Fort Street Food Crawl, Victoria, BC

Fort Street is one of my favorite spots in Victoria. It has distinctive Edwardian and Victorian architecture and some lovely antique shops. In that way it typifies “classic Victoria.” But that’s not the whole story. It’s also dotted with some of the most interesting and diverse eating establishments in town. It truly reflects the energy and vibrancy of Victoria today. 



On a recent visit I learned that Victoria has hundreds of restaurants and a thriving tech economy. I met coffee roasters, bakers and chefs from countries all over the world. Victoria is no longer just a sleepy British enclave but surprisingly cosmopolitan and modern for a city with a population of under 100k (the surrounding area is much larger).

I can’t think of a more pleasurable way to spend some time than to meander up and down Fort Street stopping to window shop and have some snacks. Here are some of my top picks for a food crawl.

The Little Cheese Shop has a great selection of local and international cheese, plus some lunch dishes and is the perfect place to find gourmet treats to take home. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and offers samples and recommendations upon request. It was here I found some local cheeses to take home.

Choux Choux Charcuterie is a traditional European delicatessen specializing in housemade sausages, pâtés, smoked, cured meats and artisanal cheeses. They also have a limited lunch menu and some cozy window seats where I enjoyed some chorizo, white bean and kale soup. I did buy a few of those sausages which made a perfect inflight snack!

Chorizo & Co is a charming Spanish café run by partners Jonathan Lee and Tomas Dosil. Dosil was born in northern Spain in the Galicia region. He and his family spent time in both Victoria and Spain and he dreamed of creating an authentic Spanish deli and café. The menu with bocadillos, tortillas and churros offers reasonably priced and filling snacks. The Spanish tortilla sandwich is pure comfort food.

Fishhook is a soup and sandwich spot from former “Top Chef Canada” contender and Red Fish Blue Fish restaurateur Kunal Ghose whose Bengali, Scottish, Greek, and Chilean background influences his creative cooking. I had the chowder with coconut milk, halibut and salmon belly bacon and a nibble of the justifiably famous tuna melt with caramelized broccoli smash, smoked local cheddar, cold water albacore tuna crudo topped with a smoked tonnato sauce.

Crust Bakery is the modern boutique bakery and French patisserie from successful Australian chef and restaurateur Tom Moore, who settled in Victoria with his family. Tom told me he doesn’t follow trends but that said, he is currently offering his version of a cronut. Most of the popular fruit and cheese Danish pastries had sold out when I got there but I enjoyed a massive chocolate meringue cookie and would definitely come back for a savory pastry or calzone or a loaf of their fruit and nut bread.

 Disclaimer: I was a guest of Tourism Victoria, I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy.

Taste of Toronto

This Summer I got a chance to visit Toronto and to attend the Taste of Toronto food festival. Lucky me! Quite a few years ago I attended Taste of London so I had a sense of what it would be like. The Taste food festivals are not your typical free for all food event, because the restaurants are really consistently high quality and included by invitation only.

This event is a particularly good one if you want to familiarize yourself with the Toronto restaurant scene. Here were some of my favorite dishes and the restaurants I would surely like to visit, on my next trip.

One of the first things I tried was a gazpacho like soup from The Harbord Room. The crushed heirloom tomato soup with spicy wild watercress, creamy buffalo mozzarella, crunchy toasted sourdough crumbs and a refreshing dollop of tomato and white balsamic sorbet was perfect on a fairly steamy evening. Truly a winner.

Khao San Road was the one booth where I tried all three offerings, starting with the cooling iced Thai shake. The crispy rice salad with ginger, cilantro, sour pork sausage, lime leaf and peanuts was the knock out dish for me, it was just an explosion of flavors and cooked to order so fresh and crunchy.

The final dish I tried from Khao San Road was the spicy shrimp salad with onion, red pepper, fish sauce, chili, garlic and cilantro. It was cool and perfectly cooked, but a tad too spicy.

I was curious to try something from Anthony Rose, the chef and restaurateur with three successful spots in Toronto. From Rose & Sons came a BLT with Dr. Pepper bacon (more like pork belly) fresh tomatoes, lettuce and a feta and herb mayonnaise. It was extremely succulent and I could understand why this nice Jewish boy is revered for his sandwiches, and the BLT in particular.

Two of my favorite dishes came from Yours Truly a cutting edge restaurant which sadly just closed. Needless to say I will keeping my eyes peeled for the next venture with chef Lachlan Culjak. The first dish was a creamy fresh made "queso" with early Summer garnishes and an orange blossom vinaigrette. It was bright and had layers of texture. The freshness of the produce including ramps, fiddle heard ferns, mushrooms and berries shone brightly. And the plating was gorgeous.

The other dish from Yours Truly was charred sous vide BC octopus with chorizo and green mango.

While I didn't necessarily think of maple syrup and Toronto before, I do now. Thats's because I got to try the maple products from Ninutik. They were serving a variety of cheese wrapped in maple taffy, thanks a bed of fluffy snow. The thick maple syrup is usually poured over fresh snow to make a chewy candy, but in this case, a popsicle stick with a piece of cheddar or blue cheese (yes!) was wrapped in ensconced in maple. It was divine! 

So too were the little buttons of maple sugar that melt in your mouth, nothing like the dry crusty maple sugar candy I was used to eating. They can also be used in cocktails. 

And best of all? Maple Supreme, something I've seen elsewhere before and which I have had in other parts of Canada too. But it never quite as good. It looks white and creamy but it really has the consistency of butter, and the flavor of maple. Divine! Wonderful on buttered toast, but also over ice cream or oatmeal. 

Toronto, you sure are a delicious town. And Taste of Toronto was only the tip of the iceberg... 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Tourism Toronto for hosting me on this trip.