Tap: Surrey’s Finest

OK, as a Surrey-girl-turned-Seattleite, I can hear the groans now: “tap Surrey’s finest.” But I’m not trying to create some crass joke, here, dear hedonists. Rather, I’m here to tell you about what is currently my fav fine dining restaurant in Surrey, B.C.

The restaurant: Tap Restaurant in Surrey, B.C. Located in the South Surrey Town Centre of the City of Surrey, Tap is, quite simply, fabulous. (Your Hedonista first dined there in June of 2010 at a family celebration dinner.)

With a lunch menu that ranges $5 to $25 in price to a dinner menu that ranges price-wise about the same – $5 to $35 – this fine dining is affordable. Tap also has decent wine list that is truly global in scope, complete with a healthy selection of B.C. wines. Says Executive Chef and co-owner Alistair Veen: “I like banging the B.C. drum as much as possible.” But there  are also wines from Australia, Chile, Italy, France, Oregon, and California. There’s even an ‘08 Chardonnay from Tasmania currently on the wine list, at $240 a bottle. Wines by the glass ($8-$10), as well as half bottles ($30) and full bottles ($40-$800) are all available. Their wine philosophy over at Tap: “Wine should not be intimidating.” (I couldn’t agree more.)

Tap Restaurant seats 42 inside its rustic-chic yellow and red interior that’s bedecked with local artwork that changes up every few months or so and another 30 on the patio when the weather is good. Approximately 6 years old, it opened in early 2006, around March or so.

Another six months later, in August of 2006, Alistair Veen – today the Executive Chef and co-owner with Les Pereira – joined Tap. When I first met him back in the summer of 2010, he’d informed me that he was “General Manager, Head Chef, and Janitor.” For the past two to three years, he’s also been a partner in this business. His background? Chemical engineering, which dovetailed into the culinary arts with ease. He’s also had sommelier training. On top of that, he’s been cooking since the age of 15 years, and paid his way through school by working at Earls. Alistair worked in Vancouver’s culinary scene for a dozen years before calling Tap home.

Originally planned to be  tapas-style bar, Tap’s reason for being is simple – contemporary cuisine; fine dining; food without pretentiousness. They do all the locavore-lovin’: use local growers, heirloom potatoes and tomatoes, conduct the produce shopping by hand, and use locally-based partners as much as possible.

The food and wine pairings were well done (we went with our server’s suggestions): with the rabbit cannelloni was paired a Black Widow 2008 Oasis, which is a blend of Schönburger, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris from B.C.’s Naramata Bench; with the rib eye, a 2007 J. Lohr Estates Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon from California.

Tap Restaurant is open Tuesdays through Saturdays for lunch and dinner, from 11:30 a.m. until close. Reservations are recommended; they even offer gift cards.

So heed this hedonist and try Tap the next time you’re in Surrey. For, as Alistair informed me, “You don’t have to go downtown for good food.”

As far as Tap Restaurant is concerned, I couldn’t agree more.

Note: In order to comply with FTC Act 16 C.F.R. 255, Heed the Hedonist would like to disclose that it does receive media “comps” and/or media discounts – but not in exchange for favorable coverage, or for withholding unfavorable overage, of the given venue/meal/performance/product/service.