The following has been contributed by Steffani Cameron, who is in the middle of a 5-year worldwide adventure that she is chronicling at FullNomad.com.
Where to Eat and Drink in Victoria, BC
There are people who will tell you that Victoria has more restaurants per capita than most of North America, and they’re completely wrong, so you can ignore that urban myth.
But if they tell you this little city has restaurants punching way above their weight, I’ll get behind that statement seven days a week and twice on Sundays.
When I moved from Vancouver to Victoria in 2012, I worried I’d get stuck with small-town food after life in the big city. How wrong I was. Instead, I got blown away by the quality of the dining scene. Now that I’ve travelled extensively abroad, I can say with great confidence that, yeah, Victoria delivers big city taste with walkable small-city convenience. From breakfast joints to taco trucks, it’s all about using local ingredients and celebrating diversity.
Even cocktail-wise, the scene in Victoria is hitting the right mix. The modern godfather of Victoria’s cocktail scene is Shawn Soole, who made the venerable Clive’s Classic Lounge become noted as “one of the world’s top-five hotel bars” by the Thirsty Traveller, and Soole’s influence has spearheaded an enviable cocktail culture throughout the city.
Soole was a proprietor at the speakeasy Little Jumbo for a while but now has his hands in all kinds of places, like Olo Restaurant and Phillip’s Brewery. A couple years ago, the only two bartenders from all of Canada to attend the international bartending competition “Tales of the Cocktail” were from Victoria.
If you’re after cocktails, Clive’s Classic, Little Jumbo, and Veneto Lounge are just three great places to have your nightcap, and the trio are walkable from nearly any hotel in Victoria.
Don’t have too much booze, though, because you’ll want to be up ‘n at ‘em for breakfast. This town loves its breakfast.
When people are still rousing to consciousness in other cities, there’s a lineup down the block at places like The Jam Café (opening in Vancouver!) and Blue Fox or Floyd’s by 8:00am I’ve just finished bacon-and-emmenthal-stuffed waffles at Catalano Restaurant and sadly thought how I’m leaving Victoria tomorrow and breakfasts will be all downhill from here. From Eggs Benedict to pancakes and beyond, Victoria doesn’t like a phoned-in breakfast. The “most important meal of the day” was my favourite one for dining out as a resident.
Whether you’re into the over-the-top decadence of the Jam or you think you’d rather an easier hand-held breakfast like the amazing $6 bocata sandwiches with grilled chorizon, Manchego, and a fried egg available at Chorizo & Co, or pastries at any of the great independent coffee houses in town, your day will be off to a good start.
Speaking of independent coffee houses, that’s something worth pointing out. Chains don’t do great here in Victoria. Instead, you’ll find indie joints like Shatterbox, 2% Jazz, Hey Happy!, and others all brewing exceptional coffee with a love of their craft.
Lunch and dinner come in all sizes and price ranges too. From gourmet local meat tacos at the Taco Justice truck or Vietnamese caramel chicken at Foo through to world-class Napolitan pizza at Prima Strada on Cook or take-out ‘50s-style burgers at Big Wheel, or even some fish tacos from the internationally-renown Red Fish Blue Fish taco stand, there are many budget-friendly options that won’t leave your wallet hurting.
Dining out in Victoria means a whole world of options and it’s understandable if you get stressed out about only being able to enjoy a few places during your stay. Brasserie L’ecole takes no reservations and can have lines a block long some nights, but steak frites and the city’s best burger await you in this well-priced classic French brasserie that has no pretensions, only quality service.
Pana e pancetta pizza from Prima Strada (pancetta, cream, leeks)
Il Covo or Pagliacchi’s will deliver old-school family-style dining, while award-winning Zambri’s will give you modern interpretations of Italian classics. Seafood is everywhere here, and Nautical Nellie’s and Ferris’ Oysters have led that scene for decades and are going strong. I’ve dined at all these in recent years and think you really can’t go wrong with any of them.
Most recently, I had a fantastic $39 chef’s-choice four-course meal at Il Covo that I would recommend to anyone, not only for the food but for the magnificent service we received.
A short foot-ferry from downtown, Spinnakers’ Brew Pub was Canada’s first brewery-meets-eatery, and they’ve had more than 30 years of being synonymous with a good night out. In keeping with that legacy, North 48, 10 Acres Bistro, Canoe Brew Pub, and all kinds of other “casual” dining places are offering the amazing range of produce and meats all grown within 100 kilometres of Victoria.
