A Shout Out To Farbs Kitchen & Wine Bar

For some reason my thoughts turned to Farbs Kitchen & Wine Bar this morning. I have been once and the experience was extremely positive. I don't hear much buzz about it compared to other places in town that I consider of equal calibre and I decided I needed to do a shout out to Farbs and spread the good word.

Here are a few words that I jotted down from our experience back on that cold Wednesday evening in November.

Farbs Kitchen on Beechwood was on our 'Must Try' list and we did the deed last night. Although there wasn't much of a crowd (I always like a bit of bustle to get me in the going out mood), it was still a nice evening.

I decided to do 3 appetizers and my partner went for a main. I loved the homemade onion herb bread with homemade butter. I didn't catch the name of the amuse-bouche but I think it was a rabbit meatloaf. Just a mouth size cube and it too was delicious.

My appetizers were:
a) the soup of the day - potato and garlic with truffle oil
b) the fish cake (crispy halibut cake, Jerusalem artichoke – cauliflower puree, wilted greens and fried capers)
c) the Asian salad (Crazy Dave's Asian Greens - freshly picked, with crispy shallots, roasted peanuts, Thai spiced vinaigrette, pickled ginger, and black sesame seeds).

All perfectly prepared and a great balance of flavours. I was just wowed at how fresh (and unusual) the greens were in my salad.

My partner's main was the duck confit which came with lima bean cassoulet, cherry tomatoes, and wilted greens. He was pretty happy. And he enjoyed his duck with a Church Key beer. How do you get better than that. It was his first time experiencing Church Key beer in Ottawa and he said it probably beats Beau's. High praise indeed! He has been to Campbellford to the Church Key brewery and this just made those good memories come back. What a find.

We unfortunately had no room for dessert but they presented two wonderful homemade truffles to finish. What a delight to have such a solid and complete experience with everything done so well. I hope if you try it, you too will have the same WOW. It is definitely a restaurant worthy of a spot on the Places to Watch list.

Omnivore's Ottawa blogged about their opening in December 2008. Click here to read a bit more about the owner/chef, Michael Farber.

Ottawa XPress also spoke well of them in their October 2009 review.

Maybe it is time to give them a try! They would happily welcome you to their upcoming Mother's Day brunch. I know I want to go back.

Farbs Kitchen & Wine Bar
18 Beechwood Avenue
613-744-6509