Early 2023 best food and drink memories

We thought it might be useful to offer a few of the top tastes from around Ottawa the last few months. A “savoury summary” if you like. Let's jump in (in no particular order) and revisit some of the more memorable moments from the first months of 2023.

Sobreo

Sobreo is the creation of former Canadian Olympian Kirk Reynolds. It’s a smart and delicious non-alcoholic drink for mixing with or without spirits. Each of the six recipes contain 30 different botanicals including some with functional mushrooms such as chaga and reishi.

It’s sweet but is safe for people with sugar issues as it gets its sweetness from vegetable glycerin. Not a single artificial component in these products.

Sobreo is available at Kynota, the non-alcoholic specialty store on Bank Street and you can read the full members only story here.

Poa Tiki shrimp balls

Poa Tiki Bar is a fun fantasy of a place on Dalhousie with terrific fruity cocktails. It’s a lovely bar in which to escape an Ottawa winter, but not only the drinks and the genial service are the draw. I can strongly recommend their bar food as it’s better than most places in the ByWard.

Especially memorable are the shrimp balls where a large “sharing” bowl would be just enough for me. Without hesitation I will also direct you to the Korean wings. You’re not likely to taste a more flavourful and perfectly cooked version. There’s definitely value for money here.

You can read the members only story here.

Cantina Gia Cacio e pepe pasta

Pasta may be on the list of almost everyone as an ultimate comfort food.

I’m fortunate to have grown up surrounded by Italian friends and families in my youth and I received tremendous exposure to this cuisine. Therefore you can understand getting a little bit “picky” about classic Italian fare when my education was so fundamentally traditional.

So it’s almost a bit of a homecoming to discover the pasta at Cantina Gia. House-made noodles of such quality that you’ll never again want to eat pasta out of the box.

A pasta as simple as caccio e pepe (pecorino and black pepper) is so well executed that the experience leaves you almost without words.

You can read the story here.

Chili Chili Clams

Chili Chili has some of the more electrifying traditional and fiery Chinese food in Ottawa.

This dish of vermicelli, enoki mushrooms and clams, is one I’ve thought of most often. Its heat comes from Sichuan pepper and you will be mopping your forehead yet the flavours shine through and it’s an addictive affair. This authentic and spicy cooking may not be for everyone, but it is great Chinese cuisine for you to discover.

The complete review is available here.

Roku gin

Roku is an outstanding Japanese gin made with six Japanese botanicals harvested over 4 seasons.

You can both feel and taste the care that goes into this beautifully crafted sipping gin. Yes I do recommend you try this as you would a fine whisky. Of course it also makes a lovely gin and tonic or a more delicate Negroni. Better still try it in a classic cocktail such as the Aviation which dates back to the prohibition era.

While Roku is a general list item, check the LCBO website for stores that carry it.

Baklawa King baklawa

Ottawa has experienced fine Lebanese and Middle Eastern fare of all sorts since as far back as the 1960s, if not earlier.

A wonderful and simultaneously terrible staple is baklawa. Finely rolled or cut wheat pastry is brushed in butter, filled with perfectly toasted nuts of all kinds, baked and then sweetened with sugar syrup. I largely stay away because for me, sweet roasted nuts are Kryptonite. I feel a little helpless.

Then Baklawa King arrived on the Merivale strip and I needed to make the sacrifice for our readers.

What keeps the quality so exceptional is the high turnover of products, the roast level and quality of the nuts and the humidity control. Everything is always perfectly crisp and not soggy when you get it home.

From my visits I also believe they have the largest variety of baklawa in Ottawa and if, like me, you have a weakness for the stuff, Baklawa King is your first stop.