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Welcome to the latest series of Super, Neighbours blog posts where we highlight incredible travel destinations in British Columbia!Feast Tofino is back for it's third year and it's better and longer than ever. Stretching throughout May, it features “Stay and Dine” packages as well as $29, $39 and $49 “Dine About” set price menus, special events, and celebrates "the abundance of seasonal produce, seafood and sustainable “boat-to-table” practices commonly adopted by the area's restaurants" and the Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild. |
Okay, I've teased you for a few posts now, but it's finally time to make your mouth water and show off what my trip was actually about...FEAST!
Feast Tofino runs from May 1 to May 31st, and includes events at various restaurants in the area, guests chef dinners, and the $29, $39, and $49 Dine About Town meals!
There are TONS of events happening over the next few weeks, which you can check out by CLICKING HERE, and below I'll show you a few of the delicious meals that I had while in town!
So on my first evening in town I was guided around by the wonderful Bobby Lax, the Community Food Coordinator for the Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild (which I'll talk about in my next post!).
Our first stop was SOBO (which I learned stands for Sophisticated Bohemian), where I got to sample some of the best dishes on the menu, and of course their famous fresh-squeezed key lime margaritas (it was so good) - pictured above!
We ate our way through some Marina’s Top Drawer raw oysters, Broiled Oysters w/ salmon bacon (remembering this is making my mouth water) w/ miso mayo, "Humpback Shrimp" (w/ cayenne tequila sauce, blue cheese, blue claire sauce, gem lettuce), Grilled grape leaf wrapped Little Qualicum fresh cheese, housemade bread & duck sausage (this is on the Feast Dine Around menu), and finally the Killer Fish Taco - spicy wild fish, crispy corn tortilla and fruit salsa (one of the best fish tacos I've ever had).
It was all incredibly good, every single dish...and I'm still drooling at the thought of that salmon bacon. Thanks SoBo!
We made a second stop over to The Point at the Wickaninnish Inn - somehow I was oblivious to the fact that our own Erin Ireland of the #ToDieFor food blogs was just around the corner from me, indulging in the "Inspirational Chef’s Table" event with Lucais Syme! We didn't run into each other in the end, but from her tweets it looks like she too had an amazing meal and great stay.
I still don't know how I consumed all this food (well, one of the photos above is Bobby's dessert, but still)!
We started with a special Albacore tuna tartare w/ Radish , soy, scallion, wonton crisp, followed by Chicken Broth - w/ Ricotta Gnudi, Chicken Balls, Spring Shoots, Greens (this warmed me up nicely!), - Tofino Halibut (fresh in that day!) w/ Wild Rice, Celery, Black Garlic, Bamfield Seaweed Broth - and for dessert Rhubarb w/ Sour Cream Ice Cream, Walnuts (Bobby's dessert) - Crème Fraiche Mousse - w/ Lemonade, Arugula, Spices (my dessert - this was insanely good).
I rolled myself into bed nice and early with a full belly and a happy heart, excited to find out what tomorrow would bring....
The answer was rain (lots of it) and a ton of fun. I don't have breakfast photos to show you guys because I found out around 8:30am that I would get to go on a whale watching trip.
Now, I know my body pretty well and a) an empty stomach + a boat = bad and b) too full stomach + boat = bad...so I grabbed a quick bagel from Breakers and made it through the high seas in tact.
My next meal was the Driftwood Café Patio Grille with Lucais Syme of La Pentola! It was still pouring out but that didn't stop anyone from coming out to chow down on the delicious seafood chef cooked up for us. There were salads, and skewers of spot prawns, tuna and salmon and a toasty warm cafe setting, perfect for an early afternoon BBQ.
There are still so many events like this lined up for Feast - including two more grilles, one with Trevor Bird this weekend and one with Nicole Gomes next weekend. Check out the full list of events here, you don't want to miss these!
My last event, and meal, in Tofino was the Third Annual Mother's Day Brunch at Shelter - where proceeds went to the Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild. I met up with Bobby Lax again and had myself a waffle made by the Grade School Gourmet kids - which came with homemade island preserves, whipped cream and maple syrup...and some fresh squeezed orange juice! It was all excellent, and I decided I will need to go back to Shelter the next time I'm in town as there were SO many items on the menu that looked delicious!
Well there you have it, if you're mouth isn't watering by now, I don't know what will do it! Stay tuned for Part Four in the series with my posts on the Tofino-Ucluelet Culinary Guild, and all the fun activities I managed to cram into my short trip! Thanks again to Tourism Tofino for having me!
