Coffee Crawl, Downtown Victoria - Part 2

Part 1 of the crawl left our heroes about to exit Sitka on Yates. Rapidly. We continue here with two more spots and a round up.

Solstice Cafe - 529 Pandora

The heart is starting to pound bit heavy in my chest, and everything is really beginning to speed up. The effects of three medium coffees in 2 hours is beginning to let itself known, but we power on, like freshers on a beer crawl, determined to see it through.

We stumble in the Solstice Cafe, a haven for some. But today it's busy and playing prog rock. The counter is manned with three server/baristas and i'm not sure whose serving who, but between the minor third chords I order up another Americano and retire to the bathroom to make room.

On my return, there's one mug ready to go, which I think is mine. I take it, add a spot of milk and sit down, ready the pages of a comic over one girl's shoulder while my friend collects his drink. The first taste is good, but there's a slightly sour flavour in there. Several more sips later, and I wonder if I've got the yoghurt and milk mixed up. We decide later that the milk jug and the soy jug might have been mixed up, but it kinda of put a damper on things. Otherwise, this is a good space, with what seemed like good coffee. The prog rock turned into singer/songwriter, so life was more bearable.

Another friend arrived fresh from foreign parts, bearing games played with rare earth magnets. So we played, supped coffee and caught up. I think I might have caught up veryveryvery fast though.

Coffee - $2.50, Overall Rating - 5/10


Discovery Coffee - 664 Discovery
A fast walk into the car park burnt of a little of nervous energy and we piled over to Discovery for the final coffee of the day. Life is moving fast now, with a hyper-realism I don't enjoy. I am reminded of Terry Pratchett's knurd : "The opposite of being drunk, its as sober as you can ever be. It strips away all the illusion, all the comforting pink fog in which people normally spend their lives, and lets them see and think clearly for the first time ever." My sanity was preserved over all, and we rocked up in the 60's kitsch rooms of Discovery Coffee.

They are playing the Rolling Stones, they got old couches in one lounge area, with a coffee table that would have been second-hand in my parent's first house. There's a faint smell of old fabric and worn out stuffing, but this is the first place I've felt actually relaxed. If I wasn't heading for the ice hockey afterwards, I'd probably have hung out longer.

The coffee is good. Smooth, not bittered by over roasting or scalded in the espresso. It tasted a little weaker than I would have liked it, but lets face it, after 4 others, I didn't need a strong coffee. I loved the two areas, and the long list of local events they are doing. A comfortable, friendly place.

Coffee - $2.75, Overall rating - 8/10

And with that I headed to the Poolside Inn for a large beer before the game. I was hoping the alcohol would counteract the coffee. It did for a while, and a fine game of hockey was enjoyed. But by 1am, I was wide awake again, and the mind was still spinning. The caffiene hangover... not quite as dangerous as the beer one, but I'll be cutting my consumption if I do this again.

Summary

Well I had been told to check out 2% Jazz, Street Level and Picnic as well. Plus Cafe Fantastico (at the Parkside) I have been to since, but these will be for another day. Or days.

But for now, I'd rate them overall as follows:

Best for Coffee - Habit
Best for a first date - Mirage
Best for not going to ever again - Sitka
Best for sitting around all day with a cosy mug of coffee and good friends - Discovery
Best for watching people knit and read comic books - Solstice

Union Pacific Coffee, Old Town Victoria

The owners of Union Pacific also run Jam Cafe, just across the street.  But the two places serve very different markets. Jam is going for the all day, west coast breakfast crowd. Union Pacific is going for the social coffee house with food. Lounging in one corner as we entered was one java-jockey, piles of paper and the obligatory Mac Book, working on... something. Next door is Dragon Alley, home to some fantastic live/work spaces, so people wanting that casual working vibe will feel right at home.

A massive wooden bar takes up one corner, protecting the kitchen staff from the wandering public.  A display of baked goods covers most of the bar front, but there is one space to order.  Order at checkout then take your seat food to be delivered.

The Brunch menu is short and to the point.  Steamed eggs in bread. Three versions of the eggs : with Montreal Smoked Beef, with Bacon or with Tomato and Harvati.  Three types of bread : toast, bagel or croissant. Or there is yoghurt parfait or a huge fruit cup. But I don't like fruit for breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner.

So one Bagel full of eggs, smoked meat, dijon mustard and swiss cheese was ordered.  They don't skimp on the eggs, and a lovely pile of fluffy eggs with just enough meat and mustard to impart a tangy, sharp flavour to the proceedings.  It's not huge, but at six bucks, it's a great brunch, or lighter lunch.  The coffee isn't bad either, slightly too bitter for me, but that's being overly fussy.

The location has lots of table space to spread out, socialize over a coffee, and the staff are all smiles... they seem happy to be there every time I've been in.  The building has brick, beams and dark wood everywhere, with a few pieces of art and some old artifacts.  I've no idea what the building used to be in Victoria's past... from the name I'm guessing some link to the Union Pacific Railway or Shipping lines. If you have any information, let me know.

Final Bill
16oz Americano - $2.50
Smokin' Egger - $6.00
Total :  $11 with taxes and tip
Phone : 250-380-0005
Address : 537 Herald Street, Victoria, British Columbia
Website : http://www.unionpacificcoffee.com/

Coffee Crawl, Downtown Victoria - Part 1

A while back I asked for suggestions of places to try coffee in Victoria.  So one day, with a couple of friends, I headed out to have an Americano at five different places.  I had a medium Americano at each shop, with a splash of milk and no sugar.  This is because I like my coffee that way.  The purist may claim that Americano is the worst possible beast for coffee (watering down an espresso! Sacrilege!). I say bugger off to the purist, and say take your drinks how you like them, but don't be afraid to experiment.

I'm splitting this report into two parts.  I recommend anyone else drink 5 coffees in 4-5 hours doesn't and splits it into two halves as well.

Habit - The Atrium, 808 Yates
One of the more interesting buildings in Victoria is The Atrium.  Curving glass on one side, a deep well of light in the centre and plant life around the building to separate it from the roads.  It's also hope to a series of achingly trendy places.  There's the men's barber (Victory) where one can be artfully manscaped with a straight razor, cookculture for high priced culinary ware and Poppies artful flower arrangements. These are the sort of places I'm glad exist, but have no need of ever visiting. I mean, I love the idea of a 'proper' razor shave, but not at the prices offered ($45, even if they promise to restore my masculinity).

Having spread to another location away from the Lower Johnson hispter crawl, Habit coffee takes the curved glass walled space over looking Yates and Blanshard. The same coffee, a more open plan space, but the same simple idea : one type of coffee, one machine, some baked goods, efficient but slightly standoffish baristas. I'd call it the acceptable face of the hipster movement. Doing one thing very well, even if no-one knows quite why you do it the way you do.

The coffee is excellent. Smooth, with a up front taste, but no bitterness or burnt roast flavour. Everything here is precisely prepared, and laid out. The space itself is good for meeting one-on-one or in small groups, or lounging and reading while downtown. Except the music choice today sounded like one-third speed dub-step played through a long steel tube. The low, dull throb made me think I was in the engine room of a BC ferry.

Coffee - $2.75, Overall Rating - 9/10


Mirage - 1122 Blanshard
Mirage is a more bohemian than Habit.  This location has bare brick walls, covered in bright renaissance styled art.  They were playing a variety of new age music, hardly imposing on the conversation, as here we were joined by another friend and her visiting parents.  The cafe is in a U shape, with one arm being the counter and the sales room for various coffee devices, and the other arm for tables and chairs.

What makes this a good spot is the quiet.  It's feels more intimate than other places, so it's not a bad place for a first date, where you can have a conversation without anyone over hearing.  Just make sure they know which Mirage you mean (there are 3 in the down town core of Victoria).  Not that has ever happened to me...

The coffee.  An assertive cup, with a rougher, more roasted flavour. Bitter, not undrinkably bitter, but still there, and it feels like it a much darker roast.  The iced teas my friends had weren't worth the effort.  Astringent and over brewed.  Not the refreshing glass they were expecting.

So maybe not a good first date place after all if your date likes iced tea or a mellow cup of coffee.

The caffeine buzz was beginning to come in now. So time for a walk to the next place.

Coffee - $2.95, Overall rating - 6/10

Sitka on Yates - 538 Yates
My first mistake was assuming that a place selling surf boards and casual activity wear could make a decent coffee.  My second mistake would be assuming they care.  If they did care about their coffee, this place would implode under a weight of ironic hipster-dom and be replaced with a large can of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Yeah, so they were playing surf music, and hand acres of heft varnished oak.  They also had piles of unwashed dishes and coffee mugs right next to the cash register (this is not conducive to me wanting food or drinks).  The staff were disinterested, slow and suffering from a heavy bout of ennui.  The coffee is apparently from Discovery Coffee (see part 2).  I suspect this is true... direct from the waste bin.  Weak, bitter, stale tasting with grittiness like the grounds had leak through the machine.  I managed half a cup and left.  I apologized to my friend for going against his knowledge, and paid for his coffee as well.

