Walking up to the space, I was not expecting such a modern cafe within the heart of Surrey’s financial district. They opened late May of 2024, located on the ground floor of a residential building. I can see this being a go-to for many in the area. Whether it be a quick coffee run and pastry in the morning, or as a breezy happy hour spot to unwind at in the later afternoon.
This is one of a handful of buildings and spaces by the same real estate developer. Their goal is to give each of their buildings its own cafe to tie its community together. And they have done this well with Combine Café & Bar.
On the weekend that we visited they had just soft launched their happy hour menu. A good diversity of cuisines represented across shareable plates and desserts. All taken from the regular menu at a discounted price.
From 7am to 3pm Combine functions as your neighbourhood café serving up an extended list of coffees, as well as fresh juices, savoury and sweet baked goods, plus travel-ready sandwiches.
They break from 3-4pm in order to reset the kitchen, to provide more fulsome plates for dinner. This is paired with a collection of classic cocktails and a healthy selection of wine. The collection taps into both BC wines and Old World varieties. Their menu focusses on global plates, with everything made scratch in-house. All done featuring fresh produce from neighbouring Tsawassan farms.
They also have or will have a greenhouse on location, where they will be able to grow their own vegetables and fruits for an even more immediate farm to table experience. However this is currently located past the construction work nearby, and they won’t have access to it until the end of the year, if not next.
The cafe runs down the building length wise. Vaulted ceilings, large windows, and birch wood element breathes in life. All the food prep comes out of the centre island that runs down the same distance of the cafe. It offers a honest look at their operations.
I was impressed to see such a diversity of countries represented on their menu. Spanish nuts and olives to start. Filipino and Japanese inspired seafood appetizers. And Korean-style meat options followed by Italian pasta with fresh made noodles.
Seeing as they are a café first, we had to start off our happy hour with a coffee cocktail. Their coffee martini is made with the same coffee that they serve throughout the day. A speciality batch sourced from of a four generation farm from Brazil. There, they utilize a very rare bean with notes of bourbon that came through in the cocktail. Ketel One, Baileys, Kablua, and Mogiana coffee. The result is a very mellow and robust cocktail. Its creaminess really suits the choice of nutty bean. Enjoyable as a start, especially given its robust portion size.
However, I would recommend ordering wine to pair with your meal instead. We found it a lot more complementary to what was before us. The best way to do this is to order a flight. With so many options we enlisted the help of our knowledgable server, who gave us excellent pairings for the plates we ordered. We had a flight focused on local BC wineries with one white option, one rosé and two reds. And would do the same with old world wines that brought us from France to Argentina and Italy.
Below are the tasting notes we got from each, presented as a group of four in a rustic and very sturdy wine caddit. Wine flights are $2 off during Happy Hour which runs from 4-6pm daily.
Stand outs include the Alois Terra’s Pinot Grigio from Italy as the highest ranking Pinot Grigio in Italy. It was bright and fresh, a great palate refresher with honey and apple.
The La Celia Pioneer Malbec comes from the oldest winery in Argentina and its red speaks to that with so much personality. I savoured the oakiness.
The Gerard Berrand rose from Provence is green with young strawberries, laced with floral notes that linger.
The Jimmy Barry Shiraz from Australia had plenty of tannins enrobed in dark fruit.
For the Canadian wines the Cedar Creek Riesling from Kelowna was bold in citrus with lemon and oranges. We thought it poetically like drinking sunshine.
The Culmina Saigne Rose from Osoyoo tasted like a young organic wine. This too was citrusy, but botanical with green grass.
Lake Breeze Syrah from Naramata was bold and fulsome with dark cherry and oak.
And the Frind Cabernet Sauvignon from Kelowna was medium bodied with juicy raspberry and blueberry.
We were really made to feel welcomed and allowed to take our time as we started off with a bowl of peeled almonds from Spain. Marcona almonds, toasted and salted with butter. This is the one to order if you are hungry and need to eat right away, and It is $2 off during Happy Hour. The salt had you coming back for more. They made for a great in between sip crunch, to help cleanse the palate as we jumped from each of our 2 ounce pours.
For appetizers we started off with the Kinilaw. Basically the Filipino version of fish ceviche, but with ahi tuna, fresh mango, and ube; all in a coconut lime dressing. My partner is Filipino so he recognized the name, but not the colourful dish that was placed before him. He was perplexed. What is typically a white fish offering has been re-created and reimagined for one of the most picturesque ube dishes I have ever seen. I have never had purple yam with seafood before, so didn’t know what to expect and tried it with an open mind. The result was a very refreshing, almost dessert-like start to our meal.
