Went to the Central Cafe for lunch. It's a quaint little cafe in the village of Ashcroft. The cafe has a Facebook page and a website if you care to check out a sample menu.

We started with some home made iced tea and peppermint tea. ($1.49; $2.29)
Real home-made ice tea is just so far superior to anything that would come out of a can or powder, I don't why more restaurants don't do this.

The tea pot spout was awful, it was one of those spouts that leaks about a third of your tea onto the table rather than your cup.

We were the only patrons in the cafe for a little while so when given the menu the owner operator came to chat. We asked what's the best thing on your menu. He replied the kalamari and the Bar M Burger. Okay, now you know I am skeptical to say the least about eating seafood so far inland... but hey he said it was the BEST thing on his menu!

Kalamari with Greek Salad and pita ($11.99)

The sides were fantastic. The vegetables were fresh and were lightly dressed. The humus for the pita tasted home made and had great texture in my mouth.

Now the kalamari was a different story. I've eaten a lot of kalamari, and usually even with the most inexperienced staff in the kitchen it is hard to completely cock up. Look at the picture.

Take note of the colour of the panko or breading. Now, if kalamari is screwed up it's usually over fried. But the Central Cafe version was arguably not cooked enough. When I put it in my mouth, I could tell the breading was still squishy and soggy (as in uncooked breading). When the owner came over to ask about it, I thought the most appropriate thing to say was that, "I preferred my kalamari a little more crisp." The service at the cafe was so genuine and lovely, that I couldn't bring myself to tell him it was soggy and the worst I've ever encountered.
Is my own fault for going against my own eating rule of eating seafood no where near water?? Perhaps. This is NOT the best thing on their menu. It's worrisome that an establishment is not able to execute what the owner/operator himself touts as the best item on his menu.

The Bar M Burger ($12.99)

The meat, we are told, comes from one of the local ranches. Excellent. We try as much as we can with our groceries at home to purchase food as local as we can.
I didn't eat the burger but I am told the burger was delicious and huge. Definitely worth it if you are a burger lover. The patty tasted like you are eating steak. The bacon was perfectly crispy and not overly salty.
The Bar M Burger included soup or salad or fries. Fries were initially ordered as the side, but
after finding out the soups were house made, we went with the Asian Chicken Noodle soup. As you can see on the receipt they charged us for a caesar??? Hmmm....???

Very decent chicken soup, but I'm not sure what made this "asian".

This is not the first time I have eaten at the Central Cafe. I have had wonderfully positive experiences here with eat-in, take-out, and catered foods. This is another reason why it was so disappointing to have that kalamari incident to tarnish my positive track record at the cafe. It is unfortunate that the day I decide to blog about Central Cafe I had the kalamari. The value was pretty standard (even with the confusing charge of caesar salad...) the above came to $30.20.

If I had not had previous great meals from the Central Cafe, I may be saying to you folks..."stay the hell away." But The Central Cafe is really one of the gems out in this area. I love the fact they try to make as many in-house items as possible and they try to utilize local products and resources. The service is authentic, friendly and attentive. The decor is like your favourite granny's sitting room. The room is filled with antique-ish looking items and has an old warm charm to it.

There's not many places to eat around Ashcroft and I would have to say The Central Cafe is promising. It's worth the drive off of the 97C when you're hungry.

*Update September 18, 2010: Central Cafe seems to have gone through some changes. It has a smaller limited menu now, and the some of the focus is directed towards antiques sales. This is understandble as the business is now up for sale. I have not been back since the above visit. Perhaps someone else could chime in a comment about how the food is lately.

**UPDATE February 14, 2011: Back by popular demand...Central Cafe is now re-opened as Central Catering. Some old favourites are back on the menu but now it is pick-up orders or delivery only. NO DINE-IN.

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