Coffee - $2.75, Overal rating - 1/10

The Keg, Downtown

An older review from my back log, back when my parents were visiting in July.  As seems to be the case, Mum and Dad take me out for a big slap up steak dinner on the last night, with a friend or two. This time, my erstwhile house mate came along, as thanks for vacating VicInPerson Towers while they visited.

The Keg don't do the best Steak in Victoria.  But they do a good one, at a good price, in pleasant surroundings.  Also, there was a desire for lobster and crab, and the Keg does the surf 'n' turf combo every year as a special.  We've had nice meals there before, and will do again no doubt.

A pre-drink while we all arrived in the bar started the evening off. Having got there a bit early we settled in with a beer (Granville Island's Hefe for me) and a chat while they prepared the table.  Beer list is painfully mainstream big brewery (Granville Island is hard to consider as 'craft' brew these days, and the quality has dropped since I've lived here), but the Hefe is a good citrusy aperitif.

Seated next to the window, we had a great view across the inner harbour. Menus arrive and we sits and think about the options.  There's the Sirloin, the Prime Rib dinner. There's the baseball steak or the 20 oz bone in steak. Or the Sirloin/King Crab platter... or even the Sirloin/Lobster extravaganza.  Experience tells me that anything more than a 10 oz steak without a heavy day before hand is going to make me do my best impression of a boa constrictor.

We share some tempura and a Lobster Gratine for the starters.  Mum's wanted a taste or two of Lobster, and this is delivered.  Meaty chunks, topped with a decent cheese sauce. Personally, I could have just gone without the gratine part and had the lobster grilled with a bit of garlic, but that's a preference.

I've opted for the crab with an 8oz Sirloin, Chicago-style Medium Rare.  That's a steak that's cooked 'aggressively' for the first few seconds, charring the outside, but hardly cooked on the inside.  All those lovely brown crispy bit, but juicy pink just inside and almost raw in the centre.  The best of all worlds, at least to me.  The crab is a bunch of King Crab legs, ready to go with a boat of butter.  There's some side dishes as well, but whose really paying attention to that.

The steak delivers what I've come to expect.  It's cooked well, to the the right order.  The open flame they use imparts a slightly heavy flavour to the outside I could do without, but it's good.  Some people can do better at a campsite (one person I know can cook steak better there than anywhere else I've had slabs of beef), but I'm happy with The Keg's version. There's the whole other thing to eating out that is the sizzle as well.

The Crab legs were fantastic, juicy, meaty lumps of crab meat that took the merest of taknk to seperate out of the legs.  Splash of butter and good times were had. I'd probably have been happy with a plate of these, a  plain baked potato and simple, green salad.  In fact, I'm now making it task for myself to prepare crab legs at home as well as this.

Dad highly enjoyed the lobster and steak.  I think Mum had a bit more of the lobster, but there was more than enough to eat.  The Prime Rib was deemed good, as was the steak and twice potato (with all the trimmings).  But I'd suggest avoiding the carb loading with all that protein.

At this point our waitress presented us with the Bill.  The service had been good throughout, but this was odd.  We weren't asked if we'd like coffee, or the dessert menu. Just "here's the bill, thanks for dining with us". We frowned a bit and asked if we could have desserts.  A hurried apology later and we got dessert menus, but it was strange, like we weren't expected (or wanted?) to hang around beyond a quick meal.  Seeing as we had seated early, I'm sure it couldn't have been a time thing to get a second cover in, but may be so.

We shared some desserts.  The Billy Miner pie was a mountain of ice cream, fudge, and chocolate.  My blood sugar thanked me that I shared this, else I would probably still be in a sugar coma.   Fantastically rich. I had another beer, coffee was served and dad settled back with a happy class of Laphroaig, declaring the holiday a success. We headed home with full stomachs and happy memories.

Total :  I didn't pay, and I wouldn't ask.
Phone : (250) 386-7789
Address : 500 Fort St, Victoria, BC V8W1T4
Website : http://www.kegsteakhouse.com/

Relish, Downtown Victoria

Relish is an awkward location. At least for Victoria.  Opposite the homeless drop in centre on Pandora, it's not unusual to have a few down and outs on the street near by.  Some just looking for someone to sit out undisturbed, and some strung out or drunk.  Compared to other places I've lived, it's not the cardboard city, or dangerous.  But there is the image thing.  Step around a drunk before you head to breakfast may be not want you want to do.

That middle-class snobbery of mine out of the way, you should ignore all that and visit Relish.  Great food, good atmosphere, well run and socially aware.

The place isn't big, seating maybe 16 at tables with a window bar for another half dozen.  A bright, roomy feel to the place, with plenty of varnished wood making it feel more like being in someone's kitchen than a dining room.  I got there early for my group, but there was no trouble seating me with a coffee while the other 4 people arrived.  Good coffee, hot, strong enough to deliver the caffiene, but not so strong I could feel hairs on my chest growing.

Eventually, the rest of my friends arrived (on time), and we ordered.  The Englishman in me sees baked beans as comfort food, the same way many of my North American friends view Kraft Dinner.  Baked Beans has the advantage of being more nutritionally complete than the packet of empty carbs and fake cheese that makes up Kraft dinner.  Not to say that I haven't partaken in Mac'n'Cheese happily.  Relish had Beans and Eggs with Organic greens on the menu, so I went for that.

The eggs were poached perfectly, bright yellow yolk flowing into the toast and beans.  Beans were tasty, with no huge globs of sauce, but beans, baked with a coating of sauce.  The greens though... oh the greens.  It's hard to wax lyrical about a bowl of lettuce and leaves.  But these were perfect.  Slightly bitter, slightly sweet, slighty tender, but still with some crunch. Seriously good.  I don't know if it was the mix, the preparation, the dressing or the organic-ness. Whatever it was, I was sad my salad was finished.  I don't say that very often.

Other people had the house benny, which was met to much approval as well.  Everything tasted fresh, well cooked. It felt local, the sort of healthy/aware feel that Victorians try to foster.  A genuine feel, rather than carefully orchestrated.

Final Bill
Coffee - $2.50
Eggs, beans and greens - $10.00

Total :  $16 with taxes and tip
Phone : 250-590-8464
Address : 920 Pandora Ave, Victoria BC
Website : http://www.relishfoodcoffee.com/

Short Reviews - Beer.

I took a month off writing, mostly to keep up with real world work, but partly as a rest and respite to review what I had done, to try and improve.  We'll see how well that goes. But back in the saddle again, with several places in the list to publish reviews, and a coffee shop comparison to get on and do.

Local beers, not just for local people.  Though some really should be kept on the island to avoid shaming the name of Victoria's brewing scene.  And other's are up there with the best of the world brewing.  The recent Great Canadian Beer Festival showed the strengths and weaknesses.

First, the weakness.  I noted from the Victoria Intoxicant site that Vancouver Island Brewery was releasing a new seasonal, Iron Plow Marzen.  If pushed, I'd say Marzen is my favourite long drinking beer. Amber hued, toasted, malty flavour, vague hints of hops and it drinks smooth.  Not in your face, but ideally it's a lager stored (matured) for a couple of months at least to develop that refined taste. VIB's seasonal is... disappointing.  It's not truly awful, but it's not a classic of the style.  They've hit the colour, but the smell lacks some of the toasty malts I'd expect, and it doesn't finish well, leaving a distinctive yeast-like flavour that is reminiscent of their Piper's Pale Ale.  I wonder if it was brewed using a lager yeast and let to mature (lager) a while.  It certainly just doesn't have the complexity of malts I'd expect, and love from a good Marzen.

The good stuff though is coming from Lighthouse Brewery right now.  I'm pretty sure both their Tasman and Switch Back ales are brewed somehow differently from Beacon and Race Rocks.  Neither has a the slight (or heavy) tea-like astringency that's turned me of their regular brews.  The Tasman Pale Ale is something I'd love to see on the taps in my local.  Brewed using down under hops, it's got great balance that you'd expect from a good pale ale.

Switchback IPA is brewed strong (6.5%) with a lovely Northwest nose, assertive bittering, but still some of the malt left in their, so it doesn't knock you out with the hops.  Just lets you know it's there and isn't going away.  There's a touch of alcohol warmth backing it all, which just adds to the brew well, making it a interesting beer to drink if you want to study it. Or just a good strong IPA if you want something cold and tasty at the end of the day.

And while I'm writing up Lighthouse in glowing terms (they ain't paying me), I can also recommend the Dark Chocolate Porter. The pure cocoa gets in there and sits well with the dark chocolate malts. This adds a new bitterness from a new direction.  I'm not a huge fan of chocolate beers, but this is a good one for the style.   I'm also liking Lighthouse for the Szerac Saison they served at the beerfest.  Fine and tasty goodness.

I seemed to have missed out this year on the Satori IPA from Driftwood, but have reports it was as good as ever.  Damn.

