Revisits, Downtown Victoria

SuLT Perogi Bar.

So it was only two weeks ago I first went. But had to go back with the lovely Brunette to try out the evening menu.

I was happy, but not impressed, by the breakfast. The dinner I had was fantastic.  3 Green Kale perogies, 3 Clam Perogies, a mushroom gravy with cheese curds (the Poutine topping) and a small bowl of green salad.  Under $20.  Plenty enough to feed us both happily.

The perogies were deep fried under the poutine topping.  The kale ones (Green) are fantastic... that deep savoury flavour of kale I love, with a red chilli spice.  The clam and bacon ones were good too, with the filling flavours mingling and working well together.  It'd be easy to make everything lost in the sauce and the doughy outer.  They don't do that here.  The gravy on top was tasty too.  I will go back again for this meal, with a different sauce on top... and see how the dumplings come out when not fried.  I suspect excellent.

Oh, and full marks to the green salad. Plenty of different leaves and veg, to make it interesting, and just a light vinaigrette on top.  I really hope this place grows and grows.


The Churchill

Been over a year since they opened.  I love the Church.  I love their fine range of beers, their staff with the knowledge of what they are serving, the hundred yard long polished bar, and the cost booths.  I loved the Oktoberfest special night we walked into.  I loved the Paulaner Salvator beer special I had two pints of. I love the accordion players and the massive beer steins my friends won. And the smaller Paulaner glass I won.

I hated the next morning when I woke up from them and the other couple of pints I tried.

But I also love meeting friends there and being able to chat in an environment that's busy, up-tempo, but not over-burdened by loud tunes or a echoed buzz of other people.

Long may they thrive as well

Cora's

Speaking of places that I hope thrive, I am not talking about Cora's.  I will however upgrade them from truly terrible to merely bad.  I don't get the long line ups there.  There's nothing exceptional about the food.  There's nothing exceptional about the service.  There's nothing exceptional about the environment. There's not even anything great about the price.

It's a refectory that serves a lot of food.  They have this gimmick of piles of fresh fruit.  I guess that's the part that sets it apart, and as I don't like fresh fruit, it's lost on me.

But still, if I want a dried burger, topped with a smear of electric yellow, flavourless hollandaise, I know where to go.  If I want my cheese processed and my eggs pre-cooked into a folded sheet, I know where to go.  If I want staff too busy to serve their customers well, I know where to go.  But seriously, Victoria, there's a hundred places in town that do breakfast better than Cora's.  I bet Hawk and Hen was half empty at the same time.  So why the line-up?  It's a mystery to me.