Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a warm sunny day in a tranquil garden. A gentle breeze blows the fragrance of ripe blossom across your face and wholesome aromas of fresh bread, sun warmed spices and lemony freshness tickle your nose. As you open your eyes, two smiling faces greet you and it is as if you’ve been transported to a magical kingdom where food, flavour and friendship mingle amongst playful garden pathways. Give yourself a little pinch…ouch…you are not dreaming and yet you are still sitting in this delightful garden with artfully presented, flavourful and nourishing food sitting in front of you. Welcome to Nourish Garden Bistro!
Caprina and I meet up with Lucas and Noah after their busy morning on the road delivering Get Fresh Guides and visiting the ICC Farm Market. The sheltered, sun dappled courtyard patio is the perfect place to be on a cooking hot day. We start our lunch off with a vintage style tea cup filled with Sun Tea - gently flavoured green tea with lemon that has been brewed with the power of the sun.
Sun Tea - brewed with the power of the sun
Hayley fills us in the daily specials and we squabble over who will try what. Noah and Lucas square off over the Quist Farm BBQ Beef Burger. Lucas insists it would only be sensible for him to carry on with his local Burger theme (Bistro Cache and Dockside Grill have been sampled and fully enjoyed thus far). While we further debate our lunch orders, Dominique delivers small bowls of Chilled White Bean and Cauliflower Soup as a starter. Did I mention that it was a REALLY hot day??? Well, this soup was just perfect… so creamy with a delicate herb and sweet flavour.
Chilled White Bean and Cauliflower Soup
Noah orders the Bubby Chicken Wrap – curried yogurt chicken, roasted yam mash, crunchy veggies in a fragrant roti. The roti is so fresh and flavouful and made in-house. In fact, all the grain-based, baked goods are created right here at Nourish by Stephanie.
Bubby's Chicken Wrap
The rye bread used for my Garden Inspired Sandwich was simply amazing! The bread tasted really alive, not like many of the “dead-breads” I often end up tossing to the side of my plate. I must admit that I am a total bread snob. I just don’t see the point of eating something unless it is totally fresh and has some life giving force. This bread definitely met these criteria and was an excellent compliment to the housemade Dijon, crisp apple and goat’s cheese.
Note: this same yummy bread is available for retail… so call or check online to find out more!
Garden Inspired Veggie Sandwich
Caprina chooses the daily salad special for her lighter lunch. It is a mountain of fresh, garden greens and toasted almonds finished off with a Nasturium flower. Lovely and fresh with as many greens sourced from their Glendale Garden veggie plot as possible. When the girls aren’t foraging in their garden plot they source fresh ingredients from local sources such as: Sun Wing greenhouses, Sun Trio Farm, The Root Cellar, Quist Farms, Island Farmhouse Poultry and the Red Barn Market.
The Nourish Story
Hayley, Dominique and Stephanie care a great deal about providing their guests with nourishing foods that are full of healthful life. They prepare everything from scratch so they can be sure they are offering the highest quality, most natural foods. This all makes perfect sense when we chat about the story behind this unique bistro.
It seems the stars aligned and have blessed the girls of Nourish with small miracles every day after embarking on this adventure. Acting on faith and an instinct that it was time to leave the busy downtown restaurant scene, Hayley began searching out a space for her growing ‘holistic nutrition and catering’ services. A big part of her dream when leaving the bustling metropolis was to work in a garden and learn to grow vegetables. This desire led Hayley to volunteer at Glendale Gardens. One day, while working around the gardens, Hayley noticed that the little garden cafe was now closed, so she inquired to the director about the space. Not only was he open to her “using” the commercial kitchen space, but also enthusiastically encouraged her to take it over and create a new garden bistro. It only made sense for Glendale to be able to serve fresh and delicious foods to all their volunteers and guests.
Nourish Garden Bistro is so many wonderful things wrapped up into a charming, thoughtfully decorated and comfortable haven. In addition to the fresh meals served Wednesday through Sunday from 10 – 4pm, the option for healthfully prepared meal delivery (or pick-up) service is still available from the new space.
Community Dinners
Plus… keep a look out for their new Community Dinners, where Nourish will host small groups of 20 for intimate meals centered around a feature chef, product or theme. Sticking to the belief that food is one of the best ways to bring people together, these dinners are sure to be a huge success.
The very first dinner will take place on August 22 at 7:30 pm. The menu will showcase the harvest from their own Glendale Garden veggie patch. Book really soon as seats are limited. Tickets are $35 and wine will be available for purchase.
Local! Wholesome! Yummy!
Nourish Garden Bistro is located at Glendale Gardens at 505 Quayle Road. Phone: 250.588.2405 or email: eatwell (at) nourishinsight (dot) com