And looking outside Vancouver Island for beer, I've been impressed by the range of imports in Hillside Liquor Store (who advertise 'Liquor Store prices'... well yes, you are a Liquor Store...).  Recently I got the set of Adnams (from Suffolk, England) beers to enjoy.  Gunhill is a great British Mild (serve it cold, not chilled). Only 4%, but a tasty rich mix of malts and british hops.  Adnam's Explorer is a blonde beer, brewed North American style with Northwest, citrus hops, best served cold.  Excellent, refreshing beer.  I've got a Adnam's Broadside ready to go here as well.  Much loved and drunk in my days in London.

Original Joe's, Langford

An friend of mine mentioned this place as being run by a friend of an ex-work colleague.  Another person mentioned it as being good for large portions of good food, pub-style food.  And another person recommended it to a friend, who mentioned it when we were considering places to eat after helping them move.  We didn't actually go there after the move (making a repeat trip to Spoons), but we (my breakfast crew and I) headed there for brunch one hot summer's morning.

Except someone had failed to notice that they don't do breakfast at all (not a special Sunday brunch, or a late breakfast weekend menu, same menu all week), so lunch it was.  Joe's is a big old barn of a place out in the big box-store land Langford.  One box, filled with booths, and bar tables, a long counter top bar and plenty of TVs showing the sports (the Olympics were on then, I'd expect a steady diet of baseball, football and basketball at other times of the year).

Styling itself as a restaurant and bar, it had all the character of an airport lounge, without the tannoy or flickering departure screens.  It was quiet (no flights yet, I guess).  We got a good large 7 person table/booth area, with plenty of room for us to spread out and chat.  The lay out there was good for a mid-sized group, rather than being strung down a long thin table.

I'm guessing the staff didn't really want to be there yet, as the waitress went through motions of seating us and taking the drinks orders while everyone was still trying to work out where they were sitting.That caused confusion with the drink.  Let folks sit down first before asking how many coffees.  Coffee and water was delivered while were still on the menus, and apart from one trip back after serving food, we didn't get any top ups, or check ups if the food was okay, or if we needed anything.

The food did not match the service or the location.  I've heard they do big portions, and they indeed give you a solid amount of food (not US levels of food mountains, but enough to more than kill the hunger).  Everything seems to be served with two sides.  I went for the Sgt. Pepper Burger, with fries and green salad.    Solid pile of fries, well cooked, with a portion of tasty beef gravy.  Fresh green salad, and a nice dressing.  Big slab of a burger.  I regretted spicing it up with the chillies, chipotle and pepper-jack cheese.  It didn't need any of that.  Good meaty burger, cooked with a slight crisp on the outside, but juicy on the inside. The kaiser bun it was served on was glazed, soft, but still substantial enough to keep the works together.

Others had (among other things) the chicken tenders (fine), poutine (close to the second best in Victoria, after La Belle Patate) and meal with the garlic mash (very good indeed).  Everyone was satisfied. Good food, average service.

Which leads to whether I would go back... probably not, unless there was a good sized group of us in Langford, pre-cinema or some sort of social event.   But if I was there, in a group, the food shouldn't disappoint, and maybe early evening the place livens up a bit. If I lived nearby, I might head there for the sports and meal.  The food was more than good enough to deal with disinterested service once.

Final Bill
Sgt. Pepper Burger - $14.00
Coffee - $2.50
Total :  $20.00 with taxes and small tip

Phone : 250-380-4910
Address : #125 - 2955 Phipps Road, Langford, BC, V9B 0J9
Website : http://www.originaljoes.ca/langford

Canoe Brewpub, Downtown Victoria

Breakfast! Last time I wrote about the Canoe Club in 2009 I was marginally happy with it as a place to meet a lot of people. It appears to have slightly rebranded to the "Canoe Brewpub". Recent trips to the Canoe of an evening have not changed my mind.  The beer is average (and in some cases, unsettled and yeasty), the service varies, but it's good enough to meet a random large group of people.

But this time it was going to check out the Brunch service.  A previous trip had hit all the right notes, and with the parents in town, I decided it was a good place to take them, and meet another half-dozen of my closest friends.  And subject my parents to them (I'm joking, the two of you who may read this...)

We got there at midday, just before another large group, so we grabbed the big carvery table upstairs and spread out.  Coffee and tea was served, though the speciality coffee took a bit longer to turn up, the rest was fast, and it's a decent mug of warm brown stuff.

I went for the special Cheddar and Ham benny, which promised to be served on cornbread. And I love good corn bread.  Dad went for the big breakfast (and an oath he'd not need to eat again that day), while Mum was proud to ask for the Bambino breakfast - "only available to under 12's and over 65's".  I think she was slightly disappointed that the waitress didn't demand proof of age (having just turned sixty-five, she's keen to get all the respect and discounts afforded to her).

The meals took longer than you'd have to wait at a one of Victoria's many Breakfast-only places, but you'd not be complaining about the wait at a normal dinner restaurant.  And that gave plenty of time for everyone to ask my parents about all the embarrassing things I must have done while growing up, and my parents to check up I was behaving myself in Victoria.  Or at least this is how I heard the conversation, but I'm told it was much less about me, and much more about the Scottish borders, going to University of England and Wales, printing presses, living on the island, the local history and whether I was behaving myself in Victoria (I joke, again).

So food arrived.  Two perfectly poached benny eggs, cheese with just enough bite, small pile of breakfast potatoes and nicely cooked cornbread. It didn't crumble as you looked at it, but soaked up the Hollandaise sauce and egg yolks perfectly. Fantastic breakfast, probably my favourite Eggs Benedict I've had.  I'm not a great fan of the Eggs in Eggs sauce, but this, this was good. The herbed breakfast potatoes rode that line between fluffy/mushy insides and crispy outsides very well.  The rosemary just adds a nice hint in there to round the flavour out.

Dad's Big Breakfast was indeed big.  2 eggs, bacon, sausage, a small pile of breakfast potatoes, a toasted baguette, roasted potatoes and some fruit. Dad felt his oath of fasting would be easy enough to keep.  Mum's Bambino was scrambled eggs, bacon and a baguette.  It also promised fruit juice, but we had to ask for this.  The waitress then checked the menu, and to her surprise, yes this was part of the meal.  Apologies all around, and some fresh OJ rounded out the meal.  Just the right size for brunch, declared mum.

We got in just in time to avoid two big parties, but they seemed about half a waitress under staffed upstairs Our waitress was great, just had slightly too many covers. I'm glad there wasn't actually half a waitress though.  I leave that sort of thing to the gothic horror movies, not brunch with my parents.

So brunch was had, and my secrets were kept safe. That's success in my book. I'll probably be back there again with larger groups.

Final Bill
Coffee x 2 : $6.00
Tea : $3.25
Benny with Cheddar and Ham : $13.50
Big Breakfast : $13.50
Bambino Breakfast : $8.50
Total : $65.00 with tip and taxes.

Address : 450 Swift Street,Victoria,
Telephone : (250) 361-1940
Website : http://www.canoebrewpub.com/

Famoso Pizzeria, Downtown Victoria

A couple of weeks ago, unexpectedly, and without warning, I was sent an invite to the opening night of a new Pizzeria in Victoria. I've never heard of the Famoso chain, and I have no idea why I was picked out of the morass of Victoria restaurant bloggers.  I was at first going to turn it down.  How do I maintain objectivity or distance? How will my readers react?  I then got over myself, decided to point out that someone else paid for this meal, and then just write what I wanted to write.  Course it might be coloured, but I'll let the reader decide what to take from it.

So, here it is. Fresh of the keyboard.

I found a friend whose equally (if not more so) into good food as I am, and headed down town. Famoso is in Market Square, in the location formally occupied by "Dig This", a gardening shop.  You couldn't tell, they've carefully cleared out the bags of peat, moss and foilage displays. They've been replaced with plenty of solid tables, tasteful brown walls and a large open plan pizza kitchen. The high ceilings in the open plan of the dining area didn't soak up the noise very well, and coupled with the sound track, it was quite hard to have normal conversation.  However, it did make for a buzz about the place and an energy, which no doubt helped kick the opening night off.  But it probably needs to have some noise reduction in there to get a more food-first, conversation friendly experience.

We were greeted with an Italian Spritz (Presseco, Aperol and soda water) which has a bitter-sweet orangey-grapefruit flavour.  I'm not sure if I loved it or hated it.  I drank it though.  We were shown to our table, right in the middle of the main dining area, and surrounded by a variety of folks. There was the party table, being photographed by "Snap Victoria".  There was the hipsters.  There was a more serious date night going on to my left, and what I imagine were some foodies to my right.

We were then given the talk about the system by our servers. Ordering is done by going up to the counter and handing in a slip with the food choice on, then table service from then on.  Apparently this is to keep things at the diner's own pace.  The pizza, we were promised, can be cooked in just 90 seconds, so fast service was assured.

