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From now until March 9, check out Victoria’s Dine Around and Stay in Town festival, a celebration of the best food and drink the harbour city has to offer
Just like Vancouver’s Dine Out festival, Victoria’s Dine Around and Stay in Town festival, which runs February 20 to March 9, is a celebration of the best local restaurants, the tastiest craft beer, the most imaginative cocktails, and inspired wine lists highlighting BC VQA wines.
Dine Around menus are available in the $20, $30, $40 and $50 categories, with a selection of vegetarian and gluten-free options as well. Plus, participating Victoria hotels are offering accommodations from $69, $79, $99 and $129.
Click through for a virtual visit to the following eight awesome participating restaurants.
10 Acres Bistro and Bar is aptly named for the bustling Saanich Peninsula farm that supplies much of the produce and proteins served at the casual West Coast restaurant. Enjoy farm-to-table fare – like the Dine Around menu’s tagliatelle with farm vegetables and citrus butter – unstuffy service, and warm and cozy ambience in the fireside dining room or heated garden courtyard.
Dine Around Deals:
AURA Waterfront Restaurant is perched on the edge of Laurel Point, overlooking Victoria’s charming Inner Harbour, where guests can gaze out at the activity through massive picture windows. Taking inspiration from the Pacific Ocean beyond, executive chef Takashi Ito’s menu is fresh and seasonally driven, with both Asian and European culinary influences, like the Dine Around menu’s Korean-style beef striploin roast with housemade hot sauce.
Dine Around Deal:
The Bengal Lounge, in the Fairmont Empress, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and a history inspired by Queen Victoria’s appointment as the Empress of India, visible in the detailed woodwork, antique pukka fans, and Bengal tiger pelt hung above the fireplace. Known for their curries and cocktails, the Bengal’s Dine Around menu takes a different angle with a west coast pub fare theme.
Bubby’s Kitchen was created by Joel Margolus and Valerie and Mark Engels, of Bubby Rose’s Bakery, to provide all-day access to the essence of grandma’s table, with a comforting and mouth-watering selection of lovingly homemade meals and desserts. The Dine Around menu suggests one fancy grandma, with starters like the grilled Yarrow Meadows duck and sour cherry sausage with a with thyme-infused maple reduction.
Camille’s Fine West Coast Dining, voted “Best Restaurant Cooking Local” the past two years, is spread throughout the intimate, candlelit rooms of an 1898 heritage building in Bastion Square. Husband and wife owners Stephan Drolet (chef) and Jamie Williams (manager) source from nearby producers to create superb and imaginative dishes like the Dine Around menu’s green curry Salt Spring island mussels with jasmine rice and crispy fennel (pictured above).
Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub has been leading the craft brewing and seasonal food trends since they opened in 1984, partnering with three dozen local farmers and producers to inspire their changing menu and continuing their passion for beer since becoming Canada’s first purpose-built gastro brewpub 30 years ago. They’re offering four different menus (with wine and beer pairing suggestions) for Dine Around, including a gluten-free option.
The newly opened Steamship Grill and Taphouse is located in the Steamship Terminal building, the grand structure built in 1924 and rich in Victoria’s maritime history. Upstairs neighbour the Robert Bateman Centre opened last spring and the terminal building’s facelift will be complete when the restaurant’s expansive outdoor patio opens this summer. Executive chef Jim Romer has created a locally-inspired menu featuring seafood, steaks, and flatbreads, with features like the Dine Around menu’s hearty grilled seafood plate (pictured above).
Veneto Tapa Lounge is one of the city’s hippest watering holes, known for their savvy, made-especially-for-you cocktails and inventive share plates, like their duck confit poutine with marsala demi-glaze. However, features like their Dine Around menu’s chicken and waffles with balsamic-spiced maple syrup and roasted corn and jalapeno pudding, are the kind of thing you’ll want to keep all to yourself.
Dine Around Deal:$30 menu
