Restaurant review: Taste the personal touch at Sabà Café and Bistro in Fort Langley
Credit to Author: Aleesha Harris| Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:00:44 +0000
Where: 23343 Mavis Ave., Unit 102, Langley, 778-545-0024. sabacafe.ca
Open: Tues. to Sun., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thurs. to Sat., happy hour 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., dinner 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
On a clear, cold weekday morning in Fort Langley, the brunch crowd was in full effect.
“We are quite busy, every day,” says Simone Hurwitz, chef and owner of the eatery, as well as The Rustic Gourmet catering company.
Sabà opened 18 months ago after more than a year of planning, designing, waiting for permits and installation, according to Hurwitz. It serves up coffee shop and bistro favourites, with a hint of flavours from around the world.
“I have travelled extensively and lived all over the world and these experiences are what have created my palate and vision for the space and the menu,” Hurwitz says.
“I love to learn from others and tuck ideas away in my brain and they show up unexpectedly when I am creating a dish.”
Hurwitz routinely relies on her travel experience to inspire the dishes she serves at Sabà — which she describes as “simple, vibrant, plentiful, quality, but most important, flavourful” — including a unique take on a charcuterie board, for breakfast.
“I first ate a charcuterie-style breakfast when travelling in Austria when I was in my early 20s. It was so new to me and such a delightful way to start the day,” Hurwitz says of her Breakfast Board ($18), which includes a farm-fresh egg, marinated tomato salad, assorted cheese and meat, tapenade, fresh organic greens, house-made jam and a few slices of toasted sourdough.
“For this dish, I love the idea of lingering and grazing slowly while in deep conversation with a good friend or indulging in a good book. And I love using local products on the board as we are so blessed in the Fraser Valley to have so much to choose from.”
One complaint: it could had used a slice or two more of bread to ensure every last bite of the tasty tapenade was scooped up.
The Breakfast Board at Sabà Café and Bistro.
It was Hurwitz’s experience of seeing the world that inspired the eatery’s opening.
“In Italy we would go to the piazza to meet our friends and neighbours to share a coffee or an aperitivo and conversation — a way to stay connected to each other,” Hurwitz says.
“In Canada, we struggled to find this, so we wanted to create a gathering place where all of these things could come together magically; a place where our neighbours have become our family; a place where you can stop in for a quick cappuccino and fresh pastry, a glass of wine and charcuterie board, or linger over a beautiful meal in the bistro.”
She hopes visitors find that at Sabà.
To stock her kitchen with fresh local flavours, Hurwitz sources ingredients from an ever-growing roster of local suppliers including Black Table Farm, Meadowfresh Dairy, Milner Farms, A Bread Affair bakery, Hills Foods, Rossdown Farms, 63 Acres Beef, A Rocha Farms, Roots and Wings Distillery, Township 7 Vineyard and Winery, Stoneboat Vineyards, and many others.
“It honestly is so crucial to the flavour of the food,” Hurwitz says of the focus on locally sourced ingredients.
“Eating food that is in season and grown with love is an imperative first step in creating a dish, then the person who is making it must be passionate and care about the process, as we cook all of our dishes from scratch and to order.”
Hurwitz admits she’d happily grow and raise all the ingredients on her own, if she could.
“I am very passionate about farm-to-table and sustainability,” she says. “If I could, I would grow all of our vegetables, make our own cheese from our own cows and raise our own meat for the bistro. But right now that is obviously not in the cards, so I try to promote as many local products as possible, knowing that it is a labour of love for the farmers, as well.”
The eatery’s Challah French Toast ($16) is another dish that boasts ties to Hurwitz’s personal story.
“Challah is deeply rooted in my Jewish heritage,” Hurwitz says of the kosher bread.
“Growing up in South Africa, I had a large family with lots of cousins and we would gather every Friday night for Shabbat dinner and say the blessings over the candles and the challah. When we lived in Italy, as a young mother, I tried to hold onto as much of my heritage as I could in a Catholic country, and having Shabbat dinner with my small family, all sitting around the table and lighting the candles and sharing my homemade challah was a tradition that I started when the girls were very little.”
In order to prepare the dish, which features several generous slices of house-made challah, along with warm berry compote, yogurt and maple syrup, Hurwitz taught her team of bakers how to make her version of the traditional bread.
“When it is baking we can all smell it throughout the café and bistro, and it always brings me joy,” she says.
“I think that the love that is put into each loaf, as well as the homemade compote we serve with it, really transfers joy to the customers as well.”
A selection of eats at the café in Sabà Café and Bistro.
House Made Granola ($12), which is served beside a big bowl of Greek yogurt accompanied by accoutrements including a petite pot of local honey was delicious.
“I love creating simple dishes with surprising and unexpected flavours, like the orange zest in the granola,” Hurwitz says. “It just adds to the enjoyment of the dish.”
When pressed to pick her favourite dish among the menus at Sabà (the eatery offers a different list for brunch, dinner and happy hour) Hurwitz had trouble picking just one.
“I honestly do not have one favourite dish,” she says. “As I am a child of many cultures, the fun for me is to create a collective of dishes, honouring the origins of each dish in order to feed our customers with emotions.
“For them to gather around the table to enjoy good food, good wine and good company. And, to create memories.”
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