We browsed the menu, and plumped for a couple of pizzas on the traditional menu.  Famoso is going for authentic Neapolitan pizza.  Thin bases, pure tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh cooked in a big fired furnace that took pride of place in the corner.

We were treated to the full founding story and branding after our meal.  The founder of the chain came across this pizza style while travelling in Italy, and spent a year perfecting his knowledge of the style, and getting his first restaurant in Edmonton certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana for authentic Napoli pizza.  The best flour, the best Italian tomatoes for a simple sauce, hand stretch dough, 900 degree fired oven.  The works. You can read the rest on their website.There's a passion for the food from the founder at work here, at least.

I ordered the Margherita with anchovies (which could be cooked or raw, I took cooked), while my friend went for the Conforto, hoping for chilli oil to give it a bit of a kick.  We were handed some roasted olives and flat-bread as an appetizer, and waited for the meal.  The olives were good... salty, meaty, with a spicy chilli oil (there was hope!).

The pizzas arrived (I can never call them pies... pie has a top crust in my world). Two 10" pizzas with crispy charred rims, a red base of sauce and scattering of toppings.  This is not a triple decked pizza filled with stodge. We were warned that the quick cooking and crushed tomatoes made for a sloppy topping, and it does... you need to fold over the slice to keep it in all in check, and even then, a good amount of the topping slid away from base.

The mozzarella on the margherita with the salty, cooked anchovies was delicious. I love anchovies.  These tasted like good anchovies.  The tomato sauce was disappointing though.  It was a bit weak and watery for me.  This may be me being used to the thick paste-based sauces, but coupled with the soggy base, it just left it all a bit wanting.  The base though... the quick fired dough around the edges had a scent and texture reminiscent of making scout dough twists.  I wasn't sold straight away, but I've been thinking about that pizza base all day today. I want more of it. Dough, tendered, charred, tasty.

The Conforto was topped with roasted peppers and mushrooms and spicy Italian sausage. No chilli oil on the side, so black pepper and chilli flakes were applied.  Again the toppings wanted to escape the base. The sausage was a miss, it didn't add anything to the dish (no spice, no meaty flavour) but the mushrooms were packed with a intense flavour that I liked, and worked well with the pizza.  Just that sloppy, watery sauce again.  I wanted a bigger tomato burst from it.  Or more consistency to hold the topping and base together, rather than sliding away.

Or maybe Naples style pizza is not for me?  My friend told me I had to try Prima Strada (Cook Street village for one) to compare and contrast their take on the style.

Still, there was desert. We had tried a taster from the Fiasco Gelatto bar.  Blueberry and Basil is a great combination, and salty caramel is tasty too. This is worth going back for to try a full scoop.  But for afters, I had the Affogato, a scoop of Vanilla Bean gelatto with a shot of espresso on top.  At first, I thought I'd made a terrible mistake.  The bitterness of the coffee and the sweetness of the ice cream were at war, and just didn't work.  But after it melted into the coffee, and made a cold, foamy iced coffee, it was damn fine finish to the meal.

The tiramasu was tried as well by my friend.  It wasn't bad, but judged against Il Terrazo and other's dishes, it was found wanting.  I think the sponge base tasted too dry and rough, it needed to soak in more to complement rather than fight the marscarpone.  Not too bad, though.

Service was excellent, and the staff seemed very pleased to help out, talk to everyone and we got to hand shake the owner, the founder and a couple of other people who were probably important.  Course you can't tell much about the service on an opening night when it's best foot forward.

In the end, it's good pizza. It's different from what I've had elsewhere, and the idea and passion is there.  Good ingredients, simply cooked the right way. Ramsay and Bourdain would approve.  I just wouldn't say it was great from what I had, but as my friend said, you might just need to find the right dish.  I noticed a $16 pizza and cinema ticket deal they have during the week, and I suspect I may just take up that offer to give them another go.

Phone : (250)-590-2648
Address : 128 - 560 Johnson Street, Victoria
Website : http://www.famoso.ca/

Kuma Noodle, Mount Tolmie, Victoria

So, after a series of long travel articles... lets get local.  Ultra local for me.  Two blocks from my house and there's three places you can get soup noodle meals.  This one, Kuma Noodles, is Japanese-style noodles.  Pork-based broth, thin noodles, small cuts of meat and veg.  The noodles come in soy, miso or salty flavour, or you can go for BBQ-pork miso noodles.  Or if not in a noodle mood, Katsu-don (Pork culet, egg and rice), or a chicken or BBQ pork version.  I love me some Katsu-don. But went for the Soy Noodles, with a side of fried rice, and an upsell of Gyozas to start with.

The food came out in an odd order, with the gyoza's following the soup noodle which followed the side of fried rice.  Had expected the dumplings first.  The dumpling were... okay.  I don't think I'm a big fan of gyoza, and these weren't the finest example I've ever had.  The filling was pretty bland pork mince and some nameless vegetables.

The fried rice though did take me back to eating in the Toshiba canteen when I had a short trip working in Japan.  Tasty, filling, just greasy enough to satisfy a craving without being sodden in fat.  Mix of meat and veg.  Cheap and easy fast food.

The noodles were pretty tasty as well.  The pork broth is a blander dish than the beef broth in Pho.  Slighty salty, slightly oily from the pig fat. Not complex, just there as a container for the contents.The noodles have more of a savoury bite, and the thin, thread like ramen is not your packet ramen beloved of students, but a more substantial beast. There's half a boiled egg and some green onions in there with a couple or so slices of pork, making it a decent sized meal on it's own.

The service wasn't super fast, and I hadn't realized we had to go up to pay our bills, rather than pay at the table.  So that took a while to sort out, doubled as the Interac machine had gone down.  Still, the best part of the meal was it's cost.  Super-cheap for a meal out (only went higher as we got some sides) and tasty.  If they could get us sorted a bit quicker, this would be a great in-and-out joint.  That said, it's another choice in my neighbourhood.

Final Bill
Soy Noodles and Fried Rice - $9.25
Gyoza - $3.25
Total : $14 with tip and taxes.

Address : 1551 Cedar Hill Cross Road, Victoria, BC
Phone : (778)-678-1267

Port McNeill and the North Island

Recently, I headed north out of Victoria to visit Port McNeill.  My mother had decided that a fitting way to spend her birthday was to sit on a boat in the Johnstone Strait watching orcas.  My parents live in Scotland.  It's a long way to come, but I'm not complaining that they decided to visit their son.  Luckily, I have friends in Port McNeill, and even better, they run a resort there.  Yes, we got a good rate for the rooms we stayed in due to that connection, so there's the full disclosure.

We left late enough to avoid any commuter traffic on the Malahat, and had a long clear run up to Parksville.  An average cup of coffee was had at the Pacific Brimm Cafe (the pun is better than the java), and then a change of drivers at the Tim Horton's in Campbell River.  Then scenery started get interesting. Long sweeps of highway, wending through the pine forests.  Great fun to drive, a single lane highway, but on a lovely sunny day I was starting to wish for a convertible.

We hit Port McNeill mid-afternoon and checked into the Black Bear Resort, which is on the hillside above downtown Port McNeill.  Or in my English parlance... the town centre.  Port McNeill is a town of around 2,600 folks.  Not very big, but up here the nearest next major place is Port Hardy, with 4,000 people, 40km away. It's the distance between places that gives them their own specialness, not the just the size.

Port McNeill exists on a mix of tourism, forestry and the working a big gravel pit.  The town has a marina for pleasure craft, a BC Ferry that serves Sointula and Alert Bay, and a few shops and restaurants. Everyday there started with a low mist over the strait, which rose as the day went on revealing the coastal mountains on the mainland of BC.  Sointula is on Malcolm Island, pretty much the last island of the coast of Vancouver Island before the open water of Charlotte Sound, and the Pacific.  As such, it's cold water out there.  I declined to take a swim.

We got in, refreshed after the drive, and hit the Northern Lights restaurant at the Haida Way Inn (Hide-away, get it? No? Neither did I for about 24 hours). There was a wide range of specials and standard meals, all towards the fine dining end, but not quite into the gourmet end.  Actually, the menu reminded me of a British bistro circa 1995.  Nothing now seems that adventurous, but it's not pies, burgers and fried food, either.  Being by the sea, I went for the Seafood platter.  Halibut, Salmon, Shrimp and Scallops, with corn bread and vegetables.  The shrimp and scallops were excellent.  Moist, tender, exactly what I want in seafood.  The fish was okay.  As a friend tells me, fish is so often over cooked when you dine out.  And this was no exception.  The salmon had just started to dry out, leaving it just the wrong side of done for me.  Same with the halibut, which was just getting to the flaky stage.   Still, a meal with family, on the hill above the ocean with good service.

An early night, with the joys of cable television to entertain me for a couple of hours.  I don't have cable at home, so a diet of Discovery Channel and Food Network was nice to just browse around. Morning was a buffet breakfast (with make-your-waffles...) and plenty of coffee.  Sorted me out perfectly, and we took a stroll down to the ferry, and made our way to Alert Bay.

