Vancouver Island Reviews and Information

The results of the 24th Annual Restaurant Awards (Best Vancouver Island Restaurants) via Vancouver Magazine!
Honourable Mentions: 
Amuse on the Vineyardis nestled in the foothills of Mill Bay with picturesque views of the vineyard. Sourcing most of their ingredients from 15-20 local farms, producers, foragers and mongers, they also grow much of their own right on the property! 

Facebook or Twitter.



Hudson's On First
located in downtown Duncan, Daniel Hudson (was on Top Chef Canada!) is making magic in the Cowichan Valley with confident, assertive, roots-conscious food (black pudding, bubble and squeak), terrific service, and a handsome heritage location.


Bronze:
Sobo Restaurant's culinary philosophy echo the values of small town Tofino. A combination of boldly imaginative, world wise dishes expertly prepared with simple, fresh, locally produced- often wild- ingredients and served in an environment that is somehow both elegant and rustic. Sophisticated Bohemian not only represe…

Calling all foodies! Today if you dine at one of the many participating restaurants across Vancouver Island, you will be helping out your community! Last year 70 amazing restaurants donated 25% of their food sales, raising $35,000 in support of AIDS Vancouver Island.

If you haven't made yet, be sure to check out the MANY participating food places below, grab your friends, family and neighbours and make a reservation today - it's a delicious win-win situation (support your community and eat some awesome food!)Use the hashtag #DOFLVI on twitter for news, updates or to show your support for the cause (food photos encouraged!). You can also visit the Dining Out For Life, Vancouver Island Facebook Event Page for more information.

17 Mile House Pub (250) 642-5942 Donating 25% Lunch, Dinner
ACMe Food Co. (250) 753-0042 Donating 25% Lunch, Dinner
Amusé On The Vineyard (250…

In the previous review, we covered Vancouver Island Brewery and Phillips - today I'm going to cover a couple more Vancouver Island breweries that made the night a complete success. 


Longwood Brew Pub is a Nanaimo favourite. Being the only brew pub in Nanaimo - it's a pretty popular place to go to knock back a few brews. I was impressed to see that Longwood has done some rebranding on old favourites, I was digging the new labeling and the beer is always great. They were offering some of their best beers here, the always popular Framboise (now Berried Alive) a palate pleasing punch of raspberry ale. Crafted from whole BC grown raspberries refermented with lightly hopped Blonde ale. This is a refreshing clean beer that borders on tart and sweet.

They were also serving up my personal favourite (yes I'm a fan of a darker, maltier brew) the Dunkelweisen (now SteamPunk)this beauty is fused with traditional taste and modern technique. This dark beer is light bodied and crisp, craft…

I am going to have to break this review into a few parts because I have a lot of #beertalk to cover! The Nanaimo Kinsmen chose a wonderful location for the Nanaimo Beer Festival to take place. The Nanaimo Ice Centre was open and inviting, a perfect place to sample some of Vancouver Island's best local brews. All the proceeds went entirely to the Kinsmen Club which supports many wonderful projects within the community (The Child Development Centre, Kin Pool and Kin Hut are just to name a few).Thanks to the Kinsmen for all you do within our community! 


 Also, big thanks to CHLY 101.7FM for being the event sponsor.

Obviously this event was a "must-attend" for me, being a rather passionate beer lover but also a community advocate and a promoter of all things Vancouver Island I was very ecstatic to be there! We arrived a little after 6pm and there was already lots of beer tasting going on.

I quickly bee-lined for the always amazing Vancouver Island Brewery table and wet my wh…

Brunch on Dunsmuir: Mar’s on Main

It was a last minute thing. When I suggested Sunday brunch to my hungry gal in the evening I was thinking of one of several favourite brunch spots in Comox or Courtenay. When I woke I was thinking only of my new favourite food precinct: downtown Cumberland. I texted the favourite Uncle. Shortly after, his van pulled up. In minutes our trio was headed into the hills. Destination: Mar’s on Main, one of the brightest lights on the Dunsmuir strip.

Mar’s has been open since mid-July 2012. We’ve lunched and brunched there several times, and I’m looking forward to trying dinner soon. My gal loves it because: generous servings, breakfast til 3pm every day, Caesars on Sunday, lots of kale, lots of gluten free options, and – best reason –everything we’ve had has been über delicious.

The breakfast menu is big for a little place. Sometimes that’s a bad thing. But so far Mar’s is consistently good across the breadth of it. On this brinch, Uncle had …

This is the second event I've had the pleasure of attending at Lucky's Liquor Store, the first one being the Food Bloggers Soiree. To keep in the loop about events and classes be sure to check out Lucky's Liquor Facebook Pagefor up-coming events.

Classes and events are held up on the beautiful mezzanine overlooking the liquor store floor (so take a class and grab a nice bottle of wine for home!). I love this mezzanine, it's perfect for these types of events with the large island table where people can gather around and watch the magic in the kitchen happen. This was the first raw oyster and champagne party, but hopefully there will be many more to come! 

  As we entered the mezzanine people were watching the shuckers do their thing, preparing the first round of delicious raw oysters from Vancouver Island waters. 9 different types were served:


Sawmill Bay Shellfish: from the glacier-fed waters off Read Island (near Campbell River) oysters, clams, mussels and scallops are …