Solfeggio Foods is a farm to table restaurant that I found and immediately want to try almost everything on the menu. There are restaurants that serve healthy foods, then there are restaurants that serve creative, healing and artfully prepared food. Solfeggio is the latter.
The term farm to table means that Solfeggio sources completely organic and local-food focused cuisine. The food options include raw, vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options (and some local, free range, organic meat options). The food is holistically prepared – meaning guests can expect food that is not only full of flavour and good quality, but also nutritious.
The restaurant is owned by Olympian Kristi Richards and pro-skier Mark Abma. Their beliefs in holistic health, nutrition, sustainability and the environment are embedded into the ethos of the food, decor and philosophy of their restaurant which is likely why Solfeggio resonated so well with me.
The farm to table trend towards being conscious of the system that puts food on our plate is gaining in popularity. People want to know how their food has been conceived, grown and transported. Consumers are becoming more aware that our individual choices, including deciding where to eat, do make a difference. In this case, a decision to eat at Solfeggio supports the local economy in Pemberton, supports organic food production and shows other businesses what consumers want to spend their money on.
Solfeggio serves lunch and dinner and their menu also includes superfood smoothies, fresh juices, elixers, holistic cocktails, craft beers, BC organic wine and raw desserts. Customers can eat in, or take out.
For lunch, I enjoyed the special of the day – vegan black bean burger sliders with a chard wrap. One was served with cashew tzatziki and zucchini hummus and a slice of tomato, the other served with thyme horseradish and picked onions. It was a delicious combination of flavours that came together perfectly on my taste buds.
The corn and hakurei (Japanese turnip) soup was like nothing I had ever tasted before and definitely pleasantly surpassed my expectations of a corn soup.
When I saw the drink menu I wanted to try each and every one of them. The drinks – everything from the smoothies, juices, elixers and hot beverages are all are made with whole foods and spices and no refined sugar. Two drink menu items I was particularly excited to try were the changa chai (pictured below – house made almond milk, indian chia, chaga, honey) and mayan hot chocolate (house made almond milk, cacao, maca, cinnamon, coconut sugar, cayenne).
Changa is a mushroom that is an antioxidant with many other powerful health promoting properties – but don’t worry, you can’t taste mushrooms in the drink, just the warm chai goodness. Using homemade almond milk means that there is no artificial preservatives in the nut milk, which means healthier for us. And a slightly spicy chocolate cinnamon bevy? Sign me up! Maca is a root that is usually ground into a powder that, when consumed, is hormone balancing and full of minerals. Healthy and tasty.
By good fortune I had the opportunity to go back for dinner a few days later. The homemade Kombucha Collins with Pemberton Distillery Gin is a tasty take on the classic drink and I highly recommend it. It’s refreshing (literally and figuratively) to have a cocktail made without pop, which is sugar laden and unhealthy, and instead replaced with a hydrating and probiotic rich alternative.
For my dinner main, I had a kelp noodle bowl with veggies and tempeh. They also have a vegan poutine on the menu. Vegan. Poutine. You heard me. I don’t know about you, but that gets me excited.
Pemberton is only 20 minutes north of Whistler and is perfect for a weekend getaway. Eat at Solfeggio, taste spirits at the Distillery, and enjoy time in nature with a hike to Nairn Falls. If you visit September 12 – 14, 2014, check out the H Om Grown Festival for a weekend of yoga and whole food nutrition workshops, music, nature meditations, educational talks and an outdoor market.
Follow Channels and Categories