If you’re looking for a short trip out of town, just one hour’s drive away, in Duncan and Cowichan Valley, you’ll find an amazing foodmaker’s paradise that provides for most of the city’s dining scene. From wineries to Canada’s only tea farm (Teafarm.ca, worth dropping in for a glorious cuppa with artisanal chocolates!), the quality of local food found around Victoria will blow your mind.
“Eat local” hasn’t been a trendy recent development here in Victoria, it’s been an ethos and a passionate cause for over a decade as those in the food industry have fought to bring food sovereignty back to Vancouver Island after decades of watching it slipping away.
Honestly, I didn’t realize how spoiled I was to live in the heart of Victoria’s amazing food scene until I spent a few months living in Europe. Believe me, this city is delivering a quality food scene for a city twice its size. Even the pizza at Pizzeria Prima Strada is superior to any I had in Europe. Really.
I highly recommend that dining out all over Victoria be high on your travel priorities when you’re here. Stay a few days longer and do an overnight trip to Duncan so you can wine taste and visit Hillary’s Cheese or have lunch at Zanatta Winery’s bistro, or so many other amazing food joints up there.
If food is one of the great enjoyments in your life, you don’t need to go to massive sprawling cities to find a vibrant food scene. Instead, you can come to one of the world’s most walkable cities and stroll to one wonderful eatery after another. Pack your fat pants and come enjoy what Victoria’s serving up. You won’t regret it.
If “foodie” is one of the most significant ways you describe yourself, then stick a reminder in your diary for January, 2017, and look up “Dine Around & Stay In Town” for Victoria, where all the heavy-hitters offer great three-course meals and hotels have reduced stays available in the off-season weeks after Valentine’s Day annually. It’s a terrific way to explore Victoria’s food scene for a better price.
Salt Spring Coffee is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, that’s two full decades of being a local, fair trade, organic, environmentally sustainable coffee company.
This organic macro roasting company was co-founded by Mickey McLeod and Robbyn Scott, and for 20 years they have been committed to being fair to farmer and environmentally sustainable.
Back when they first started out, Mickey and Robbyn roasted their beans with a modified popcorn popper from their home on Salt Spring Island. The company now supplies more than 1,200 cafes, restaurants, grocers, and independent food stores with its premium single origin, small lot and coffee blends in western Canada.
While the coffee company has moved to in Richmond, the couple still owns a farm on Salt Spring Island, where the operation began.
Starting this fall, consumers will be able to purchase Salt Spring Coffee in more grocery stores, restaurants and cafes across Canada. In addition to organic whole bean coffee, the company has a Cold Brew alternative. It will introduce two new Cold Brew coffee flavours this year to select grocery stores in B.C including all Choices Markets and Donald’s Markets. Cold Brew is the result of Salt Spring Coffee steeped in water at room temperature for 15 hours, and then bottled using a double filtration process to provide a smooth, clean result – best served cold.
Win a Salt Spring Coffee Prize Pack
To celebrate their milestone, Salt Spring Coffee is offering up a prize pack to one lucky Miss604 reader that includes: A Baratza Encore coffee grinder, 2 truly west coast mugs, plus a bag of Sumatra coffee beans — a $200+ value! Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry
- Like, comment on, or share this Facebook post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Monday, April 25, 2016. Follow Salt Spring Coffee on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
Update The winner is Ai Paul!
There are over 25km of trails inside Stanley Park, not including the Sea Wall, which is just one of the reasons our Crown Jewel has been called one of the Best Parks in the World. John and I try to walk these trails every weekend, and it’s rare that we pass many other people on some of beautiful these paths. I have previously featured a few of the forest trails, to get others out and about exploring:
« Cathedral, Lovers Walk, Beaver Lake, Avison, Merilees trails &
« Tatlow, Prospect Point, Brockton Oval, Prospect Point trails
Here are a few more to add to the list, and to use to plot out your next venture into the park.
10. Bridle Trail
The Bridle path starts out from Second Beach on the south end, and traverses up the park, all the way to the Prospect Point trail. It’s very wide, paved with gravel, and can lead you on a loop if you ride your bike up to Rawlings and loop back. It gains in elevation but has some great views along the way.
11. Thompson Trail
Bridle connects to Thompson just north of the causeway overpass and the Lake Trail. Turning left onto Thompson, it is home to some of the tallest trees in the park, as it climbs up hill. You’ll pass groves of Western Red Cedars, where the fragrant wood stands tall above the fern-covered forest floor. The path is wide and covered in gravel, and while it’s not a designated bike path, there is evidence of mountain bikes carving their way over stumps and mulch along the side.
