DECEMBER IN VICTORIA: TAKE A COZY CHRISTMAS SELF-GUIDED FOOD TOUR

The tour begins at the CPR Steamship Terminal Building, located across the street from the BC Parliament Buildings pictured here. ©SueFrausePhoto

What better way to see the sights and taste the delights of Victoria BC than on a culinary walking tour in December? Off the Eaten Track (love the name!) is offering a Cozy Christmas Self-Guided Food Tour this holiday season.  

Included in the $45 passport are seven foodie stops along the 1.5 km downtown route plus a downloadable audio tour. Walking time is approximately two hours, but there's no time limit. Spend the day in BC's capital city while leisurely doing your tasting tour.

The tour begins at the CPR Steamship Terminal Building on Victoria's Inner Harbour, where you'll pick up your passport, GPS-triggered APP (they'll help you get started) and some savory Nuts & Bolts party mix. From there you'll walk along the Inner Harbour and up Government Street to Rogers' Chocolates for peppermint cream. The company was founded in Victoria in 1885.

The Festival of Trees at The Bay Centre features 70 decorated trees.

Then it's on to Bon Macaron Patisserie for holiday-flavored macarons, followed by a stop at nearby Artisan Wine for a festive glass of wine or soda. Pop inside The Bay Centre to take in the colorful Festival of Trees, followed by the Dutch Bakery & Diner for some traditional spiced shortbread. The last two stops include cheese from L'Apero Wine and Cheese Bistro, followed by the final stop at Chocolat & Co. for truffles.

Off the Eaten Track's Cozy Christmas Self-Guided Food Tour

• Offered thru Dec 31, 2022 (closed Dec 23-26)
• Available Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30AM to 5PM
• App works on both Apple and Android phones

Vancouver Island's Wolf in the Fog named Canada's Best New Restaurant by enRoute magazine

A Vancouver Island restaurant came out on top in enRoute magazine's annual Canada's Best New Restaurants. Wolf in the Fog, located in Tofino on the "wild side" of Vancouver Island, bested nine other restos in enRoute's annual roundup of top restaurants in Canada. For those not familiar with enRoute, it is Air Canada's award-winning inflight magazine (and one of my favorites).

Selecting the best restaurants was the mission of food writer Andrew Braithwaite, whose month-long culinary journey took him across Canada from Tofino, BC to St. John's, Newfoundland. The ten winners represented seven of Canada's provinces: British Columbia 2, Ontario 2, Quebec 2, Alberta 1, Newfoundland 1, Nova Scotia 1, Saskatchewan 1.

Chef Nick Nutting of Wolf in the Fog in Tofino on Vancouver Island
 ©JohnCullenPhoto courtesy enRoute magazine 



CANADA'S BEST NEW RESTAURANTS 2014 | Air Canada's enRoute magazine 

1. Wolf in the Fog (Tofino, BC) | "On the extreme west coast of Vancouver Island, where rainforest meets ocean, you stumble up a flight of stairs and into a soaring cedar-clad room above a surf shop where chef Nick Nutting leads a crew trained in the precise details of fine dining." 

2. Farmer's Apprentice Restaurant | Vancouver | "Each small plate -- more often, a bowl -- conjured by owner David Gunawan is a precise jumble of textures and flavours. Digging in is a sort of black magic." 

3. Le Vin Papillon | Montreal | "Long-time Joe Beef guru Vanya Filipovic fills massive chalkboards with organic wines to run with a vegetable-focused cuisine from boyfriend and chef Marc-Olivier Frappier." 

4. RGE RD | Edmonton | "The heart of Blair Lebsack's kitchen is a wood-burning oven that consumes birch and maple at 700F, curing honey ham and smoking Salt Spring Island mussels or even dehydrated local milk during the off-hours."

5. Mallard Cottage | St. John's | "Todd Perrin spent two years restoring a heritage property in Quidi Vidi Harbour for this brilliant mash-up of fine dining and comfort cuisine on the outskirts of St. John's."

