the branch restaurant rocks Food Day

My wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a spectacular meal at the branch restaurant in Kemptville, Ontario. From start to finish this meal was a celebration of the amazing local foods that are used at the branch every day of the week. The menu speaks for itself:

Warm green bean salad:
this week, we got green beans from our friends richard and ernie; we’ll present a warm salad with the beans, a honey-cider vinaigrette from jason and peggy’s bees and bill’s cider vinegar, shards of cheese from (the other) richard and sylie’s 4th wheel of tomme de gaston this year (just cut yesterday) and some crispy prosciutto hung last fall with nothing but tony’s pork, salt, and a handful of spices and herbs…

Grilled trout:
clearwater trout farm in spencerville raises wonderful rainbow trout; we’ll serve it grilled and crusted with a mix of peak season herbs from bill (also in an aioli) and painted with currant vinaigrette made with currants from debbie. it’s trout, we know, but in case it’s ‘perch’-ed on some of ernie’s roasted new potatoes (…a la carte, we’ll served it with some fresh veggies from harvest moon and rideau pines…)

Duck:
gary’s ducks also hail from spencerville (about 20 minutes down the 416), today we’re going to serve a whole duck breast, seared and rested, sliced and served rare and juicy, beside a creamy sweet corn pudding made with corn from a roadside stand here in town – then we’ll drizzle it with a savoury blueberry gastrique (with some blueberries from ernie’s neighbour in merrickville) and a side of kemptville ratatouille – featuring eggplant from the other colleen and some tomatoes, onions, peppers and zucchini from the world’s best little farmers’ market, our own kemptville kinsmen farmers’ market…the ratatouille is seasoned with our own ‘herbs de province’ with lavender from the garden out back…

Bread pudding:
for dessert we’ve got bread pudding made with aunt denise’s bread and cora’s eggs, served warm with two colours of raspberries from ernie’s neighbour, whipped cream and a drizzle of tim and colleen’s syrup (happy anniversary, friends…)”

So, that was the menu, copied here without permission from the restaurant (I hope there’s no copyright on these things)! For the sake of full disclosure, I’m the tim of tim and colleen’s maple syrup. The menu says it all – not only local and magnificent but these guys know the farmers, farms and food that they use whether it’s Food Day Canada or not.

Thanks Bruce, Nicole, Brent, Jenn and the entire gang at the branch for delivering big time and for you unwavering support for local foods and farmers.

The Branch Restaurant is one of about 300 restaurants that celebrate Food Day across Canada. Contact them at the number below to reserve a table.

The Branch Restaurant est l’un des 300 restaurants à travers tout le Canada qui participent au Journée des terroirs . Contactez The Branch Restaurant directement, au numéro ci-dessous, afin de faire votre réservation.

15 Clothier Street East, P.O. Box 1502
Kemptville, ON K0G 1J0
T: 613 258 3737

www.thebranchrestaurant.ca/

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This post was submitted by Tim Nason.