12. Meadow Trail
The Thompson Trail splits off to the right, north, and the Meadow Trail continues to the left. The Meadow Trail is deceiving at first, since it is also flanked by straight-as-a-arrow groves of hemlock, Douglas Fir, and Cedar. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, we were the only people on these trails. As the ferns multiply and the path opens up, you do arrive at the meadow that is adjacent to Hollow Tree. There is a parking lot, road access, and the north/south Rawlings Trail that can connect you to your next destination.
If you were to do all three of these trails — from Second Beach, up Bridle, left on Thompson, left on Meadow — it would take about 30 minutes to reach Hollow Tree, and would be about 2.5 km one way.
You can download the trail map PDF or do a simple Google Maps search as all trails are also listed there. Bikes are allowed on several trails, such as Rawlings, Bridle (Prospect Point), Lovers, Beaver Lake, and Avison. Be sure to respect the environment and the sensitive ecosystem in the park by carting out what you bring in and NEVER smoke in Vancouver Parks.
*use at your own risk
“It would have been perfect, but I would have to give up Buttons,” my mother has said to me several times over the last year. She’s been looking to move back into Downtown Vancouver but since adopting her kitten, the search has been a struggle since many properties do not allow pets in some capacity.
Pet-friendly rental accommodations has been a hot topic in Vancouver, as more than 60% of Vancouver residents have a dog or cat. According to the BC SPCA, 20 per cent of the animals dropped off at their shelter is by owners facing housing related issues1. However, landlords say renting to pet owners isn’t an easy decision.
“I agree that everyone has a right to a home. I’m not sure that right extends to including pets,” said David Hutniak, Landlord BC’s CEO. He said they love animals too, but regardless of how well-behaved a pet is, units have to be maintained – and that often means replacing flooring once the animal moves out.2
The City of Vancouver is pushing for the province to revitalize legislation on pet ownership to accommodate our furry family, but that’s not to say there are a few options out there already. Bosa and BlueSky Properties offers pet-friendly rentals in three Vancouver communities including Downtown, Chinatown and False Creek, with buildings offering pet-friendly amenities like “laundro-mutt” pet wash stations at LIDO at False Creek.
Win a BC SPCA Shop Gift Card
To keep the conversation going, Bosa and BlueSky Properties have offered up a $100 gift card to the BC SPCA’s online store that I can give away to a Miss604 reader.
The shop has plush toy animals, leashes and harnesses, t-shirts, hoodies, and many more items for the pet lover in your life. You can also donate to the care of a wild animal, or purchase educational resources.
Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at random from all entries on Wednesday, April 20, 2016 at 12:00pm. Follow Bosa and BlueSky Properties on Twitter and Facebook for more information about their pet-friendly properties and amenities.
1, 2Source: Global BC
Update The winner is Andrea!
The Abbotsford Tulip Festival is in full bloom, an hour east of Vancouver along Highway 1. I had the opportunity to visit yesterday, and the spectacularly colourful array of 2.5 million petals is definitely worth witnessing.
Abbotsford Tulip Festival Photos
Just off the main parking lot you’ll find a picnic area and family games, along with a tulip stand where you can purchase some bunches. Walk a mulch path out to the 10 acre fields, where there are plenty of photo ops along the way.
The main field is for visiting and photo-taking, the smaller one on the right, closer to the highway, is the U-Pick patch. These fields are clearly marked. Young and old pose for photos on benches or in front of the rows that boast tulips with names like Sweetheart, Snowboard, Burgundy Lace, Margarita, Gander’s Rhapsody, and Conqueror.
On a clear day, you can get some amazing photos with a snow-capped Mount Baker in the background, but be sure to visit soon though, since these ephemeral beauties will only be around until May 1st, or until the last petal hits the dirt.
Visiting the Abbotsford Tulip Festival
Take the Whatcom Road exit in Abbotsford, off of Highway 1, which is at Castle Fun Park if you’re coming from the west. The Abbotsford Tulip Festival has ample parking for over 1000 vehicles.
- Dates: March 25 – May 1, 2016 from 9:00am to 6:00pm, seven days a week
- Location: 36737 North Parallel Road, Abbotsford
- Admission: $5.00 per person and complimentary parking Monday to Friday. Tour buses are welcome. Tickets can be purchased online.
The festival offers a covered picnic area, children’s play area, photo cut-out boards, fun food trucks (on weekends) and sections for friends and family to wander through the fields. Guests can pick their own flowers in the U- Pick field, purchase fresh cut tulips and order bulbs for planting in the fall.
To learn more, visit the Abbotsford Tulip Festival website, call (604) 751-6389 or follow the festival on Facebook and Instagram or Twitter using the tag #abbytulips.