Dining in Victoria

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Experiencing local cuisine is an important part of visiting any destination and a gourmet getaway to Victoria will introduce you to more than just food; Victoria's West Coast cuisine will feed your soul. Using the freshest local ingredients and flavours that reflect the wild Pacific Northwest, a number of fine dining restaurants, hotels and specialty food shops have put Victoria and Vancouver Island on the culinary map.

Surrounded by coastal waters and the rich farming regions of the Saanich Peninsula and Cowichan Valley, Victoria's gourmet chefs are blessed with an abundance of local produce right in their own backyards. Seafood, particularly salmon and shellfish, is a mainstay of West Coast cuisine and can be caught fresh from Pacific waters. Local farms supply fresh, seasonal ingredients and unusual varieties of food that chefs embrace. A number of Vancouver Island wineries complete the gourmet experience by providing locally-made wine.

The Cowichan Valley, located 45 minutes north of Victoria, means "warm land" in a native language. This area receives more sun and the best growing conditions of anyplace on Vancouver Island. Asparagus, salad greens, cheese, lamb, pastured poultry, balsamic vinegar and fine wines, to name just a few delicacies, are all locally grown and crafted by a handful of farms and individuals the potential for the Cowichan Valley to be a premier British Columbia "appellation": the name given by the French to a region famous for superior quality local food and wine.

For those gourmets who are interested in adding a little adventure to their food, take a dinner cruise or a farm tour. Consider making gourmet food the sole reason for your visit to Victoria and follow the Gourmet Trail to luxury accommodation and gourmet cuisine at five of the Island's finest hotels. Local hotels and tour operators offer gastronomic packages to suit every taste.