Canadian journalist and author Andrew Braithwaite at work.

6. Bar Buca | Toronto | "Rob Gentile's restaurant likes to pretend it's a simple bar for sipping Barolo. You're here to drink, sure, but you're also here to eat things like tiny fried smelt dusted with fennel salt."

7. The Chase | Toronto | "Chef Michael Steh doesn't lean on molecular trickery or audacious ingredients to wow. His food is more direct and more delightful than that, in an atmosphere that makes you want to say yes to things."

8. Ayden Kitchen & Bar | Saskatoon | "Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay gambled that Saskatoon was ready for lime- and lemongrass- and ginger-dusted chicken wings. Ayden isn't about showing off Prairie cooking to the world -- it's about bringing the world home."

9. Restaurant Legende | Quebec City | "Northern Quebec is the culinary hunting ground that Frederic Laplante mythologizes at his capital-city bistro. Cornish hen gets a boreal accent from balsam fir fleur de sel."

10. Edna Restaurant | Halifax | "Jenna Mooers' North End bistro digs up treasure from the fertile soils of Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley and hauls it out of the brisk Atlantic waters."

Ayden Kitchen & Bar was awarded the 2014 People's Choice Award, and all the winners are profiled in the November issue of Air Canada's enRoute and online. There you can also find out where the top chefs travel, drool over a "dream menu" and take a quiz to find out where you should eat (I got Chase in Toronto). The top 10 restaurants will receive their official awards during the annual Canada's Best New Restaurants Gala celebration in Toronto on November 20, 2014.

Vancouver's Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club offers fine dining in unlikely places

Swallow Tail diners enjoy the evening at Vancouver Urban Winery. Photo by Sue Frause.

Last winter I went on a most mysterious dinner with Swallow Tail Tours in Vancouver, BC. I was in the city for the annual Dine Out Vancouver, and since I had yet to experience the company's Secret Supper Club, I signed up. Our group was told to meet at Pacific Central Station, where I arrived earlier in the day via Amtrak Cascades from Seattle. Since it was a "speakeasy" tour featuring five courses and four wine tastings at two different venues, many of the guests were dressed 1930's style. So fun! We all boarded a hot pink double decker bus and off we went. Our first stop was the Vancouver Police Museum on East Cordova.

The wide array of exhibits in the unusual museum included a jail, morgue and autopsy suite. While perusing the venue, we enjoyed our first two courses of the mystery meal: Beet Salad with Blood Orange Granita, Bulls Blood Microns and Pomegranate Seeds. There was also Tomato Consomme with Pickled Cauliflower and Hijiki Seaweed, served in glass beakers.

Back on the bus, we were off to the Vancouver Urban Winery, a perfect venue for food, music and dance (it recently opened as Vancouver's first commercial urban winery). The menu included Poached Hen's Egg in Red Wine Reduction, Forest Mushroom on Crostini; Pitt Meadows Flat Iron Steak, Potato Pave, Roasted Root Vegetables, Mountain Huckleberry and Rosemary Jus. The menu was created by Chef Andrea Carlson, formerly of Raincity Grill and Bishop's, now the owner of Harvest in Strathcona. The dessert was prepared by Chef Merri Schwartz.

Another Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club is set for Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 from 6:30-10:30 PM in Vancouver. The theme is Wild Mushrooms & Pinot Noir, with Swallow Tail owner and chef Robin Kort foraging the 'shrooms from local forests. This is a BYO wine event and the location of the dinner will be revealed after booking. Price is $59 per person and includes: Five-course wild mushroom dinner, served family style Pinot Noir tasting - Guests each bring a bottle to share Wine Tasting 101 with Sommelier Robin Kort to appreciate the wines There are also two private rooms available for couples' date nights. Price is $99 per person and includes a complimentary glass of wine from the wine cellar. To hear about these invite-only secret suppers, tours and pop-up restaurants, subscribe online at Swallow Tail Tours. Membership is free.