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CANADA
Across Canada with Via Rail Alberta Beef Alberta - Cypress Hills Alberta Dog Sledding Alberta's Edmonton Festivals Alberta - Edmonton Shopping British Columbia -Barkerville British Columbia - Vancouver and Victoria British Columbia - Victoria- Inn at Laurel Point British Columbia - Victoria - Spinnakers Manitoba's Beluga Whales Manitoba's Polar Bears North Western Aurora Nova Scotia Birding Nunavut Adventure Ontario - Toronto's CN Tower Ontario - Toronto's Fairmont Royal Hotel Prince Edward Island Kayaks Prince Edward Island Music Quebec City / Montreal Quebec City Quebec City Cuisine Saskatchewan VIA Rail's Fall Foliage Corridor VIA Rail's Scenic Canada Yukon - Dawson City  HOTEL FINDER VICTORIA HOTELS BRITISH COLUMBIA HOTELS Find your perfect hotel accommodation in British Columbia, Canada here PACIFIC COACH LINES  Pacific Coach Lines specializes in providing regular scheduled services between Vancouver and Victoria - a convenient coach service between the mainland and the island. Pacific Coach Lines also offers a wide range of Victoria day trips and a Vancouver city tour. All sightseeing tours include complimentary hotel pick-ups and drop-offs in Vancouver from over 25 hotels. PLC also offers hotel packages (including transportation services on Pacific Coach Lines). such as the Victoria & Butchart Gardens Escape and the Vancouver Escape from Victoria. For more inforamtion visit the web site at http://www.pacificcoach.com  |
CANADA - BRITISH COLUMBIA - VICTORIA : SPINNAKERS - PAIRING THE BEST AND THE NEW by Kevin Retief  The first chef I trained under insisted, between throwing pots and pans at me for my youthful incompetence, that the most important thing for any chef is the freshness and quality of the ingredients he is working with.The second chef I trained under, who preferred raw potatoes as projectiles of choice, agreed but insisted that originality and exploration was the key to fine cuisine - pushing the boundaries beyond the standard French basics that had been drummed into me at college. The sommeliers insisted - naturally - that wine was the most important part of any dining experience. And management, safe behind their desks, away from missiles of any kind, claimed that location was the key: give the punters a view, they said, make it accessible, and they’ll keep coming back! Though they would never concede points to the other, they were all right. And Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub & GuestHouses in Victoria, British Columbia is the proof! Located on the waterfront of Victoria's picturesque Inner Harbour, and just a short walk away from downtown Victoria, Spinnakers embodies the best of West Coast fare and island hospitality in a congenial atmosphere. The experience at Spinnakers begins with a table with a view and a bottle of O de Vie, Spinnakers Aquifer mineral water, and the only locally produced sparkling mineral water. O de Vie is also available on tap, believe it or not, in the lively brew pub upstairs along with a wide selection of handcrafted ales brewed with the finest imported hops and grain, and even local ingredients such as farm fresh raspberries for the summer Raspberry Ale. Our own experience, however, was not in the brew pub but downstairs in Spinnakers Restaurant. A special pairings menu in the restaurant created by Chef Ally Ryan and Sommelier Brian Storen began with freshly shucked Whaletown Bay oysters paired with a dry, bottle-fermented, sparkling 2004 Brut Naturel from Venturi-Schulze Vineyards right here on the island. To follow - a salad of locally farmed spinach greens and Bocconcini cheese dressed in barley wine malt vinaigrette, paired with a pale ale called Iceberg especially created to celebrate the Titanic exhibition at Victoria’s Royal BC Museum. Who would have thought, for example, of pairing a Scottish Ale, again one of Spinnakers own creations, with a miso broth filled with mussels and fresh greens and topped with blackened sablefish, one of British Columbia’s most valued seafood delicacies? The highlight, for me, however, apart from the roast duck breast and raspberries paired with the Garry Oaks Pinot Noir produced on nearby Salt Spring Island, was dessert – a platter of morsels of cheeses from dairies all over Vancouver Island and chocolates created by the restaurant’s chocolatier, Crystal Duck, served with wine and two different ales. Using Bernard Callebaut and Rogers famed cocoa, the Spinnakers’ chocolate creations complement brewmaster Lon Ladell’s ales. Who would have guessed the bittersweet surprise in the sweetness of a Caramel Hump Truffle and a Mitchell’s Extra Special Bitter - a reddish copper coloured ale. The choices at Spinnakers are endless. From a daily pot pie served with steamed vegetables (tossed with butter & sea salt) from Saanich Organics, a community of farmers from small, certified organic island farms, to BC salmon cakes made with wild BC salmon, braised with greens & craft brewed malt vinegar reduction. The onsite malt vinegar brewery uses traditional oak barrel aging methods integrated with modern technology to produce naturally brewed malt vinegars. The onsite bakery is a natural complement to the restaurant and brewpub. Head baker Bruce McMorran creates a wide variety of breads in the open brick oven - everything from roasted garlic and blue cheese to asiago and multigrain. Many of the fresh herbs used in the dishes are picked from the Spinnakers guesthouse gardens. “We love coming to work everyday, making the very best products we can and thinking of new products and new ways to pair them up,” says publican Paul Hadfield. It shows. Little wonder that Spinnakers Restaurant is consistently voted Victoria's favourite by Monday Magazine and Newsgroup readers’ polls. And that The Globe and Mail claims Spinnakers is in the top five brewpubs in Canada. The chefs and sommeliers I trained under would have been proud to be part of Spinnakers. For more information about Spinnakers, the brew pub and the Guest House visit the web site at http://www.spinnakers.com VICTORIA HOTELS BRITISH COLUMBIA HOTELS Photos courtesy of Spinnakers |
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