I recently spend a glorious 3 and a half days with my youngest daughter in the beautiful city of Victoria. We went to visit her good friend who moved away last summer and she hadn’t seen since. We toured, walked, rented electric scooter bikes, went to Barre class, spin class, the Lion King movie, walked the pier, shopped and probably most enjoyable of all, ate at some really incredible restaurants!
Yup, we are sitting at the gate in the airport with full bellies and a box of leftovers for the plane. Does life get any better?
Everytime I travel, I drive everyone crazy taking photos of my food before I eat it. I was once even told, “Hopefully I wouldn’t bore anyone with my food photos…”. Well, guess what… for those of you who like that kinda thing, that is exactly what I am going to do!
I love to travel, garden and I love to eat… oh man, I am my mother! I started thinking that I should start up a section on my blog where people can go to to find out what my favorite spots are to eat when I travel. I am hoping it will be of help to you as plant-based eaters, when you visit a city to have some idea of where to go. I’m also hopeful that I can recreate some of the dishes that I experience, to share with you once I get home. 🙂
Well, for starters, we had a late lunch on Thursday at Earls on Douglas Street downtown. Earls has launched, as of October 2018, a plant-based menu, which I have to say is pretty freaking awesome. Here is a link to an article outlining their new menu. I worked at Earls in my early 20s in Calgary and the establishment is top notch.
For starters, we ordered the Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower ($12.50). This dish is much like their chicken wings with celery and dip (Eew… I used to eat those after my shifts- honestly, mostly because I am addicted to celery and that dang dip). The Buffalo Cauliflower veganized with the same type of dip and celery was so delicious that my friend went home and made her own for her family!
Everyone else had the Vegan Quinoa and Avocado Powerbowl ($16) and loved it. It is filled with a mix of greens accompanied by avocado, quinoa, sunflower sprouts, roasted squash, beets, chickpeas, and topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and garlic rice crisps. I somehow didn’t take a photo of these meals. ;(
I ordered the Spicy Tofu Zen Bowl ($19.50). (I found a link to the recipe online… what!?) Delicious. If you are trying to get someone in your life to like tofu, have them try a piece from this bowl. If they don’t like this, I’m not sure if they can be helped. 😉
Part of my reason to go to Victoria on this particular weekend was to attend the Victoria Vegfest. We spent a couple of hours touring the booths, tasting and learning about new plant-based items and eating lunch from the food trucks. I also thoroughly enjoyed listening to Amy Sorrano speak on animal rights activism, her animal agriculture investigations and her engagement in mass farm and slaughterhouse lockdowns. What an inspiring vegan activist.
I also learned what sorts of extra, added treats I may find in my wine if it is not vegan… what the heck? Why do we have to add these things?
Friday, we had lunch at Rebar Modern Food . What a gem of a restaurant! A friend gave me the Rebar recipe book years ago and I think I have only made one dish out of it. That’s going to change – I’m pumped now to get making some of their dishes! Rebar is a vegetarian restaurant that has been in operation since the early 1980s (you go Rebar!), but most of the dishes either are, or can be prepared vegan.
The girls and I completely enjoyed our lunch. I ordered the Monk’s Curry (below, left) ($18) which was filled with eggplant, mushrooms, potatoes and brown rice in a green curry. I had so much leftover that I was able to enjoy it for dinner as well. (And breakfast the next day, truth be told!). My daughter ordered the Super Bowl ($16) (below, right). It is a beautiful medley of steamed vegetables, grilled tofu, avocado, brown rice and spiced chickpeas. She liked it so much she ordered it again today when we stopped for dinner at Rebar before heading to the airport. I ordered the Tempeh Reuben ($18.50) with beets and sauerkraut which I had been told by a couple of people was stellar. It did not disappoint!
The restaurant is located at 50 Bastion Square on the corner of Bastion Square and Langley Street. This is a lovely little outdoor market street featuring locally made goods. You can order your meal and pop out onto the street to browse for a few minutes while you wait.
This morning, while the girls were out at their spin class, (we had done a Barre Class yesterday and I HATE spin, so I didn’t feel too guilty), I went for a long walk across the bridge and up the Galloping Goose Trail. I stopped in Chinatown on my way home for breakfast at a little smoothie joint called JUSU Bar. Their mission is to “Provide Pure, natural plant-based products that Protect your body. ” I love this!
I sat outside and enjoyed the Acai Bowl. They serve everything from wraps, to paninis, to salads, soup to chilis, juices to elixirs, lattes to cheesecakes!
On the final night of our trip we strolled out to the end of the pier to enjoy the ocean and a view of the white capped Mount Baker in Washington.
I had been told by a couple of shopkeepers that I met, that we had to go to Be Love for dinner during our stay. We made an early reservation for the four of us. Thank goodness we did, because the tiny restaurant was already packed when we arrived at 6. This restaurant is so filled with love that there is barely room to move!
Be Love’s philosophy is found on their website. “Our offerings reflect our passion for health, clarity of mind, and lightness of spirit. We use at least 95 percent organic plant-based ingredients, mindfully-sourced according to local and seasonal availability. Everything we serve is wheat, gluten, dairy and processed sugar free. We make it from scratch – with love.”
At Be Love, I enjoyed the Panzanella salad (above left). Its ingredients include: arugula | blueberries | fresh herbs | tomato| olive oil bread | toasted almond ricotta |fillet beans | olive dust | honey dill dressing ($16.50). So delicious, with so many layers of flavours. The girls both ordered the Pesto Bowl featuring: roasted summer heirlooms | arugula |grape tomatoes | dehydrated olives |basil pesto | lemon olio | steamed quinoa |pea sprouts | scallion parmesan ($17.50).
We shared a dessert between the four of us – basically having to beat off the kids to get a couple of bites in… Above is a photo of the Black Forest Cake with quinoa and cashew cream cheese ($12). Perfectly sweet and moist. It is definitely worth a trip to Be Love!
I hope this review of our plant-based dining in Victoria will be helpful for you should you visit this beautiful city! Please share this post with friends and family. 🙂 Watch for more “eating plant-based in different cities” posts as time goes on!