Mission Hill Family Estate’s Terrace Restaurant – one of Canada’s most acclaimed winery restaurants – opens for the season on May 7. An al fresco oasis overlooking sweeping views of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards that extend toward the shores of Okanagan Lake, its idyllic locale is a reflection of Executive Chef Patrick Gayler’s ever-changing lunch and dinner menus, which are built upon the core tenets of locality, seasonality, simplicity and resourcefulness. In fact, many of the ingredients that guests enjoy as part of their meal at Terrace – from fruits and vegetables to proteins and honey – are sourced from the estate’s own grounds.
Every dish is made to be paired with one or more of Mission Hill’s award-winning wines. Better still, Terrace frequently offers diners an early opportunity to experience new releases from the estate’s cellars.
Terrace Restaurant reopens for the 2022 season on Saturday, May 7 (Mother’s Day weekend). Hours are noon to 3pm for lunch, and 5pm to 9pm for dinner. These hours will be extended beginning in June.
“The progressive menu and pairing work we’ve done with the winemaking team here is really fantastic,” enthuses Chef Gayler. “Not many chefs get the opportunity to take two full days with our head winemaker and wine educator – along with more than 20 different vintages and varietals of our wines – when putting together menus for the spring.”
Chef Gayler excitedly notes that the season’s menus will include, among many other local and seasonal ingredients, estate-grown lemongrass, garlic scapes and coriander seeds, as well as the kitchen’s own verjus (a vinegar made from the juice of unripe grapes), which Chef hopes will take the place of lemons – an imported, less sustainable product – all season long.
Highlights of the May lunch menu include sidestripe shrimp poached with Van Isle seaweed; North Valley chicken with morel mushrooms and lovage; bison rib-eye aged on lavender and chamomile; and roasted Okanagan asparagus and tarragon, among many other delicious and inventive dishes.
For more information and to book experiences, please visit: missionhillwinery.com/tastings-experiences.
