didn't work out.	The day's menu. Because there were two choices for everything, between us we decided to try every dish.	Decent, hearty bread, and butter.	My really good glass of 2006 Pinot Gris from Blue Grouse winery in Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. We drove to the winery the next day to buy a bottle. Di Yin must've liked it as well because she kept sipping it, and she doesn't usually do that with wines.
"Crab and carrot soup with clams, bacon and chive oil." We think it needed pepper and also cream. It worked great, however, with buttered bread.	"Sooke Harbour House Salad: wild and cultivated organic greens with edible blossoms from our gardens, tossed in a lingonberry and summery savory vinaigrette." Doesn't it look like a pile of flowers? Other than the good dressing--I wish there was more-- and the appearance, there's nothing particularly commendable about the salad.	"Honey garlic glazed smoked salmon with broccoli, bok choy, radish and buckwheat noodles in a light miso broth with crispy garlic, pumpkinseeds and a mild chili oil." The salmon was good. Otherwise, Di Yin said that she's made a better noodle-miso-vegetable dish for breakfast, and I agree.	"Herb crusted squid with brioche, dried fruit terrine, shaved beets and fennel, sundried tomato, Montana cheese and sunflower seed pesto and a balsamic reduction." The fennel is top-left: potent. The paper-thin red sheets in the top-right are the beets. The brioche, at left, was buttery. The triangular sticky-looking thing at middle-left is the fruit compote: good. The white cylinders at middle-right are the squid tentacles. They were excellently cooked (tender, not rubbery) and nicely salted and oiled. The sunflower seed pesto, at bottom, was pleasing.
"Roasted pork tenderloin in a licorice tea pork broth with scallion ginger chive flower oil, steamed soya bean dumpling, wilted greens and carrots." In short, moist pork with skin, a good pork-tea broth, and a decent edamame dumpling.	"Grilled sablefish with plum Dijon mustard puree and a mint emulsion, potato fritters, rapini and cauliflower." The sablefish (afar) was very fresh. The greens and cauliflower (closer items) were respectable. The potato fritter (closest item) was light and very good.	The dessert menu.	"Three Garden Inspired Sorbets: green apple mint, yellow plum sweet woodruff, anjou pear black currant sweet cicely." Read that again; it's quite an interesting list. The green apple was good but I think the pear was the best.
Ditto, simply taken with a flash (and after eating a little).	"White chocolate parfait served with dark chocolate coffee cake and dark chocolate sauce." Wow, look at the fancy, intricate presentation! The cake was good, and not too coffee-y. The parfait (white cylindrical pyramid) was rich and creamy. Very creamy. It went very well with all that dark chocolate. When I initially ordered this, I wondered how chocolate and cream would go together. How could I have thought that? They went great!	The same dessert, simply taken from a different perspective and with a flash.	Complimentary desserts to end the meal: profiteroles flavored with lime rind, and dark chocolate squares with rum filling.