Seafood lovers get ready! Sabor's annual Seafood Festival is back for it's third year, from August 5th - September 3rd. I had the opportunity to attend the media kickoff dinner last week and there's some exciting plates on the menu this year.

Sabor - 10220 103 Street - Edmonton AB

As one of Edmonton's top seafood restaurants, its great to know that Sabor's menu is 100% Ocean Wise approved. This means that all the seafood utilized at Sabor is recognized by the Vancouver Aquarium conservation program as sustainable. Given the farm-to-table popularity, it may seem silly to question where your seafood comes from, but overfishing is one of the greatest threats to our oceans. Without making a conscious decision to consume sustainable seafood, fisheries worldwide could collapse by 2048!

Chef collaborations are becoming increasingly popular, this year Chef Jan Hansen of Hotel Arts in Calgary collaborated with co-owners Christian Mena and Chef Lino Oliveira. Although the chefs worked on the family-style meal together, the dish created by Chef Hansen will be noted on the Seafood Festival menu this year, and the proceeds from his dish will be donated to Ocean Wise to fund their research programs.

The meal began with five different tapas dishes, and first up was the Scallop & Limpet Ceviche. You won't find limpets on any other menu in Edmonton, so this is your best chance at trying these aquatic snails! You could taste the natural sweetness of the fresh scallops and limpets, but the dish was a tad viscous for my palate.

Next up came the Heirloom Tomato & Queijo Fresco Montadito - a Spanish take on bruschetta. The tomatoes were sourced from the City Market on 104St and served on bread freshly baked at the Hotel Arts. The subtle flavours worked beautifully together - it was a simple dish done right!

The Sardina Escalivada arrived next, plated beautifully across the plate. Escalivada is a Catalan dish of roasted vegetables, and the mix of roasted red peppers, eggplant, capers, and garlic paired well with the sardines.

Amêijoas á Bulhão Pato is a dish of clams cooked in a white wine sauce and is a dish with which you cannot go wrong. This Portuguese dish is named after the 19th-century Lisbon poet Bulhão Pato and is a popular first course in many restaurants.

Last of the tapas came the stunning plates of Gambas al Ajillo, jumbo shrimp cooked with garlic and wine. This interactive course made everyone set their manners aside - you just had to get in there with your hands, rip off the heads, and suck all the good juices out of those prawn heads!