Market Place Cafe

It was OK — they do tapas and the food wasn’t bad — it just didn’t blow me away, and the service was slow even though the restaurant wasn’t packed. I think they were also out of one of their feature dishes — which bummed me out.

This restaurant has now become our favorite restaurant on Salt Spring Island.
My son was leery about trying the French onion soup gratineed with Jalapeño Jack and Gruyère cheese, but he was hooked after the first spoonful.
My husband and I had the local mussels in Spanish sherry and cream sauce with housemade spicy maple mustard and chorizo sausage. These mussels were the best I’ve ever tasted, and the broth from the mussels and the sauce was simply to die for!
For my main course, I had the Basque fisherman’s stew with yellow fin tuna, Spanish chorizo, sea scallops and local mussels in a roasted tomato, white wine and cider broth with sweet smoked paprika and cracked baby potatoes. The seafood was cooked perfectly in this hearty, toothsome stew.
My son really enjoyed his SSI Shepherd’s pie with local lamb, leeks, peas, carrots and pearl onions under a blanket of mashed potato. I couldn’t resist tasting his dish! Such a delightful combination of flavors…
My husband ordered the wild Sockeye salmon fillet with strawberry mango salsa on top of transparent (mung bean) noodles. The sweetness and acidity of the salsa complimented the salmon beautifully (and the salmon was slightly underdone to bring out its juiciness and flavor; the way my husband and I like our fish to be cooked). The twist to this dish were the transparent noodles – the kitchen added an Asian touch by tossing the noodles in a dash of sesame oil.
Vanilla crème brûlée: my son really loved this!
Lemon meringue pie with pistachio-​graham cracker crust: the unexpected star of the dessert menu when the goat’s milk ice cream failed to deliver (literally). Their supplier’s (of this particular ice cream) freezer had broken down that day, so this was their last minute addition. The lemon filling was phenomenal (not too tart or too sweet).
Overall, I highly recommend this restaurant. They also have small plates (tapas style) on the menu for those who want to sample a bit of everything. Special tasting menu nights were also advertised, but unfortunately, we had to to return to the mainland the next day…

Went for lunch. Great food and great service from Alex. Worth going to

We stumbled on this seemingly out-​of-​the-​way little restaurant only because of an ad we saw. I had a special of clams prepared in a fragrant broth with chorizo added for a surprisingly flavorful but light fare. My dinner mate had a salmon burger — a salmon fillet sandwich, really. Served with a green salad made of wildly fresh local greens topped by a light vinagrette. Good service too. Recommend that you try it.