Tapas in M.H.? Seriously Twist-ed

My parents took my sister and I to a new restaurant in Medicine Hat. It was a new Spanish Tapas place downtown called Twist. The space used to be my beloved Vietnamese Submarine*, but is now virtually unrecognizable with its classy makeover. We sat at a tall table for four with a banquette on one side and tall chairs on the other. We ordered a number of tapas dishes including mushrooms with sherry, rosemary-yogurt flatbread, lamb meatballs, patatas bravas, a special salad, and two orders of chorizo sausages. It was too much sausage, but that didn't stop us from sharing a Spanish orange cake for dessert.

The meal began with a small dish of various delicious olives and bread. The olives were very good and my dad is now very into olives. The bread was okay, but pretty ordinary white baguette. It continued to come with pretty much every dish including the potatoes, talk about starch on starch.

The meat balls, mushrooms, and flatbread arrived first. The meatballs were deliciously moist lamby tasting and came with a garlicky dip. The mushrooms had a delicious taste of sherry and were also very enjoyable. The flatbread was warm and beautifully charred in places with flecks of rosemary. It was really good, much better than the complementary baguette and worth the extra couple dollars in my mind.

Next we got the patatas bravas and the salad. The patatas were well browned with a golden crust and soft, starchy innards. Served with the same garlic dip as the meatballs, they were close to potato heaven. I really wanted to order the potatoes, because I think they are one of the tapas I liked in Barcelona about seven years ago. The salad included greens, creamy morsels of blue cheese, sliced pear, and large pieces of pecan. It was nicely dressed and perfect for the pungent blue cheese lover in me.

Finally, we got our two dishes of chorizo at a time when we really only needed one dish. They were garlicky and rich with oils, really tasty in general although the meatballs may have been my favourite meat dish.

By this time we were fairly full but debating getting a slice of their rich, flourless chocolate cake to share. My family had tried it on a previous visit. But, when we inquired after a slice, we were told it was unavailable. However, we easily agreed to try the Spanish orange cake. Personally, I'm glad we did because it was a unique cake in my cake eating experience and quite enjoyable. My sister, newly in love with citrus zest flavours did too. The cake was richly orange flavoured, moist and not too heavy, unlike what I heard about the chocolate cake. The neat thing about it was its granular texture, which I hypothesize is due to the use of either cornmeal or semolina. Either way its was excellent and we devoured it along with the smooth, creamy counterpoint of vanilla ice cream. I think it's worth saving room for dessert at Twist.

Twist seems like an excellent addition to downtown Medicine Hat, which was really wanting for restaurants until a few recent openings. It's certainly unlike what's available elsewhere in town. You'll probably meet the friendly owners if you go.

*If anyone can point me in the direction of a good banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) in Edmonton, I would be super happy with you.