Category Archives: Food

Posts related to food and travel

Eating Our Way Through Victoria… Fresh Fish!!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Hello, Dear Reader:

Today Marcia and I celebrate our 100th Monthaversary of being married, so it’s only fitting that today we should profile where we went to celebrate our 18th Anniversary of the day we met.  (In case it’s not really obvious, we find some way to celebrate ‘Us’ every day…)

On February 19th we went to a restaurant we’ve been meaning to try for some time: Red Fish Blue Fish.  To say that the restaurant is small is almost an understatement; the primary structure has been built out of a shipping container.  Their address is listed as 1006 Wharf Street but you’ll find them down on the wharf, behind the Inner Harbour Centre and near the float plane docks. Just look for a long line-up of people…

Red Fish Blue Fish

In our opinion, Red Fish Blue Fish has several good things going for it.  First, the location is wonderful, right by the ocean and out in the fresh air.  There are a collection of tables and stools randomly distributed around and also a section of benches to sit on, but you can also take your selections away down the shore if you prefer.  Second, the food is very good.  The fish is fresh, the batter is very light, and the fries are tasty!  In addition to battered fish they serve chowder, salads, fish tacones (grilled tortilla hand rolls or taco-cones), and for vegetarians they serve an edamame tacone.  Third, the operation is very environmentally friendly.  The footprint of the restaurant is small, but it goes beyond that.

Red Fish Blue Fish Oceanwise poster

 

All of their seafood is sustainably caught and certified by the Vancouver Aquarium’s ‘Oceanwise‘ program.

“The Vancouver Aquarium is a self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, education, research, and direct action.

Overfishing is the number one problem facing the world’s oceans…

Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program created to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood. Ocean Wise works directly with restaurants, markets, food services and suppliers ensuring that they have the most current scientific information regarding seafood and helping them make ocean-friendly buying decisions. The options are highlighted on their menus and display cases with the Ocean Wise symbol, making it easier for consumers to make environmentally friendly seafood choices. The Ocean Wise logo next to a menu or seafood item is an assurance that the item is a good choice for keeping ocean life healthy and abundant for generations to come.”

In addition, there are no garbage cans for the customers.  Instead, they have a two-bin system (in cooperation with reFUSE, I believe).  A blue bin collects metal, glass and plastic for recycling, and a green bin collects leftover food, napkins (paper), dishes (pressboard), coleslaw/condiment cups (paper) and cutlery (pressed wood fibre) for composting.  If they told me that their fry oil went for biodiesel production and that the vegetables for the salad and slaw were locally harvested, I’d be in ‘green’ fast food heaven!

 We were there for lunch on a February afternoon; out of the wind and with the sun shining down it was a lovely day for al fresco dining!  Red Fish Blue Fish is closed over the winter, but open 7 days a week for most of the year.  They do close early during inclement weather, so please call ahead if you’re uncertain.

Bon appetit!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. You can read more of our Food posts and restaurant reviews here.

Eating Our Way Through Victoria!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Hello Dear Ones!

January 2011 held a myriad of dinner meetings for me with no time left over for both Mike and I to go out for a meal together … just the two of us. However, we’re already remedying that by planning a dinner out alone next weekend …

Here are a list of the restaurants I was fortunate to experience in the past few weeks:

Milestones: Dinner in the downstairs conference/banquet room was set pleasantly for a crowd of 30 people. Rather than a pre-selected buffet, we were each blessed with being able to choose off the menu. Having been out to a breakfast/training that same morning (see White Spot below) I was less than hungry and wanted something light to eat. The atmosphere was relaxed, service exceptional, menu delightfully varied and the presentation impeccable! I wisely chose the goat cheese with roasted beet salad: generous portions of goat cheese with sumptuous amounts of golden beets julienned and roasted to perfection. The maple glazed pecans added a sparkle to the taste buds and the eye in their appeal, layered on a bed of spring greens. The salad was then drizzled with a light ‘house’ dressing and presented on a large platter with a splatter of balsamic roue for visual effect. Yum! Continue Reading →

Eating Our Way Through Victoria… Tea Time!

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

In a couple of previous ‘Food‘ posts we’ve discussed some of our favourite coffee shops in and around Victoria.  We thought we’d switch that up a bit and talk about tea instead.

1) Murchie’s Tea and Coffee: Murchie’s has been an icon in Victoria for somewhere around a century.  Located on Government Street, it’s a short walk from the Inner Harbour, and a ‘must stop’ location on many visitors’ agendas.  Murchie’s has a seating capacity of 110, and in addition to fine teas and coffees they have a wonderful lunch menu and many different choices for desserts or accompaniments to ‘afternoon tea’.  There’s also a large shop with loose teas, coffees, spices, teapots, coffeemakers, cups, saucers, kitchenware and more.  The ‘tea rooms’ at the top of the stairs also feature work by local artists.  If you’ve walked out of Munro’s Books (just up the street) with a package under your arm, this is a great place to sit and flip through your purchase! Continue Reading →

Eating Our Way Through Victoria… Pumpkin Time!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Hello Dear Reader!

