Victoria, British Columbia, one of the world's top tourist destinations, is
an amazing city with many fine restaurants. Each year Victoria draws visitors from around the world. When
Spaswinefood has
visited Victoria in the past I always found it a challenge to find the best places to dine. Fortunately, during our recent visit to explore
Vancouver Island wineries we used online dining information to decide on where to dine in Victoria.
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| Walking to Dinner in Victoria © Spaswinefood |
I have found that the most useful information on dining is contained in two general categories of online lists. One category is based on diners’ rankings of Victoria restaurants, such as
Tripadvisor,
Urbanspoon and
Yelp. A second category includes recommendations by expert/other sources, such as
Fodor's; magazines, such as
Eat Magazine,
Vancouver Magazine; a foodie,
Scrimporsplurge; and lists such as
Fairholme Manor list of 15 top Victoria restaurants. During our recent Victoria stay we used these two sources to come up with a short list. From the short list we then decided on the best places to go for dinner.
Spaswinefood's top picks were:
1. Brasserie L'Ecole
Our last night in Victoria we had dinner at
Brasserie L'Ecole, 1715 Government Street. This restaurant offers a classic French bistro/brasserie menu and atmosphere. Brasserrie L'Ecole gets great reviews at
Tripadvisor,
Urbanspoon,
Yelp,
Scrimporsplurge,
Eat Magazine and
Vancouver Magazine. After carefully reading the above reviews
Spaswinefood decided to visit.
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| Brasserie L'Ecole © Spaswinefood |
Sommelier Marc Morrison frequently updates the restaurant's wine selection to offer value French wines. For dinner the wine we decided on was a
Bailly Lapierre Cremant Brut Reserve NV.
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| Bailly Lapierre Cremant NV © Spaswinefood |
We shared a Chocolate Cake for dessert.
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| Chocolate Cake © Spaswinefood |
For an after dinner drink we sampled:
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| Ricard Patis and Pernod © Spaswinefood |
Dining at
Brasserie L'Ecole was a fabulous dining experience. We were so glad we took the time to do the research to discover a fabulous restaurant like Brasserie L'Ecole.
2. Il Terrazo Ristorante
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| Cecchi Chianti Classico DOCG 2010 © Spaswinefood |
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| Insalta Caprese © Spaswinefood |
For our main courses we selected the following:
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| The Entrées © Spaswinefood |
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| Linguine con Frutti di Mare © Spaswinefood |
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| Cannelloni con Funghi © Spaswinefood |
We decided to share a dessert.
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| Another Awesome Chocolate Dessert © Spaswinefood |
Of course there was a Taylor 20 year old Tawny Port to along with dessert.
Dining at
Il Terrazo Ristorante was a fabulous dining experience. We were so glad we took the time to do the research to discover Il Terrazo Ristorante.
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Il Terrazo Rostorante © Spaswinefood
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It was two very memorable late summer evenings in Victoria.
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| Victoria Night © Spaswinefood |
Clearly, online sources can help you improve your odds of finding
that perfect dining experience in Victoria. There are however, other important factors that you need to consider. First, figure out how much you want to spend. Then there are other factors to consider, like type of cuisine, location, etc. will influence your decision. I also found that
it is important to decide on the meal whether it is breakfast, brunch, lunch or diner. In this case we were looking restaurants for dinner. On the other hand had it been breakfast or lunch our decision would have been different.
My
overall suggestion is to use online sources but also know what your dining needs
are. With a little research you can improve your odds of having a great dining
experience in Victoria. Victoria has so many great restaurants. During our visit we stayed at Marketa's Bed and Breakfast. For a complete list of accommodations and reviews see Tripadvisor. I invite you to join me in
my travels in British Columbia and elsewhere in search of the best in Spaswinefood.
Sharon
September 2013
Victoria, British Columbia
© Spaswinefood
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Other Spaswinefood posts on the Victoria area include:
My uncle told me about a restaurant in Tsawwassen that he loves. I checked out their menu and it sounds like a great place! Hopefully he will take me there next time I go visit him.
ReplyDeleteWould love to hear what you find out, thanks.
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