Well, folks, it's not the biggest city in the world, and it's not in Canada's most popular province, but, well, we ate here, we dined here, and we were served the best meal (arguably, but not by much) of the trip so far.
Willow on Wascana is a small restaurant with a wonderful view -- and a mission. It's to use Saskatchewan products in as many places as possible on the menu and serve as many grand Canadian wines as they can find. With help from our servers, Sharon and Scott, we avoided the hen party inside the glass walled building for a table on the verandah, overlooking the Wascana--a man-made lake on a stream, because all capitals must have water--and the provincial legislature, a turn of the last century wedding cake of beaux-art architecture and imperial whipped cream.
Outside we went through the menu with a fine tooth comb, and examined the wine list equally. Our choices: starters of smoked steelhead trout with salad with raspberry and pecan dressing for John, pickerel pierogies for Ben. Both were exquisite. Then to the mains: lamb breast stuffed with spinach and cream cheese with mint couscous and pickled red new growth kale for John and a grilled steelhead trout mountain with potatoes in a tower (vertical is over, but it looked good), for Ben. Each was topped with a fresh garlic chive flower.The tastes were fabulous. All the ingredients as far as possible are local Saskatchewan, drawn from local growers in the valleys and fields around Regina.
Then to make it even better, the best red of the trip. A Meritage, Qwam Qwmt 2005 from NK-Mip Cellar in British Columbia, the only Canadian winery developed by a First Nation. Mmmmm... it held up to everthing with aplomb. The tastes were just exquisite. We hope to buy more in Toronto; the restaurant sold us their last bottle.
As we watched the sun go down at 10:00PM over the Wascana, listening to the honks of the geese, and the chatter of the cranes and pelicans, we can say it doesn't get much better.
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