home  news  reviews  biography  reach us


Revues

 

 

The Vancouver Sun, May 3, 2007

Comox Valley no longer virgin territory

-         Vancouver Island Atlas Café, Martine’s Bistro and Great Escape are all top spots to dine

By Mia Stainsby, Restaurant Critic

The Great Escape was a serendipitous find in sleepy little Cumberland.  On a Saturday evening, the main street was all zipped up and slumbering, but the restaurant was bursting with life and music.  The young couple behind the restaurant with an urban feel are Nicola Cunha and Jean-Francois Larche.

Cunha, who once catered for the film industry (thus the restaurant’s movie title name) cooks the food she grew up with as a Catholic Indian with some modern tweaks.  About 95 per cent of her ingredients are organic, she says.  The dishes tend to be mildly spiced. 

In fact, the Side Stripe Shrimps in Goan Curry was oddly devoid of spices but the quality of ingredients and clean cooking made up for it; Chicken Makhani is redolent with cardamom, clove and cinnamon.  Vegetable Pakoras with Pear Chutney was light and crisp; we gobbled the Tandoori Chicken over Potato Latkes with Yoghurt Sauce.  Mango Cheesecake was light and lovely.  Also, try the Hornby Island’s Middle Mountain Mead, for local flavour.  We were sold on Cumberland prices – starters are $5 to $7 and mains are $10 to $14.

 

 

Vancouver magazine February 2007

The Great Escape
Nicola Cunha and Jean-Francois Larche escaped the rigours of the film industry to open a modern Indian restaurant in historic Cumberland.Small but expertly prepared Indian menu, with organic meats and many vegan options. Hand-ground spices and family curry recipes compete with modern flourishes of tandoori chicken over potato latkes or Indian-spiced tamales. Weekend brunch of chocolate challah French toast with cardamon-scented whipped cream is Oscar-worthy. Small wine card includes Hornby Island meads to complement the show.

 

 

Eat Magazine July 2006

Escape Artists

 “Cumberland, a former mining town, is just a short 10-minute jaunt by car from downtown Courtenay. It maintains a somewhat untouched rustic charm, evoking a film set

 That visual appeal is what immediately attracted Nicola Cunha and Jean-François Larche, both from the Vancouver film industry, as they sought to escape from their urban trappings. They bought a 19th-century building on the historic main street and made it their own. After a three-year restoration, the couple have settled in and opened a unique modern Indian restaurant on the main floor. Welcome then, The Great Escape.

Upon entering, silvery sari fabrics and the benevolent Hindu elephant god Ganesha (remover of obstacles) create a welcome ambience among the quirky furniture, purchased from film sets, no less. While you take in your visual feast, Larche quietly works the room serving up beverages from his creative list that goes from a rum-infused mango lassi to Hornby Island meads, to Indian and B.C. brews.

            Start things off with the more-ish snack of Karrakadis, a salt-and-spiced chickpea flour snack, similar to sev. Luckily you can purchase some for takeout because you will now be addicted. Cunha heads up a small but diverse menu reflecting her Indian roots, her extensive travel and time catering in the film biz.

            She hand-grinds spices in ode to her mother and they appear in the spiced wild salmon wontons with a cooling tomato chutney and the main of Mangalorean meatball curry made luxurious with a touch of coconut milk.

            For a creative twist, organic tandoori chicken is shredded over potato latkes and the appetizer of yam fries are given an unusual treatment of Kerala salt balanced with a curry mayonnaise. Spicing  here is a delicate balanced hand. The spiciest offering is the pork vindaloo, a tomato-based curry made with Kashmiri chilies. Local organic meat and produce are used whenever available and many vegan-friendly dishes are offered. An Indian-spiced tamale drizzled with a pomegranate-orange glaze was a recent special. Organic basmati, housemade flatbreads and tomato or plum chutneys are all ordered separately, and if you still have room, mango cheesecake or chocolate mousse with a three-ginger cookie are the dessert mainstays.”

            Eat Magazine      July 2006

 

 

    Check out our first revue here:

 


Home - News - Biography - Film - Revues - Reach Us

Professional photography provided by Sharon MacDonnell

www.sharonmacdonnell.com

 

Copyright © 2006 The Great Escape
Last updated : 24 January 2010