Ugly Duckling Restaurant

I was treated to a birthday supper at Ugly Duckling recently and it was my first time eating there. I was impressed by the nice decor and great service. Their menu is based on tasting bites.

After taking our order, a fresh bun and house made butter was provided. A tasty start.

A trip of welcome snacks came out next: potato croquette, tuna tartar with citrus jelly cubes on top, and a liver pate with herbs arrived. All excellent wake ups for the taste buds.

Next was a Haida-Gwaii sablefish with frisee, trout roe, and smoke. The sablefish was perfectly cooked and nearly melted in the mouth. The sauce complemented the fish very well.

Then came the Stillmeadow Farms Tamworth pork with Japanese turnip, fermented daikon, and XO sauce. Very nicely done.

The last large portion that came was the Yarrow Meadows glazed duck with charred cabbage and duck confit croquette. So delicious.

As a palate cleanser before dessert was a fruit sorbet. The duck foot shaped mini bowl was quite cute.

As it was my birthday, a cake and assortment of chocolate delights came out: Fraser valley hazelnut mousse with milk chocolate and malt. It really hit my chocolate needs in the bullseye.

Finally, with the bill, came chocolate fortune cookies and macarons.  

I quite liked the smaller portions with each serving. It filled me up and allowed a range of tastes to be experienced. I would come back here again.

Sushi Langford's Garry's Poke Bowl

I dropped into Sushi Langford a few weeks ago and ordered Garry's Poke bowl with tuna, salmon, ebi, oshinko, seaweed, tamago, inari, and mixed vegetables. It was a very filling and delicious lunch. I normally order the bento box so this was a good change of my usual. 

Day 4: Last Morning and Drive Back to Victoria

A more cloudy day today which does not matter as much. This is because we are travelling back to our home in Victoria. 

For breakfast I had the same as yesterday, the delicious scrambled egg croissant and fruit bowl. We had a lazy rest of the morning while packing and watching the winter olympics until it was time to check out at 11am.

On the way back we stopped at Tigh-na-Mara to have lunch at the Cedars Restaurant and Lounge. There I ordered the West Coast chowder with cream, salmon, clams, prawns, and herbs. Yummy.

From there it was a hilarious drive with podcast episodes of CBC's "The Debaters" playing in the car. A good podcast makes the drive go by quicker and shared laughter creates a nice epilogue for our weekend getaway.

Day 3 - Cumberland Hiking and Walking

Whenever we are up in the area my wife and I love Cumberland's hiking trails. I think we come here to experience the deeper woods by walking on lovingly managed small trails. There is rarely an unhappy face that we pass by. Here are some photos of the day's visit to the Cumberland Community forest and United Riders of Cumberland. Enjoy.

Nature refreshes our inner batteries so well.

Day 3 Food - Aqua Bistro breakfast, Brewery Lunch, and Raman for Supper

On our third day we had time to enjoy our breakfast while looking out at the morning sun. 

I had the scrambled egg croissant with a very large bowl of fruit. Delicious.

While we were hiking in Cumberland, we stopped at the Cumberland Brewing Co for a small lunch. I ordered the daily soup which was Moroccan carrot and squash with a nice slice of focaccia bread. A blueberry cider accompanied the meal.

For a "lighter" supper we got takeout at Courtney's Nikkei Raman-ya. We have ordered from here before, but since Ghost Raman closed in Victoria (who carried their hand made noodles) we have been missing them. Ichiban noodle Raman was ordered, made with their original broth seasoned with a blend of three artisan misos, topped with pulled pork, sweet corn, pea shoots, menma, beni shoga, green onions, sesame seeds, and shoyu butter. House-made, Tokyo-style alkaline noodle. Yummy and comforting with the extra egg and pickled shiitake.

Day 2: Ocean7 and Aqua Bistro Meals on our second day at the Kingfisher

On day 2 we stuck to the resort and enjoyed a couple of spa thingies, which were pleasant and relaxing. Breakfast were some egg tacos as I had the earliest spa  appointment.

For lunch we each ordered a plate and switched halfway through. I first ate half of the Pacific Mist Spa Bowl with Cucumber, Greens, Carrots, Beets, Hemp Hearts, Rice, In-House Pickled Vegetables, Tahini Dressing and an added salmon fillet. Yum yum.

After my wife was done with it, I had the last half of the AQUA Mushroom Flatbread with Roasted Mushrooms, Grana Padano, Arugula, Confit Garlic, Truffle Aïoli. One of the regular things we order when staying and/or eating here. Both together were extremely filling and good.

For supper it was a special Valentine's menu!

To start we were served an amuse bouche of smoked albacore tuna, with sesame cone, horseradish cream, trout roe, and creme fraiche tartlette.

I chose for first course the poached lobster and prawns in Tom Yum broth with preserved tomato, surfside mushrooms, and radish. My wife ordered the Bibb salad with citrus pearls, almonds, crispy quinoa, and maple & black truffle dressing. Both were tasty and large portions. 

The intermezzo was a Kafir lime and mint sorbet. A delicate palate cleanser.

For the main we each had the roasted striploin "Rossini" with fois gras dumpling, warm truffle potato salad, broccolini, and sauce Perigord. While we were at the halfway point in eating this dish we got a little worried. It was not because the food was bad or off. Far from that. It was because we ate lunch at around 1pm and were having this supper at 530pm our stomachs were saying they were nearing fullness while our taste buds were screaming "parrrrrrrrty!" We went with our taste buds.

For dessert we each ordered the temptation chocolate cake with griotte cherry. We thought it would be a small piece. Nope. Huge and delicious. We took some away because we were a little overfull.

Once we walked the long 50 steps to our room we loosened garments and tried to watch the winter olympics while digesting. Such good food, but next time we would space out the lunch and supper meals.

Day 1 Food: Ocean7 First Night Supper at Kingfisher Resort

At Ocean7, in the Kingfisher Resort, we didn't pay extra to dine in the pods, but did have a fantastic first night meal.

Each of us had the vegan smoked surfside king oyster mushroom carpaccio with crispy onion, hazelnut, mint & basil pistou, black cherry puree, and pickled heirloom carrot & radish. A fantastic flavour mix of textures and flavours that was a great reintroduction to the restaurant.

For our main we each ordered the Kingfisher seafood pasta with Prontissima squid ink fusilli, wild prawns, Hokkaido scallops, Salt Spring mussels, Baynes Sound clams, and Nori crumb. My first, and best, experience with squid ink pasta was the first time I had it in Venice. This is the second best. The earthy taste of the ink infused fusilli, seafood simmered tomato sauce, and quality shellfish had each ingredient standing on its own while complimenting one another. A standout.

For dessert I had the Basque cheesecake with candied apple, Amaretto creme anglaise, and almond crumble. Reminded me of my time in Bilbao, Spain.

My wife had the trio of ice cream and sorbet which I graciously helped in consuming. They were tasty and tart, except the vanilla in the middle which was creamy and forward in its vanilla taste.

A perfect start to the weekend of wonderful food.