On the southern tip of Canada’s Vancouver Island, Victoria is luring foodies with irresistible gourmet fare.
Visitors to downtown Victoria can taste the city’s culinary coming of age. Historic harbourside buildings, year-round golfing and spectacular floral displays – nearby Butchart Gardens is world-famous – have long drawn visitors to the pretty provincial capital. Buskers and artists vie for waterfront space along the inner harbour, while small ferries zip passengers between the restaurants, hotels and pubs that line the water’s edge. The downtown area also boasts a burgeoning food scene.
Victoria sits at the southern end of ruggedly beautiful Vancouver Island, near the US border, a half-hour flight from Seattle. Vancouver city is a 90-minute ferry ride across Georgia Strait, past orcas and snowy mountains.
Vancouver Island is roughly half the size of Tasmania, with grizzly bears, ski hills and about 3500km of coastline. Beyond the city limits, farm stores sell cranberries, maple syrup, cider, organic duck and homemade berry pies. Culinary tourists are encouraged to fossick for wild mushrooms, sample wild salmon or taste boutique wine from the emerging viticulture industry. One enterprising woman offers edible seaweed tours.
With all this on the doorstep, it’s little wonder that urban growth is on the rise in the island’s largest city – apartment and real estate prices are rocketing. Alongside the traditional population of retirees, a new and younger population has cottoned on to the charms of living in a clean, smallish (there are about 350,000 people in Greater Victoria) city with a comparatively mild climate and flourishing technology sector. Hungry for fine food, these well-heeled urbanites are fuelling the growth of gourmet delicatessens, specialty food shops, organic produce and interesting eateries.
Sure, tourists still tuck into traditional English high tea at the historic Empress Hotel. But smart visitors follow savvy locals to find Mayan tortillas and organic strawberries – or rabbit terrine, artisan cheeses and fresh-roasted coffee sourced from a single plantation – all within walking distance of the inner harbour.
Stay
Brentwood Bay Lodge
849 Verdier Avenue, Brentwood Bay, Victoria.
Five-star luxury, contemporary oceanfront rooms and a spa are the drawcards, along with the hotel’s proximity to Butchart Gardens.
Laurel Point Inn
680 Montreal Street, Victoria.
Waterfront hotel with a wing of newly renovated suites and a serene Japanese garden.
Sooke Harbour House
1528 Whiffen Spit Road, Sooke, Victoria.
This waterfront hotel is noted for its stellar wine cellar (more than 2500 selections) and kitchen creativity – the menu changes daily and the vegetables, herbs, salad greens and edible flowers used are grown on-site.
The Oswego
500 Oswego Street, Victoria.
Smart, apartment-style hotel, notable in a city populated with froufrou B&Bs. The penthouse suites have sweeping sea and mountain views. O Bistro is the in-house restaurant, but the hotel has also teamed up with Spud to deliver organic produce to guests desirous of a well-stocked pantry.
Shop
Bastion Square Farmers’ Market
Bastion Square, Victoria.
Expect to queue for fragrant organic strawberries and cooking tips from chefs at this inner-city market. Run by the Island Chefs Collaborative and headed by restaurateur David Mincey from nearby Camille’s restaurant (+1 250 381 3433), the market sells produce sourced entirely from local farmers.
10am-5pm Thursdays and Fridays, June to early October.
Choux Choux Charcuterie
830 Fort Street, Victoria.
+1 250 382 7572.
Discerning carnivores frequent this French-style deli, loved for its in-house pates, cured European-style meats and imported artisan cheeses. Luke Young uses island-raised rabbits, lamb and pork – and occasionally wild caribou – to make his terrines, sausages and smoked products. Take a table or a fully loaded wicker picnic hamper (24 hours’ notice required), $C45 ($50) for two. Closed Sunday.
Plenty EpicurEan Pantry
1034 Fort Street, Victoria.
+1 250 380 7654.
Alluring shop scented with exotic spices and soaps, and imbued with true passion for things culinary. Old wooden shelves are crammed with temptation – from handmade chocolates to imported oils and island-made cheeses, breads and organic produce. Browse cookbooks by a host of local food writers and mine owner Trevor Walker’s substantial foodie knowledge.
Eat & Drink
Brasserie L’École
1715 Government Street, Victoria.
+1 250 475 6260.
Consistently good rustic French fare and a notable wine list place this bistro apart. In 2007, Vancouver magazine named it the city’s best restaurant. Owner-chef Sean Brennan is big on utilising seasonal, locally available produce and offering service without pretension.
Habit
552 Pandora Avenue, Victoria.
+1 250 704 8304.
Serious caffeine addicts can drink coffee sourced from a single plantation and roasted on-site, or attend a coffee-tasting seminar. There are funky magazines to peruse.
Hernandez
7/35 Yates Street, Victoria.
Beware the lunchtime queues at this tiny eatery inside a walkway between Yates and View Streets. Inexpensive, fresh, tasty, Mexican fare – five handmade corn tortillas with organic beef for $C5 ($5.50). Closed weekends.
Mole
554 Pandora Avenue, Victoria.
+1 250 385 6653.
Exposed brick walls and live music nights set the scene at this hip cafe near Chinatown. This is elevated hippie food that never sacrifices taste in catering to the organic-vegan-wholegrain crowd. Gargantuan breakfasts feature okra, goat’s feta, organic maple syrup and pesto hash browns. Things go a little more upscale at night.
The Fairmont Empress
721 Government Street, Victoria.
+1 250 384 8111.
Touristy it may be, but this is still a grand building and it’s hard to beat a summer martini on The Veranda, overlooking the harbour.
The Strath
919 Douglas Street, Victoria.
+1 250 370 9463.
Great selection of island-made beer and wine.
Zambri’s
110-911 Yates Street, Victoria.
+1 250 360 1171.
Peter Zambri cooks rustic Italian fare in an open kitchen, using almost exclusively local organic ingredients. Don’t miss the wholewheat fusilli with butter, rosemary, chickpeas and pecorino cheese.
See & Do
Silk Road Tea
1624 Government Street, Victoria.
+1 250 704 2688.
Book a tasting lecture that utilises specially imported Chinese tea glasses and the knowledge of a trained tea master. Or succumb to a green-tea facial in the downstairs spa. Silk Road also offers a range of beautifully packaged teas and accoutrements – from tea whisks to sexy teapots.
Travel With Taste
+1 250 385 1527.
Specialist culinary guide Kathy McAree has added an “urban forage” walk to her catalogue of tasty tours on and beyond Vancouver Island. Her latest tour encourages clients to “sip, slurp and chomp” their way around some of her favourite gourmet haunts in downtown Victoria. McAree is an enthusiastic ambassador who knows everyone in the foodie scene. The $C93 ($102) fee includes the tasting of baked treats, chocolate, tea, wine and much more.
Victoria Tea Festival
Sample and buy teas from around the world.
February 14-15, 2009.
Victoria Whisky Festival
Take a wee dram and visit the whisky school.
January 23-25, 2009.