The sticky toffee pudding at Minnoz Restaurant is a new, citrus twist on an old English favourite. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

TRADITIONAL TWIST

Signature Dish: Minnoz Restaurant & Lounge’s sticky toffee pudding

Mar 18, 2022 | 4:39 PM

NANAIMO — It’s a dessert which leaves you wanting not quite another piece, but just one more bite.

The sticky toffee pudding at Minnoz Restaurant & Lounge in the Coast Bastion Hotel is a new spin on an old English favourite, combining classic date and toffee flavours with a citrus infusion.

A cake base is made up of cooked and blended dates folded into a vanilla cake mixture and baked in a water bath. The cake is draped in a traditional toffee sauce with a few little extra twists from executive chef Martin Collis.

“We make a fresh strawberry sauce and the other is a passionfruit coulis and then we have some whipped cream and we make an Old Fashioned whiskey ice cream with some Bear Face whiskey, Angostura bitters, orange and a vanilla base ice cream.”

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It’s the sauces and bright ice cream which provide the balance to what is traditionally a rich, sweet dish.

Scooping a spoonful of toffee sauce from the plate plays a trick with your brain as the first thing to hit your tongue is one of the citrus sauces plated underneath. It makes the dish a fun one to eat with Collis promising diners they’ll be left satisfied with their dessert but yearning for just one more mouthful.

“You’ve got something going on all the time and we put it with an adult ice cream. We just basically took all the sweetness out of it, it still has that sweet element but we’ve just tried to minimize it so you get the best of both worlds.”

A unique Old Fashioned ice cream could stand alone as a dessert on the menu with the creamy vanilla base boosted through flavours of citrus, bitters and quality whiskey.

Collis said the sticky toffee pudding is an excellent addition next to the Coast Hotel’s award winning Nanaimo bar cheesecake.

The recipe for the pudding itself comes from Collis’ mother.

Born and raised in England, Collis married a Canadian woman and the rest is history. He’s worked as a chef for over 30 years and recently joined the team at Minnoz.

“We’re a small team at the moment so it’s a small menu. We’ve got grills, we’ve got vegetarian and vegan options because there’s a lot more interesting raw food and healthier lifestyles now. We look at what people are selling for and as we move into spring the menu will get bigger.”

The focus for Collis moving into the summer months is connecting with more local growers and food producers.

“The more local we can get, the better. You can put a story to it, this pork chop comes from this farm, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and this is what we’re doing with it. People like to know where their food is from, especially if you’re out for dinner it just adds to it.”

Minnoz Restaurant & Lounge is open daily for breakfast between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., then again for dinner and drinks from 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

More on the restaurant, including their menu is available on their website.

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