Alert Bay is on Cormorant Island, but the village pretty much takes the whole of the island, and is home to part 'Namgis first nation.  Features of the island include a traditional Big House, used extensively for band meetings, the world's tallest totem pole, a nice little high street and the Everglades.  No crocodiles in the Everglades, but a fresh water swamp at the top of the hill above Alert Bay, man made a few decades ago when the salmon cannery dammed the stream, and caused the spring to flood the hill.  We took a walk around their, and back along the board-walk in time for a coffee, bun and the boat back home.  Where I cooked steaks on the BBQ with home-made salads for the family and our hosts (green salad and potato salad).  Later on, several drinks by myself were had in the Haida Way Inn.  And that's all you need to know about that.

I took a run the next day to work of the night before, while the folks took a massage in the spa.  My morning was not as relaxing, but well needed... and there's worst places to go for a jog around.  Though I suspect I'd not have taken the woodland paths if I'd been told before hand of the local bear and cougar currently walking around. Mind you, I might have broken my own record for the mile if I had come across one.

Refreshed, we took a walk to the logger sports day. Presented by a New Zealander, this was a group of half a dozen gentleman and half dozen ladies cutting up big and small bits of timber as quickly as possible under a variety of different conditions.  No limbs were lost, despite the use of chainsaws, and axes swung (and thrown) around.   The best event was the chainsaw drag race... souped up chainsaws waved through chunks of white pine as fast as possible. Quiet and serene it was not.

Dinner was had at the Sportsman, a Greek restaurant, also advertising steak, chicken, pizza, curry, pasta....  I'm usually sceptical of that many styles. Here it was only partly justified.  I had a great piece of roast chicken, and a nice pile of veg from the salad bar.  We came back the next night (as the other option was closed on Sunday) and had decent ribs with a insipid lasagne.  The prime rib my father had was judged okay, but far too large for a normal appetite.  The halibut my mum had was deemed good.  So a mixed bunch.  Service the first night was spotty (slow, monosyllabic yet rushed the first night, spot on the second with a different waitress).  I'd go again for the salad bar and ribs.

Finally, though, the big day arrived.  My mother's big trip out on a boat, to see whales.  McKay's Whale Watching were our hosts on the 'Naiad Explorer', an aluminium hulled twin engined boat designed to run fast, but silent under water.  Our hosts Nicki and Bill at first intended to head out west to see if the local resident pod of orcas was coming back down the strait.  But a change of plan after a call from another boat in the area, and we were treated to a 30 minute display of orca hunting a porpoise and dolphin along the shores of Vancouver Island.  The big Mother orca first flicked a porpoise about 10 foot in the air, and while her brood trailed behind, she gave chase to dolphin, which tried to keep ahead, but was eventually caught after circling around.

We had the view of the big whale breaching several times, with her companions (including a small calf) struggling to keep up the chase.  And then after this display of the brutality of nature, we got too see a couple of hump back whales, a Dall's Porpoise and it's tiny calf, a whole load of lazy harbour seals and nesting Golden Eagles.  I love harbour seals.  They look so content on land, like a big snoozing dog, and so happy when in the water.  Of course, these guys weren't being chased by a killer whale...

Bill and Nicki served up a decent pot of soup, and some cakes for a snack later on the trip.  Both were highly informative of the local wildlife, what was happening around us, and a bit of history of the area.  And on the way back, we saw a black bear, ambling along the sea front... just about where I had been running the day before.

Next day, it was goodbye to Black Bear (who I'd recommend even if I didn't know the Manager... clean, comfortable, great shower, great service, nice pool and tub for a relax in as well) and back down the island.

We stopped briefly in Telegraph Cove and looked around the whale museum, complete with skeletons of the sea life we'd seen the day before.  While sitting and watching the world on the pier, we also saw more Dall's Porpoises in the mouth of the cove, gallivanting around.  The cove has a very nice series of heritage houses, converted for short stays, and plenty of information about the history of the place.  It seems to be a popular jumping of point for adventure kayakers heading into the Broughton Archipelago.

The only place I'd note on the trip back was Sue's Place, about 5 kilometres north of Campbell River. Huge doorsteps of sandwiches for a good price.  Or a perfectly sized hot dog... if you have a big appetite (I often do when driving).  I'd recommend it as a place to stop before or after the 200 km tip to the North End of island.

Pho-ever, Mount Tolmie, Victoria

More adventures in local dining, this time with the parents.  Having got in from a hard days work (honest) and hard cycle home (actually a very pleasant ride along the Lochside trail), I didn't want to cook. The parents didn't want to go too far.  Pho-ever is close by, and a regular stand by for me.

Pho-ever has Pho in the title, but the menu extends beyond bowls of beef and noodle soup, and has an extensive Korean range of meals, plus a nod to the Japanese Bento box. And a wide selection of bubble tea.  The Korean food is the best I've had in town, but I'm not an expert on Korean cuisine itself, so it might be catering for this Brit's tastes.  The Chicken Ggan Pong Gi (S-6) blends a good spicy heat, crispy meat and a pile of sweet/sour veggies.  I have to remember to try other things when I go in, but it's a favourite.

This time though, I did want something less spicy and simpler.  Plus I'd been thinking about Pho all day, so a big bowl of Pho was ordered for myself (P8 - with Brisket, Flank and Rare Steak slices) and my father (P9 - same as mine with added meatballs).  Mum decided to try the Chick Duphab with BBQ sauce, craving something unspiced (on their previous visit the heat had been a bit more than they expected).

But to kick off, two orders of Spring Roll and a Kiwi Bubble tea was ordered.  Mum had wanted to know what Bubble tea was, and my vague description of "iced fruit tea with tapioca" wasn't really doing it justice.  A bright green glass with black frog spawn lurking at the bottom arrived, and I fully expected to have a Bubble Tea to finish off with my Jasmine Tea. Nope.  While not being a taste revelation, I think it was at least an interesting diversion.  But she'll not be demanding more trips to the Bubble tea Emporiums of BC.

The spring rolls were hot, a little greasy, but packed with a nice mix of meat and veg.  Crisp and kicked things of nicely.  Then the Pho arrived.  For those who don't know pho, it seems to be pronounced by Anglophones like 'faux', which leads to all sorts of puns (also nearby is Pho-nomenal). However, I'm not sure that the original Vietnamese is pronounced that way, and it's meant to be said more like "fuh".

However it's pronounced, it's a big bowl of rice noodles, covered with cooked (or partially cooked) meat, and then covered with a light spiced beef broth.  The heat of the broth finishes the cooking process of. You then add bean sprouts, coriander, chilli and lime to your liking, give it a quick stir and eat.

The meat can be your straight forward beef flank/brisket/steak slices.  Or sliced tendon, tripe, ox tail. Or in other cases chicken, fish or vegetables.  Pho-ever used to advertise in the Vegeterian section "veggie pho" which was made with beef broth.  Hmm.  That's come out of the menu now, and is in the meat eaters section.

I like their pho.  The broth has a very slight gingery sweetness, and the meat is all well prepared and neither tough or over soft and soggy.  The rare meat slices are red, and cook of perfectly in the heat of the broth, and the noodles are just slick enough to carry the broth.  I like Pho in general. It's hearty, it's not complicated and I'm sure it has good hydration properties before a night on the drinks, or after a hard work out.

I haven't quite mastered the art of a good noodle slurp without inhaling my food, but can manage the chop sticks well enough to feed.  Dad had a little more trouble than me, but they provided a big serving spoon and a western fork if you request it.  But it's fun sometimes to struggle a bit with your meal.  Again, I don't think it was food revelation, but he enjoyed trying something a bit different and new.  Mum was very happy with the rice and chicken dish, and we all left very happily content, fed and ready to face the weekend...

Final Bill
Bubble Tea - $3.95
Spring Roll (x2) - $3.95 each
Beef Pho (x2) - $8.45 each
Chicken Dupbabh - $8.95
Tsingtao Beer - $5.00
Total Bill, including Taxes and Tip : $55


Address : 1669 Pear St., Victoria, BC.
Phone : (250) 388-0028
Website : http://www.facebook.com/phoevervictoria

Travel : The Canadian, VIA Rail, Long Lac to Vancouver

As I mentioned before, back in June I drove half away across Canada, and came back by train. The journey down the Icefield Parkway was worth the trip alone.  After that section, the trip between Banff and Ontario was without much drama or excitement. Actually, there was plenty to remember, but not interesting enough to the world at large to share the full details.  And this post is going to be long enough...

