Brief Visits and Re-visits

It's dine around Victoria at the moment, so I took the opportunity to hit up at least one place to see how it was looking. The Reef I wrote about 3 and a half years ago. I've been back since, and really enjoyed their jerked food. The dine around menu offered a $20 and $30 version, and I went for the $30 meal. I shouldn't have. The soft, pork tacos were excellent. Spicy, crisp pickled cabbage, delight to eat. The Thyme Chicken was lifeless, and the mashed potatoes were slightly watery, and mushy rather than either creamy or rustic. The profiteroles were dry, really spoiling the not-to-bad pineapple cream filling. Meh. My friends had a some excellent sliders, and a crispy-sweet banana in their $20 meal.

I knew I should have gone for the jerk chicken. Still, the johnny cakes were still tasty, the house made hot sauce has a -just- bearable heat. Lesson learned : always go with the actually Carribbean food. The Ginger Beer shandy was also a welcome addition to the standards to order there.

This wasn't the first place I've been to on dine around that felt like they were phoning it during Dine Around. Maybe I was unlucky, or maybe the places are trying to turn around customers quickly or keeping costs down. But as a showcase, some places aren't doing that too well.

There's also some places I've been to that I want to do a full review of in the future or go back to for a fuller experience:

Green Wasabi - spreading from Sidney to have a downtown branch on the 1600 block of Douglas, this is a Sushi Cafe. No frills, clean and tidy, high backed chairs, glass over the table clothes. It looks nothing special. What I had is among the best rolls I've had in town. I always order BC rolls, loving the crisp flavour of the cooked salmon skins inside a rice roll. These were perfectly done. Fresh, clean tasting, flavours mingled perfectly. I also had the Chicken Teriyaki Don as well. The chicken was tender, had soaked in the flavours of the sauce. Rice done perfectly. One to go back to again.

The Pink Bicycle - My number one go to place for a gourmet burger. I normally go for either the veggie burger or the beef burger. It's hard to choose, as both are wonderful examples of their craft. The beef burger, juicy, satisfying. The veggie bean patty has this rough, texture with a wonderful combination of flavours from the chick peas and dates. So last time, I went with the Chicken Burger. Not as good as the other two, but the Guyere cheese, and herbs made it a good meal. The side salad seems to be a small cup, but there's enough going on in the bun you don't really need to care about the sides. Small store, sometimes hard to get into. Great food, good service.

Oak Bay Beach Hotel - The allegedly had a brunch menu for the weekend. Turns out that the advertising and the web presence is ahead of the kitchen. The six of us trooped down their at end of February, and got a great seat in the Snug, looking out of the large windows across the sea. There was much apologizing for the lack of brunch, as the chef just didn't feel he had the staff to run the menu yet. We weren't the only ones disappointed by the lack of Eggs and Protein. But we ordered. The service is excellent. The view is worth going back for some beers in the summer looking out across the sea. The food was pub food, trying to be a step above, but just not there. I had the ploughmans. Could have done with more salad than the pickled carrot. The 'cheese' was supposed to be a quality cheddar, but I'm sure it's a normal cheddar sold by slice from the Thrifty's deli. Or I can't tell the difference. Scotch egg was good, mind. But it's a lot to pay for a good scotch egg(*). I'll go back for the staff and the environment and give the kitchen a second chance. Or just drink... I can always do that.

Little Thai Place - Oh so variable. One week I'll have this beautifully cooked soup, or rice dish with chicken so tender and spicy, I swear I'll never order Thai anywhere else again. The next time, a soup with half the herbaceous border in it, that I spend my time picking out the wood parts, and rushed food that where the rice is already drying out. And over-fried spring rolls, that I'm sure we could drill into and supply the oil for heating parts of Saanich during the winter. Inconsistent.

(*) A Scotch Egg is a boiled egg, wrapped in sausage meat, breaded and cooked. It's not a egg which has had its yolk replaced with single malt whisky. And if you want to try that at home, use a cheap blend.