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/