However in short:

• if you're in Regina, I'd avoid the Copper Kettle Inn (lousy food, lousy service), and the Wolseley Motel, Wolseley, Sasketchwan is clean and dry. 
• the Ontario Shield is probably the most tedious road I have ever driven on.  600km from the Manitoba border to Thunder Bay is ALL THE SAME.  Small lakes, twisty single lane road and trees and rocks.  Repeated endlessly, for another 250km till I got on the train. 
• if you get a chance to stop at the Park View Motel, Uppsala, don't.  The worst, flea bitten, dirty roach-motel I've ever stayed in.  If I had been a bit more awake, and not in fear of moose, I think we'd have got back in the car and kept driving.

But we made it to Longlac, Northern Ontario, where I had to say good bye to my friend who was off to points East, and I was due to get on the Canadian to Vancouver.  Longlac station is not like the railway stations in the UK.  There was only the slightest indication it was a station (with only 3 trains a week, why advertise), no platform, and no ticket office.  In the middle of an empty industrial lot, in a town where no-one spoke English.  With no cell phone reception, I had to hope that the pay phone would get me out of trouble if I needed to find a bed for the night. My friend had another 200km to go, so left me at 6pm, the train already 20 minutes late.

But after two calls to VIA rail's customer services, I discovered the service was running two hours behind schedule.  This was good news, as at least I knew it was coming, so I sat back, got out my e-reader and waited.  And waited, slapping the bloodsucking insects, and slowly sweating in the evening heat.  I'd not had a decent nights sleep or shower in the last 36 hours.  I was about to get on a overnight train, in a seat, with a chance of no food service.

The train did arrive, clanging through the town, and stopped at the station as planned.  Only person to get on was me. No packages on, no packages off.  A train crew all running around for one dirty lone traveller.  Tonnes and tonnes of train stopped, for me.  Ah, the power.  Got on, was shown to a seat and given a quick spiel of the set up.  Which, thankfully, included a restaurant car still open for another hour.

I set myself up, had a quick change and rinse in the train toilet and to the observation car, which also had a bar.  A can of Canadian (well, why not) and I was feeling settled at least.   Dinner was served, and a very reasonable meal of chicken fillet and vegetables, on plates at a table with random strangers was had.  The strangest part of the trip, for me, was the random pairing you'd have at each meal, talking to strangers over food.  Some people would love this.  I'm a bit more anti-social, but found you could keep a decent conversation going with most people over the 30 minute food service.

I got back into my seat, flicked out the foot rest, set the seat back and tried to sleep.  Managed it for about 45 minutes, but my fellow passengers included one person taking up four seats, and still managing to lie in a position designed to snore the loudest.  I got up around Sioux Lookout where we stopped for twenty minutes for fuel and passengers. It was midnight, and we'd covered about 300km, but this would have been 600km by road.

The rest of the night I slept fitfully, wandering around, and eventually finding a nice spot wrapped up in all my sweaters in the observation car on the top deck.  No-one else was up there, so while it was cold, it was quiet.  Until about an hour outside of Winnipeg, when people started to wake up and look for something to do.  Which was stare out of the windows of the observation car, and discuss the best way to keep a Mr Sub sandwich fresh for a 36 hour train ride from Toronto.

At Winnipeg, the standard passengers have to get off, even if going onwards to Vancouver, and go amuse themselves in the city.  On a Saturday morning at 8am.  Nothing is open in Winnipeg at 8am on a Saturday. Not the station coffee shop. Not the cafe's near by. The Mall opened at 8.30, but I eventually found the YMCA was open as well, and went for a shower and a swim.  I knew my fellow travellers would prefer a freshly washed me.  Plus the swim got me awake again.  And it passed the time long enough so I could then go grab a cheap breakfast in the mall, and still have time to do some laundry.  Washed, with clean clothes and big mug of coffee, I reported back to the station to collect my ticket for the next two days.  This time in a berth, which meant a bed, meals and all the coffee and tea I could drink.

My Sleeper Carriage

The rest of Manitoba and Saskatchewan was more flat, rural countryside.   I sat in one of the three observation cars for most the day, reading, napping and watching the world go by.  The biggest problem I had on the trip that stopped my complete comfort (and we are hardly talking a massive one), was there was no plug sockets in the berth area.  The only sockets I could find to charge phone and e-reader was on the lower floor of the observation deck, or in the wash-room in my sleeper carriage.

Each sleeper carriage had about 6 berths, a shower, two wash rooms and 6-8 cabins.  The single person cabins were tiny, about the size of a twin bed.  That space contained a sink the size of a cereal bowl and chair and a foot stool.  The foot stool covered the toilet.  Yep, each cabin had it's own toilet, right in the room.  The chair and foot rest slide and unfolded into a bed that I assume takes up all the space.  Meaning you sleep on top of a toilet.  The two bed rooms with a upper and lower bunk had a small seperate wash-room, and they looked pretty cosy.  There were bigger rooms, but I didn't get to sneak a look inside them.

My upper berth was made up around 9pm and consisted of a bunk bed, a thick curtain and a tricky climb up  as the train rocked around a corner.  There was no luggage shelf to put my overnight bag, but a careful arrangement of stuff meant I could tuck in quite nicely, shut the curtain and read myself to sleep.  The gentle motion of the train sent me off to sleep, though at first the lack of a visual cue was a bit disconcerting.  I went to bed with the train on time, and due in Edmonton at 6.30am.  I had arranged to meet a couple of friends there for a cup of coffee, so I set the alarm for 6am for a shower and the first sitting of breakfast.

My Berth. That's me waving at the mirror, not a port-hole to another place.

On awaking, I relearned that VIA rail doesn't have priority over freight, and time tables are guidelines.  It was 6am, and we were a long way outside of Edmonton, and not likely to see the station until 8.30 at the earliest.  And though in Alberta, there was little cell reception to send a message to people to tell them to go back to bed and not be waiting for me with large mugs of coffee.  


Hmm, my peeves seem to be based around the availability of electronics. This says more about me than anything else.

Edmonton arrived 2 hours later than planned. Unlike UK stations, the Edmonton rail station is well outside of the city, but one set of friends was there to say hello and catch up, while the train split itself in half to add a super-duper observation car for the trip through the Rockies.  The trip to the Rockies took another three hours, crossing over various rivers, with the mountain range slowly looming into sight.  I sat at the rear of the train for this section, in the very last car.  This car had a great view from the back of the train, as well as a nice stock of tea and biscuits to keep me going.

The Rockies come into view

The Sleeper passengers and Standard Class are kept separate, unless the Standard passengers have paid for the meal service.  It's a little odd to think there's about as many spaces in the standard class three carriages as there is for the other 14 carriages in Sleeper class.  All that added weight dragged across Canada for sleeping and eating.  Still, the whole set up made for a bit of a cruise like feeling.  You got up, took a short stroll down the train, then sat and watched the world go by, and maybe chatted to your fellow passengers, or read, or eavesdropped.

There seemed to be several regular travellers from Toronto, and one guy was marking up all the pictures he'd taken a month later with his map of the railway.  Usefully, he could tell the rest of the observation car what we were looking at.  Though with the air of someone damn well proud that he knew that "on the left, in 3 miles was great vista across the Athabasca", and that everyone else should know it.

We stopped in Jasper after entering the edge of the Rockies.  I had an hour, so I jumped off and had a pint in the Jasper Brew Pub to see if their beer was worth the lousy service we'd had on the way out.  It wasn't.  The IPA tasted like a very over-hopped Pale, with no complexity or balance.  The service was still slow.  I'd have been better of saving my dollars for another Fort Garry Dark on the train.

We headed out of Jasper, climbing over the Yellowhead pass again, looking down on the river and highway. The scenery here was just as stunning as on the way out, with the added advantage of not having to concentrate on driving, and the extra height above ground also helping you appreciate the view.  Mount Robson was seen again, and it was as stunning as the first time.  Different time of day, and different angle.  I think I'd happily take a hike around the base of the Mountain and just watch it change as the light and weather changes during the day.

Random waterfall on the Westside of the Rockies

The VIA rail goes the long way around compared to the CP rail which goes through Calgary and the southern passes (and through some big looping tunnels).  This makes for a long haul back down the Fraser River valley to Kamloops (400km+), and another 350km from there into Vancouver.  So another night on the train, following the Fraser River.  Another nights sleep when I went to bed thinking we were ahead of schedule, only to wake up early for breakfast and find ourselves still well outside the city.  But another peaceful morning reading and eating a fantastic breakfast.

All the food was great.  Small-ish portions, but well cooked and presented in the dining car with table service and (in one case) a song by the waiter.  Nothing greasy, nothing that seemed just warmed over.  Vegetables were fresh, nothing flash fried. The Raspberry Ice Cream cake was especially delicious, and they claimed the chef prepared it on the way. And at around $20 for a meal if you were paying as you go, it was good value. Not cheap, but there's many $40 dinners I've had that would have lost out in a fight with the simple, effective food on the train.

So into Vancouver, and were out of the station on the Pacific Coach Lines back to Victoria.  There something that feels like home as you pass through Active Passage and can see Vancouver Island appear again.  You've got to go away to come back.