Well, we’ve had a few culinary adventures to share with you this month.

Before we get to that, however, earlier this month Marcia went out to dinner with the folks she works with at a restaurant downtown.  She ordered the equivalent salad to the one we’d shared at Café Brio last month; in her estimation there was no comparison.  Café Brio was far superior.  She found the service at this restaurant was good but the restaurant was somewhat dark and the food overly salty, so in keeping with our only ‘rule’ about our food posts we’re not going to mention them – at least until we have a second opportunity to try dinner there.  Café Brio we recommend without hesitation!  Actually, we planned to go back there this month, but plans changed. Continue Reading →

Eating Our Way Through Victoria… Café Brio

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader:

If you’ve read our other ‘Food‘ blogs you’ll know that we both have some background in the hospitality industry. We’ve also travelled extensively (both individually and together) over the years, and when one has gotten used to eating in restaurants day in and day out for months at a time, the novelty wears off very quickly. Having said that, we both enjoy a really good restaurant, and a few weeks back we realized that we had yet to discover Victoria’s ‘signature‘ restaurant. In other places we’ve lived we’ve found that there is usually one place, sometimes a very few, that we come to associate with that particular area. When we lived in Ontario, for example, Ottawa’s signature restaurant was Chef Pierre. In Kingston it was Mino’s. In Toronto there was Penelope’s and The Old Mill. We’ve tried some good and very good restaurants in Victoria (and one we chose not to write about), but so far, nothing really defining. For us a signature restaurant is about more than just the food; it’s about the ‘experience‘. Good food is a given, but there are a few restaurants that, for various reasons really go above and beyond in providing a combination of wonderful tastes, presentation, exemplary service, ambience and an excellent overall evening. Continue Reading →

Eating Our Way Through Victoria – Literally

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader!

August seems to be harvest time here on the island.  Last month we wrote about some of the farmer’s markets in the area, and we’ve been adding to our food cache by eating the many fruits that are ripe and ready as we wander the roads and trails around Victoria.  Himalayan blackberries are unfortunately highly invasive around here, and so (strictly as a means of suppressing their spread, you understand) we’ve been collecting and eating their berries by the bowlful.  The canes do have quite persistent thorns, however, and don’t give up their crop easily, as our scratches can attest!  We’ve also been fortunate to find some tayberries, and in one spot a few loganberries that we simply couldn’t pass up.  We’ve also found some semi-wild apples, and if our neighbour’s pear tree would only grow a little more over the fence… oh well.

But enough about that.  We were fortunate also this month to have family come for a visit, and they’re big fans of Korean food.  Although we’ve sampled various Chinese cuisines as well as Japanese and Thai food, we’d never been to a Korean restaurant.  We ended up at the Korean Gardens (3945 Quadra St. in Saanich, just south of McKenzie).  Actually, our nephew-in-law did a wonderful review of the restaurant, so we’re just going to copy what he said here:

“After reading some of the negative reviews we were hesitant to visit the Korean Gardens restaurant. In fact, we first tried to find a Korean restaurant downtown instead based on those reviews. Luckily that restaurant was no longer in business and a hunger for Korean food drove us to the Korean Gardens.

Contrary to what others have experienced, the waitresses were prompt, yet patient, as we navigated the menu looking for dishes similar to those we were familiar with from other Korean restaurants. Once ordered, food began arriving quickly. The food tasted great, and the size of the dishes was average for this type of cuisine. All through the meal the service remained superb. It’s a rare restaurant where the staff will go out of their way to make a two year old, our son in this case, feel at home.”

It’s a restaurant we look forward to visiting again.  We also had the opportunity to have breakfast out at Floyd’s Diner earlier this week; we wrote about Floyd’s in our first ‘Food’ post.  The experience was wonderful, as always, and we maintain that the servers there give the best hugs in town.

Enjoy!

M&M

P.S. You can read more of our Food posts and restaurant reviews here.

Eating Our Way Through Victoria – To Market, To Market!