You are asked to mix everything together before you dig in, to better combine and coat the chunks of seafood and vegetable with the ube paste. Truthfully this was far less appealing once mixed. It was hard to discern the fruit from the fish, when trying to curate an even bite with at least one cube of ahi. We also found this had way too much ube to seafood ratio and we needed to scoop some of the excess off. As a whole I would recommend this this to be scaled down into a smaller serving. This was far too much for the 5 endive leaves meant to eat with it. Without the leaves it ate like a fresh salad, especially with the refreshing citrus notes and sweet grilled corn. The tuna almost seems to fade into the background.
Representing Japan they had a what they are calling Nori Sushi. This is like a sushi taco with rice and ahi tuna hand-folded into a shell of Nori seaweed, and presented on a taco stand of three. They were tasty with quality seaweed and of the perfect temperature and texture. Well sauced with plenty of spicy flavour and the right amount of rice to help absorb it all. Simply amazing.
Yuk-hoe, the Korean-style beef tartare was Canadian AAA beef, jicama slazo, gochujans sauce, yuzu jam, egg yolk, pistachio paste, sesame oil, and chive. Served with more endives as the base of choice. This one you also mix up as well, incorporating the egg yolk into the moist raw meat.
We didn’t know what to expect, seeing the lighter colour of the raw beef, but the seasonings carried through for a sweet and spicy mix with plenty of garlic. The endives added freshness, lightening the plate. My critique once again would be to scale down the serving size. This was a lot for 2, ideally for 3-4 with a goal of less is more and to leave them wanting more.
Moving on to entrees we couldn’t decide between the popular Wild Boar Ravioli or the spaghettini of the day, so got both.
The Wild Boar Ravioli was hand-rolled ravioli stuffed with braised wild boar, pickled local mushroom, black garlic cream, thyme and butter foam. Sadly, we got this with its centre at room temperature, where it would have been significantly more satisfying hot throughout. The richer option between the two pastas, you can make out the fulsome filling of pulled pork and all the umami mushroom notes exemplified in butter.
Although my favourite between the two was the fresh hand cut spaghettini made the day off. Dressed a pomodoro sauce using heirloom tomatoes grown on their farm in Tsawwassen. Topped with with creamy burrata, fresh garlic, and fragrant basil. Springy, chewy strands coated in the perfect amount of lush acidity to counter balance the buttery, garlicky toast. Perfection.
And as full as we were, we could not pass up trying their in house made Tiramisu, so had some to go. We were not disappointed, especially considering everything else was so amazing and that this too was made with their specialty Mogiana beans from Brazil.
Mogiana espresso, ladyfingers, and mascarpone filling. I have never seen tiramisu with coffee jelly topping it before and that was the best part. And I have never had a crispy tiramisu before, which made me love it all the more. I enjoy the flavour of tiramisu, but not its texture, but here I get it all: their nutty expresso, crisp base, and jelly chew. Highly recommend!
In short, I cannot rave about this casual cafe and it globally inspired and locally sourced menu any more! I wish they were closer to my home in Burnaby, so that I that may frequent them. They have single handled sold me on coffee and tiramisu, both of which I would not shy away from here.
For those thinking of visiting, they are offering a discount code.
When making a reservation you can receive 15% off you meal when you enter in the code “SocialClub”.
Combine Café & Bar
9873 King George Blvd, Surrey, BC V3T OT2
(604) 259-9898
combinecafe.ca
Also worth mentioning is that Combine Café is hosting a Harvest long table dinner that not only showcases their cuisine, but also gives you a look at where their produce, that makes all the difference, comes from. As taken from the event page, with link to get your own tickets below. I already have mine! Tickets sales close October 17th, the dinner is on Saturday October 19th, 2024.
Perfectly located in our historic Red Barn, guests will enjoy a beer, wine, and canapé reception, followed by a four-course meal highlighting the region’s freshest farm-sourced ingredients, many grown at Southlands. Beer from Four Winds, wine from Frind Winery , and non-alcoholic beverages will also be available for purchase.
Other Event details:
Tickets are pre-purchase only.
Tickets include one drink, canapés, four-course dinner and coffee.
Ticket sales close: 17 October 2024
19+ event
Onsite bar accepts cash & card
We look forward to welcoming you for this Long Table Harvest Dinner and the enchanting evening it will be.
DETAILS
Date: Oct 19, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Organizer: Southlands Grange Centre for Farming & Food
Location: The Red Barn – 6333 Market Ave
Delta, British Columbia V4L 1M9 Canada