I'd certainly repeat the trip again.  VIA rail seems to be having a series of 40-60% of sales on the Canadian.  Taking a cabin is not cheap, but a lower berth would be almost as good (getting the window while you sleep and about 6 inches more bed space.  I'd probably avoid the non-sleeper class, unless I intended to hop on and off at various small towns on the way.  But I do hope to take another long distant train journey again.

Spinnakers, Victoria West, Victoria

I originally reviewed Spinnakers over two years ago. Things have changed, and things have stayed the same. They still go for the locally sourced food, they still brew their own beer, and the cooking is still well executed. Things seem to be a little less adventurous in the kitchen, and the beer has become less on the edge. Maybe I've become more accustomed to West Coast way of things. But I think it's more that the standard fare is just a little more standard, and they've stopped calling the beer with interesting names.

I always take visitors to Spinnakers, as it's got a great view and great vibe. And my parents are visiting, and they've had enjoyable times there, so back we went after a day being tourists.

An order of the Pulled Pork Nachos was served for Mum. The personal serving is enough for two as a starter. Served with a mound of fresh, pig goodness and a good salsa, these were a good start to the proceedings. I went with a cup of the chowder, which is creamy, starchy and sea-food salty in equal measure. Nice chunks of (I think) clam in there too. Big bowl of this and lump of bread and I be set on a cold winter's day. Dad also went with the chowder, and seemed very happy with it all.

But as it was a warm summers day, I followed up with the Highland Beef Burger, with cheese. It looked a little small on arrival, the patty shirking away from the edges of the bun, and just capturing the cheese and onions. But this was a packed, juicy, meaty burger. No filler, no messing around with a loose, gristly badly cooked pile of ground meat. This was a BURGER. Beef, beef, and more beef. I needed the bun and salad to compensate for the protein overload. Fantastic. Probably doesn't need the cheese or onions, or the pickled cabbage. This patty. Crisp lettuce. Tomato. The mild BBQ Sauce. Kaiser Bun. Damn fine.

Mum went with the Cod and Chips, and was most happy. Dad had the Bangers and Smash. Very happy he was too with it. Good pile of potatoes, great sausages. Nothing extreme ordered at our table, but good quality, pub food. Looking through the menu (and there was no specials), things are pub food, or local twists. I have had the shrimp pizza here, and can recommend it as well.

Beer wise, I went for the Indian Session Ale. They had opened a Fresh Cask of their IPA with Williamette Hops, but even 90 minutes after opening it, it was all gone. The session ale is a bit like the old Doc's was, but served chilled. Clean, mildly hoppy and low enough in alcohol to have two without the parents wondering if their son was a sloppy drunk.

Service was just fair. Our server got a couple of things wrong and had to recheck what we had ordered. I prefer it when the wait staff write it down... a good memory doesn't impress me as much as getting what I ordered. Fake it if you have to. Make it look like I'm not leaving my food to chance. The pacing of the food was just a bit too slow, waiting for the initial service, or plates to be cleared and the bill to arrive. Might have been a busy session, but didn't feel that way.

Dessert, and I ordered the Raspberry Sorbet, as did Mum, while Dad went with Strawberry ice cream. The sorbet was excellent, intense raspberry flavour that refreshed the palate nicely. Three scoops was a bit much, but good end to a good meal.

Final Bill
Pulled Pork Nachos (Individual Size) : $8.00
2 Cups of Clam Chowder : $6.00 each
Highland Burger with Cheese : $15.00
Fish and Chips : $14.00
Bangers and Mash : $12.00
Raspberry Sorbet x2 : $6.00
House made Ice Cream : $6.00
2 pints of Indian Session Ale : $5.75 each
Tea and coffee : $5.00
Total Bill for three, including tips and taxes : $120.00

Address : 308 Catherine Street, Victoria
Telephone : (250) - 386 - 2739
Website : http://www.spinnakers.com/

Foo, Downtown, Victoria

Foo is a little cabin on the corner of Yates and Blanshard, right next to the Rialto Hotel and one of the down town liquor stores.  It might even have been the original liquor store, but I don't quite recall from when I moved here.  Foo specializes in Asian Street Food.  Meaning quick dishes, like Pad Thai, Butter Chicken or Pork and Pineapple Fried Rice.

I've been there several times and never had a bad meal.  I've had one or two things I didn't care for as muck (like the Tofu Pad Thai), but that was more trying out a different taste/texture combination than my normal choices.

I can recommend the Pork Fried Rice if you like a sweeter friend rice, which is balanced by the fatty, porky goodness.  It's a great meal to kill the hunger cravings before watching a film at the Odeon.  And  not much more expensive than a couple of boxes of popcorn.  I've also tried my friend's Saag Paneer.  Which is a truly wonderful dish.  Cheesy, spiced beautifully with a chili fried bread. Seriously good. The caramel chicken is a favourite as well, but I find the sauce a little too heavy for a full dish.

There's normally 2-3 specials plus about 8 standard choices.  The specials often sell out, and like any sell out you wanted to eat is a disappointment, but what can you do?  Tonight the specials were Rare Beef Salad, a Chop Salad and a Tofu Chow Mein.  The later was sold out, but I wasn't feel like a salad or vegeterian.

I decided on the Beef and Broccoli Chow Mein with a bottle Cane Sugar Cola (diet).  II'm not sure how a cane sugar cola can have 0 calories (or if it has cane sugar in it in the diet version), but refreshed parts that needed it after some beach volleyball at the Strathcona.  The dish was another hit for me.  Big chunks of boneless beef short rib, moist and perfectly cooked, with crisp greens, crisp bean sprouts and a mound of thin noodles.  All covered in a well balanced, savoury sauce.  A thin sauce in consistency, but with a great punch.  I'd normally want to add some Soy Sauce to a dish like this, but the dressing here worked perfectly.

Which is just as well, as there's no condiments at Foo.  Just chop sticks or cutlery on the side. Minor misstep for me, but I suspect I've enjoyed the food more by not auto-condimenting.  You can also get food to go, though there's a trend for it to come in "parts" for the rice and meat dishes, in containers not big enough to add it all together to eat. But I normally sit down at the benches and just take a few minutes to enjoy the food, the world passing by and some conversation.

Final Bill 
Beef and Broccoli Chow Mein - $13
Diet Cane Cola - $2.50
Total : $17.50 with taxes and tip

Address : 769 Yates Street, Victoria, British Columbia
Phone : (250) 383-3111
Website : http://foofood.ca/

Spoons Diner, Victoria

Spoons used to be Floyd's second location.  The receipt still says "Floyd's Diner" on it, so I am not sure if it's just a name change, a re-brand or a separate entity.  The style, both of food, menu and service though is very similar to Floyd's.  Diner food, with diner surroundings, but a little bit of a twist in there.  A sense of humour about breakfast. I imagine the conversation is like this :

"Hey, bud, I was thinking, we could a Eggs Benedict "
"Yeah, we already do..."
"...but wait, for it... we serve it on crab cakes!"
"Awesome!"
"... with hollandaise using bacon grease!"
"Sounds great!"
"... and spicy chipotle mayo..."
"Erm..."
"... a deep fried dill pickle with sausages on a stick!"
"Calm down, and get with the Fishcake bennys... but will need a bad pun for the name...".

The "You did what? Eggs Benedict" was the special of the day, and was a big fat chunk of decent crab cake, with Poached Eggs, Muffin and a Hollandaise sauce that was meant to be made with bacon fat, but seemed no different from a normal sauce.  Damn fine, though, was the verdict.  Simple, effective.

Like the rest of the food, really. Simple and effect combinations of your breakfast favourites, served with hot coffee and a decent pace.  Like all spots in Victoria that don't screw up your eggs, it has a line up, and line ups normally mean slower than really desirable service for the first meal of the day.

Still, I went with the Holy Chow... Asian Fried Rice meets Breakfast.  Poached eggs, perfectly soft, oozing over a mound of fried rice, with water chestnut, those little corn cobs things, ham, sausage bits and a mound of toast.  Carb loading.  Perfectly fine once a week.  It was good, the eggs dripping into the rice was lovely.  Not quite as savoury as a normal dose of Chinese-style fried rice, so missed a bit there for me.  Needed soy sauce, perhaps, but a filling breakfast.

It got me started for the day, and that's what I mostly desire at a breakfast joint.  A full stomach and a chance to catch up with my friends.

Final Bill
Holy Chow : $12.50
Coffee : $2.50

Total : $17.00 with taxes and tip

Phone : (250) 382-5111
Address : 2915 Douglas St, Victoria, BC V8T4M8
Website : www.spoonsdiner.com (currently not working)

Baan Thai, Oak Bay

Baan Thai have three locations across Victoria, one downtown, one in Royal Oak, and one on the edge of Oak Bay.  I've been to the downtown before and remember thinking it was pretty good.  My friend asked if I wanted to grab food there after hanging down by sea in Oak Bay, it seemed like a good idea.

