An unexpected oasis…

Last evening while eating dinner and enjoying a bottle of Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Riesling with a couple of gently seasoned grilled Atlantic salmon steaks I turned to Sheryl and asked if she felt like going for a drive Saturday?

Instantly an assumption was made that I had an ulterior motive. Not the case. Not really. Although one can hardly blame her for thinking something was amiss given my history.

A few weeks earlier, I had driven north to the wonderful village of Haliburton for an initial meet and greet with the Managing Editor of the local newspaper, Martha Perkins. We spoke for a while, exchanging ideas and anecdotes. I found myself looking out of her office window at Head Lake. The newspaper’s office is across the street from this lake which is surrounded by trees. Thick forests. Quite the National Geographic setting. Due to the wet summer we’ve been experiencing everything looked quite green and radiant.

It was on the drive home I started thinking more about our conversation and specifically about the surrounding environment. In many ways I was reminded of parts of Scotland – a country I had no idea how much I missed until I returned in November 2005, some 30 years after I left.

As usual, I digress.

Martha had kindly given me some magazines her media group had recently published plus that week’s edition of her paper. I had glanced through all this material that evening but only really got down to reading it a few nights ago. An insert in the paper caught my eye. It was a flyer/menu for a restaurant called SummerKiss. OK, so it was just a menu… or so I thought. Considering the restaurant’s location, Moore Falls (truly a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village); the scope of the menu itself was quite surprising. Sure, there were the usual suspects of country “fine dining” – burgers, ribs, chicken wings et al. But some things really caught my eye. Steamed mussels in a chili coconut sauce. Grilled squid salad with lime, coriander and onion served on pea shoots and fresh bamboo shoots. Salmon Filo with a saffron cream sauce. Not what one would expect of a restaurant in this part of the country and almost off the beaten track.

But I was intrigued.

So late this morning, we headed out on an adventure. I decided to use the GPS to get us to Haliburton first. The roads we travelled were not the same ones I had taken weeks before. GPS can do that to you sometimes. No matter. We were going for a drive anyway. Sheryl and I had pleasant meaningless chatter on the way there, pointing out views and vistas as we drove.

To get to where we wanted to be, Moore Falls, we had to go north to go south. Stay with me. Eventually it all comes together. It was a beautiful day for a drive. The temperature was in the low 80’s; there was a breeze and a fair bit of humidity. As I said before, if you blink… we actually did drive past this place. Hard to fathom since it is an orange and yellow building with green doors. Believe it or not, the colour scheme actually works in an awkward twisted way.

TLATO was skeptical upon seeing the building. She had seen the menu before so figured she’d give it a chance. And she was hungry. At this point, we’d been driving for three hours or so, had been drinking water and passing by many lakes. Nature was calling. Screaming actually. Going in through the double green doors, we looked around and surprise, the two main rooms looked pretty good. Washrooms are a pretty good test of any establishment. She headed one way, me the other. Surprise number two. The washroom, although small, was what you might expect to find in some higher-end big city restaurant. And they were clean. We decided to eat a late lunch on the patio overlooking Moore Lake. Surprise number three. The patio furniture was not only comfortable, it was clean. Spotless.

Our ice cold beers arrived. We poured them into ice cold glasses. Stainless steel flatware and a black linen napkin were placed in front of us as we poured over the eclectic menu.

We shared an appetizer. Calamari. OK, to some, typical bar food. The menu said Panko breaded. They were. And tender and piping hot, too. Served with a deliciously sneaky chili lime dip. OK so far. Our server when asked, volunteered this was the second season here. On Highway 35, south of Minden in beautiful downtown Moore falls – a place my GPS had no record. Things were apparently going well and the season was a success. Our entrees arrived; Mango Chicken and Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp. The surprises continued to come. The food was very good and very well presented.

Lunch was a success.

As the heading says, truly an oasis. In the land of roadside chip trucks and fresh fruit and vegetable stands, there are sometimes some very pleasant surprises. And truly, you cannot judge a book by its cover – or its location… or the colour of the building… or the colour of the doors.

The drive home was more straightforward and without event. Almost anti-climatic. We’ll make a point of returning one day soon with friends.