Brief notes on recent meal outings. More details when I visit a few more times.
Caribbean Village, 2646 Quadra St., Victoria. They have tasty, slightly spicy Jamaican patties — beef, chicken and vegetable; $2.25 each or six for $12. While the patties are good, I like their sausage rolls more. They're made of the same curry-ish pastry, but have more meat filling than the patties. Caribbean Village also has a noon-hour buffet which I tried several months ago.There were rice-based dishes, fried bread, pork in spicy sauce and chicken in spicy sauce. I enjoyed the food, but my eating companion was a touch skeptical, and left quite a bit of food on her plate.
Pink Bicycle, 1008 Blanshard St., Victoria. They're in a compact space with mirrors, which makes the room seem bigger. The kitchen is upstairs, which must be a touch annoying for the servers. Several people told me they liked the burgers here, so I paid a visit. I ordered the Pink Bike Cheese Burger for $12, and shared a plate of onion rings with my eating companion. The burger was huge and difficult to eat, but worth the effort. It had a fried patty taste, rather than a grilled one. In eating it, I should have followed the example of another diner who I spotted on the way out. He had cut his burger into tidy quarters. The battered onion rings were giant-sized and curiously bland.
Utopia European Bakery Cafe, A-9780 Willow Street, Chemainus. They have a fantastic selection of baked goods along with sandwiches and soups. I've had their strudel, a variety of cookies, tarts, eclairs and breads and enjoyed them all. The highlight is their delicious brownies — chocolaty and not too sweet. Not much seating, so you might have to wander somewhere else to eat your purchase. We take a cooler along to stock up when we're in Chemainus. They have a website that details their offerings. http://www.utopiabakery.com
Smoked meat sandwich and fries from La Belle Patate
La Belle Patate, 1215 Esquimalt Rd., Esquimalt. It's a really authentic place, just like in Montreal, several people who have lived in Quebec have told me. They've praised the poutine, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, and the steamed hotdogs. So, I hopped the No. 6 bus out to Esquimalt, and found La Belle Patate in a modest building on Esquimalt Road. Its decor is basic, and you can see your meal being prepared over the counter. In my visit, I had the super-thick smoked meat sandwich with fries and drink for $12.50. The sandwich was wonderful with meat that was moist, full of flavour and not too salty. But the cook must have been having an off-day with the fries. They were oil-sodden with an unpleasant after-taste, like they'd been fried in over-used oil that wasn't hot enough. Judging from what colleagues have said, I'm sure that my serving of fries wasn't typical.
Curry buffet at Bengal Lounge in the Empress Hotel. Clockwise from upper left: curried vegetables, butter chicken, basmati rice (with cover on), curried lamb, pakoras and tandori chicken.
Bengal Lounge, in the Empress Hotel, Victoria. Three of us went here for a special occasion lunch and it was a great experience. The room itself is almost worth the visit. There's the beautiful wood floor, extra-tall windows, flapping ceiling fans, stuffed leather chairs, and a tiger skin. We all had the $27 Bengal curry buffet and spent two hours slowly eating it. I've had the curry buffet a few other times over the years; this was the best ever. The butter chicken was gorgeous — succulent, full of a mild-curry flavour. The lamb curry was also delicious. On previous visits, I've found either the lamb or the chicken or both to be dry. But not on this visit. They were just right. The compact buffet also has curried vegetables, pakoras, basmati rice, flat breads, tandori chicken, lentil soup, salad greens, and rice pudding.
Orale, 1002 Johnson (at Vancouver), Victoria. Definitely order the $5 chicken and mole tamale; the mole sauce was full of rich chocolaty goodness, and there's a generous portion of chicken. I also had some tacos — 3 for $5 with a choice of fillings. I liked the tinga — beef, pork, chorizo with tomatoes in chipotle. But the cochinita pibil — pork in a spice and herb marinade — might have been missing ingredients. It was bland.