The venue is a small mall near to the Safeways in Oak Bay, and from outside it looks pretty unimposing,  Inside it has a long bench with push together tables, and whole set of individual tables, with a small bar up front. There are some wall hangings to make the place seem more cosy and private, and a lot of wood and wood effect.  It's a nice environment, and the wall hangings and paintings mix up a feeling of 'ethnic' and modern.  I say ethnic, as I have no idea if they are Thai, or Egyptian, or just stuff.

We got seated quickly, as it was towards the end of the evening session.  Couple of tables hadn't been bussed yet, and no-one seemed in a huge hurry to clean it up, but hardly a problem. Water was served, with the menus, and then the hard part of deciding what to eat began.  They've decent sized menu with a variety of Thai dishes, ranging from Thai-style curry, noodles, rice and meat dishes.  A decent slew of Vegeterian options, though I'd have liked less options with Tofu there.

I got a Jasmine tea and my friend got a bottle of Phoenix Lager.  Our waitress served well throughout the meal, never rushing us, but making sure everything was okay, and water was kept topped up.  She also had the looks of a model, but I try not to stare at the staff too hard, but when a female friend comments that someone is stunning... well you should look at least.

I went for the Om Gai, a slow cooked bone-in chicken dish, served in a hot, spicy gravy.  No veg, just a rich, sauce that combined well with the steamed rice.  The meat was fall of the bone delicious, the chicken fat merging into the sauce, making it incredibly comforting and satiating food.  The sauce was hotter than I was expecting, but I hadn't had spicy food for a while.  A very pleasant kick. The rice was a just a little dry, but with the sauce, worked beautifully.

My friend had the Preow Wan Gai, a Thai-style Sweet and Sour chicken.  A vibrant looking dish, cooked with lemons as well as bell peppers, cucumbers and pineapple.  The lemon and a nice sour tang to the sweet and sour sauce, and the veggies and meat were nicely cooked. A little bit of buyers regret on my side.  Definitely the healthy of the two dishes.

The extra for the steamed rice was a bit annoying, as the main dishes weren't super cheap, and steamed rice isn't a huge overhead, but otherwise I felt we got good value for money in terms of quality of food and service.

Final Bill :
Om Gai, $13.50
Preow Wann Gai, $13.50
Two steamed rice bowls, $5.00
Bottle of Phillips Gold Phoenix, $5.00
Jasmine Tea, $1.25

Total with taxes and tip : $50.50

Phone :  250-598-0057
Address : 104-2000 Cadboro Bay Road, Oak Bay, Victoria
Website : http://baanthaivictoria.ca

Travel : Jasper to Banff, Alberta

Recently, I went on a road trip across some of Canada.  Most of it isn't of huge interest to anyone but my friends and family, and they've seen the pictures.  And if you really want a great in-depth road trip report seeing Canada from away from the everywhere brands, checkout the Retro Roadtrip by Reb Stevenson.

But I did want to recommend two things I did, as things people might want to do one day.  Things that aren't IN Victoria, for sure, but I am, so I'll muse about them.

The first is the Icefields Parkway, which runs through the Rockies from Jasper to Banff. We spent the day driving up to just beyond Jasper, to a small motel cabin at Miette Hot Springs.  This was a full days drive, but worth it.  First the Yellowhead Pass has Mount Robson in the middle of it.  Mount Robson is the highest point in the Canadian Rockies, but also isolated from the rest of the range in such a way that you get a impression of one HUGE chunk of rock, covered in snow, and holding onto it's own clouds around the top.  Gorgeous.

Mount Robson

Miette Hot Springs is a naturally hot spring up, now turned into a simple spa.  The water is cooled to 104 Fahrenheit (about 40 Celsius), making it perfect to relax and float in.  I'm sure there's some minerals and other stuff in their that has some useful effects, but it just felt nice to relax in.  Tip : the pools to one side aren't heated.  That's why no-one is sitting in them.  Brrr.  You can sluice off in the outflow and not pay the small fee to get into the pool (which look like an outdoor lido), but the pool seemed more... civilized.  The resort also has a good cafe for a plate of bacon and pancakes.  Perfect fuel for the 350km drive south.

Jasper seems to be the centre for outdoor pursuits in this area.  I didn't see much of the town, but we did grab some food in the Jasper Brew Pub. I'd not recommend you do the same.  It was average, and the service was sloppy and slow. However, our first Elk siting was here, it was just moseying through the edge of town.  No harm to no-one.

Just outside Jasper is the gates to the park proper.  They'll charge $20 for the car for the day in the National Park, but it's worth it.  You start out following the course of the Athabasca (here flowing North) along a wide valley, slowing climbing up into the Rockies.  The valley narrows, the mountains seem to get taller, and more vertical, and the temperature noticeably drops. Eventually, you'll come to the Columbia Ice Fields, and the Glacier source of the Athabasca river.  Sheets and sheets of ice and snow stretch up the mountain sides.  We were there in May, and missed the snow falls by about 2 hours.

Iced Lakes, Icefields Parkway

As you get over the watershed, you start to drop slowly into the North Sasketchwan river source.  Here the road sweeps down into a valley where at points all you can see is the sheer sides of the mountains ahead.  The scale of the mountains was beyond my experience at this point.  Everything was BIG.  The sheets of snow we could see with huge crevasses.  Every mountain had it's differences.  We crossed the North Sasketchwan, and then cross into the Bow River Valley.  Here the scenery changes, with another wider river valley, litter with lakes, some a milky chalky white, others an intense blue-green.  The changes are from the mineral porridge that is scoured of the mountains.

Waterfowl Lakes

 As the valley widens, the road does as well, and the single lane each way becomes a dual lane highway again.  Less extreme climbs and twists, but the mountains still make up the view either side.  To help the local wildlife, bridges wide enough to have trees and bushes on cross the highway, so animals can wander unharmed by speeding trucks.

Lake Louise

Just north of Banff is the turn off for Lake Louise.  The road climbs back into the mountains (and here we were rewarded with a close up view of a Porcupine) for a mile or two, before we parking us up next to the Fairmont at Lake Louise.  The lake is a glacier lake, fed by three or four glacier fields in the mountains above.  It was still partly iced up, which is the norm for May. My southern BC living doesn't deal with the idea of iced lakes in late May. But the scenery is excellent.

We then dropped into Banff, leaving the bigger peaks behind, but still mountains on all side. Banff reminded me of Whistler's Ski Village, but with less ski bums and more mountaineers and mountain bikers (maybe that was a function of the time of year).  Plus I did get to see a bear and her year old cubs just loitering in the picnic area outside of town. If you do stay in Banff, Irwin's Mountain Lodge was a good standard hotel for a fair price.

We took our time on the drive, but we were heading East relatively quickly, so didn't spend too much time sight seeing.  There was a east a half dozen more places we could have stopped for a look around next to the roadside, or spent a while longer on the ice fields, at an interpretive centre, or walking down to a falls. But a very memorable drive.  I'd take it again.

Website : http://www.icefieldsparkway.ca/

The Clay Pigeon, Downtown, Victoria

The Clay Pigeon takes over on a corner that has been home to a faceless cafe.  It might have been the best cafe in Victoria, but it always looked worn out, and more likely to serve me instant coffee than espresso.  Appearances... are important at times.

Blanshard and Broughton now has The Clay Pigeon. Opened ten weeks ago, it doesn't feel like an upscale restaurant, or a feeding house.  I think the word is "Bistro"... small, relatively intimate, but not over the top on fussy service or fancy trimmings.  The menu is short, concise but interesting.

I've been twice. Once for breakfast, where the choices start from your normal breakfast sandwiches, but then head into the less normal ratatouille or braised beef or green lentils.  I didn't take any notes on the "Normal Man" I had, but I know it was a competent plate of eggs, potatoes and a side of sage sausages. Which was not served on the side, but on the plate, as it should be in my world. I like my food to be in one place when I order it together.

For my recent Sunday dinner, I had the Basque Lamb Stew.  It was served in a lightly spiced sauce, with a mound of mashed potatoes, which had been crisped on one side.  The dish had lots of merguez sausage in the stew, but not too much lamb.  This meant it lacked a bit of the richness of well cooked lamb, which I love.  That said, I really liked the dish.  My companion had the Chicken Pot Pie.  This looked great, packed with chicken, snow peas and a rich gravy. 


No drinks, I didn't even check the drinks menu as I had driven down.  Which is I think just as well, as I note they have Delirium Tremens, a strong Belgian beer, much loved by many of friends.  Still, some other time, no doubt.  I was kept well topped up with water by the attentive, but innocuous wait staff. We got served, checked on for happiness and otherwise left alone.


I like the Clay Pigeon.  It has a low key vibe, good food, done with a bit of twist without disappearing into the gourmand fuss that wouldn't work in the area they seem to be targeting.

Final Bill:

Basque Lamb Stew - $17.00
Chicken Pot Pie - $16.00

Total $42.50 with taxes and tip

Phone: (250) 590-6657

Location : 1002 Blanshard Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 2H6