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

In our last several ‘Food‘ posts we’ve discussed our adventures at several of Victoria’s restaurants, from the humble coffee shop to the Bengal Lounge at the Fairmont Empress Hotel.  There are still many more fine dining establishments to visit, but it’s summertime and in summer one’s thoughts turn to picnics and backyard barbecues.  There are quite a number of markets that pop up in the Greater Victoria area (from Sidney to Sooke), on up the island to Duncan, Nanaimo and points north and also out into the Gulf Islands, but since we live in this ‘City of Gardens’ we’ll refine our discussion to the ones down here in the south (at least for this post… 😉 ).  We haven’t been to all of the markets here yet, but virtually all of them share one common theme: one must make it, bake it or grow it in order to sell it.  Eating local food is definitely a ‘green’ choice, but there’s a different feel, a different energy to local markets.  One connects directly with those who are providing their wares, and each bunch of carrots, each loaf of bread and each link of sausages have a history.  There’s also a more direct sense of community, and we appreciate that.

So, starting from the north and working south and west, here are at least some of the markets you can discover for yourself.  If you know of others, please feel free to leave us a comment below! Continue Reading →

Eating Our Way Through Victoria – Coffee’s On!

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello Dear Ones!

Grab a coffee before you sit down to read. No, it’s not that long an article – but it is the topic for today.

Mike and I, even more than eating our way through the city of Victoria, tend to frequent good coffee shops. We find that we can tell a great deal about a community by the numbers and quality of the coffee houses a location offers its local residents.

Years ago, and back in Ontario, we opted for one particular national coffee spot. There were two prime reasons:  one was the frequency of shops – one on practically every other corner; and the other was consistency – all food and beverage options were the same whichever location we chose. At the time, and with our lifestyle, that was a desired convenience. (Hint: my brother wrote an anthem for them and put it up on YouTube. It now has over 125,000 hits!) Continue Reading →

Eating Our Way Through Victoria!

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Welcome, Dear Ones and Gourmands all!

Per the Word Tutor at Answers.com: “To become a gourmand, you must taste food from the very finest restaurants.”

So today, we have tasty treats and tantalizing food temptations with which to taunt you. Our restaurant selections come from two diverse eating establishments in one of Victoria’s neighbouring cities – Esquimalt.

Esquimalt (pronounced Ess-kwi’-malt), the home of Canada’s Pacific Fleet, is just across the blue bridge – merely a hop, skip and a jump (a mere 10 minute drive) – from Victoria. It is well worth a visit – whether to enjoy the landscape, walkways and beauty, to visit the naval base and see the ships, or savour some of the fine cuisine.

The Blue Nile and the Vietnam Garden restaurants are both at the top of my list of delightful and unique places to dine. Appropriate to it’s name, the Vietnam Garden offers fantastic foods from that country and culture. Ken is the owner and host, plus all around man of many talents. He welcomes you, seats you, may take your order and will likely serve at least one of the many courses of your meal – usually the dessert! Yet look around at the walls and you will see amazing art work with gorgeous scenery in vibrant acrylic colours popping out from the canvas – and in a picture or two you may notice a man, woman and young child. That would be Ken, his wife and son – for Ken is the artist of these beautiful and varied pieces. His wife and son can often be seen at the restaurant for it is truly, and proudly, a family business. If you like Vietnamese food, you will thoroughly enjoy the relaxed family atmosphere, the varied menu and the wonderful presentation of fresh foods made to order with flair and flavour!

The Blue Nile is a very different place to dine divinely. Small and intimate, it has a vibrant East African cultural ambiance. It boasts both menu items and a buffet to please every palate. May we suggest you start with mango juice – with an explosion of fresh-off-the-tree taste. For a first visit or new to East African cuisine, we recommend you to start with the buffet – eating your way in small amounts across the wide array of dishes offered – from mild to wild – till you find your favourites.

And if you (like Mike and I) are a true coffee connoisseur, you’ll be wanting to  complete your meal with a fabulous cup of Bunna – Ethiopian hand roasted and ground coffee served in a traditional jebena (pot).

Bon Appetit!

Marcia

Villa Marco Polo Inn

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Last Sunday night Marcia and I had the pleasure and the privilege of staying at the Villa Marco Polo Inn here in Victoria, giving us an opportunity to be tourists in our own town.  Before I get to that, our being there is a story in itself.

One of the e-mails that arrives in my Inbox every week is from Mindi & Dave Pettitt and the rest of the crew at HarbourLiving.ca Basically it’s a weekly newsletter that let’s us know what’s happening in and around Victoria, and it also includes information on events for the rest of the island as well.  Now, last December I noticed an article asking for a photograph and a story to do with Christmas, as a way of celebrating the holiday season.  Being a storyteller at heart I grabbed one of my Christmas images out of Lightroom, added a story, and sent it off.  Several days later we received a phone call from the folks at Tourism Victoria informing me that I had won one of the daily prizes in their ‘Christmas is Here‘ contest.  Among the prizes was a carriage tour, annual passes for the Royal BC Museum, and a stay at the Villa Marco Polo Inn. Continue Reading →