A Trip to Tofino & a Restaurant Review

It was rainy and cloudy at Long Beach, but it started to clear off quickly

 It feels like I've been gone forever... two weeks in blogland is quite a long time. Thats how long its been since I've posted. I've been away for work these past two weeks and just haven't been doing any cooking or baking to post about. On my trip for work though, I did get one day off during which I took a lovely day trip to Tofino, BC with my co-worker. In this post I'm going to show you some really pretty pictures from our trip and tell you about a great restaurant and resort in Tofino - The Wickaninnish Inn.

Log bridge, part of the rainforest walk

 First, if you've never been to Tofino, it is a small coastal town on Vancouver Island (just off the west coast of Canada). It is absolutely breathtaking with a great combination of outdoors-y activities and delicious restaurants. Our first stop when we got to Tofino was Long Beach. We walked almost five kilometers on that beach... as its name suggests, it goes on forever. We also got a really great view of Incinerator Rock! As we started walking the beach, it was spitting rain and super cloudy, but during our walk, the sun started coming out and by the time we had reached the end, the clouds and rain had burned off and we were left with sunshine and lovely blue skies. Boy can the weather change quickly!

Me on the log bridge on our rainforest walk

 Next up, we drove a little way out of town and took in one of the 1km rainforest walks. The rainforest walk is a cool boardwalk through our coastal rainforest here where you can see the huge, beautiful trees and other rainforest-y scenery. Its so spectacular in there and it never gets old. I've done this walk a couple of times on previous visits and it still takes my breath away how beautiful it is. So, why all this walking? Hmmm.... needed a bit of exercise prior to stuffing ourselves on gourmet coffee and desserts at the Wick Inn's restaurant The Pointe Restaurant.

Nim modelling for me at the Pointe Restaurant at the Wick Inn

 This restaurant is one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. The service is impeccable, the view is one of a kind, and the food is presented in such an amazing fashion! Its impossible not to be impressed in some way or another at this place. Our server's name was Bappa and he was witty, conversational and such a fantastic server - we would probably go back just because of him!

We started out ordering coffee - I ordered a latte and Nim (my co-worker) ordered a mocha. Both beverages were deliciously smooth and were served with raw cane sugar. Next, I ordered a bowl of the chowder - it was lovely with baby shrimp, fresh Port Alberni halibut, clams, potatoes and corn and finished with a generous drizzle of prawn oil. Absolutely spectacular! It is a huge portion, so don't be afraid to share. :) A selection of bread accompanies the chowder along with homemade butter! Our bread selection contained a toasted walnut bread, cranberry sourdough bread and buckwheat bread. All were very fresh and had great flavour. I think our favorite bread was the toasted walnut bread though.

Then we moved on to the course we came for - dessert! Oh so good... I am wishing I could go back there right now. Nim ordered tiramisu - which was no ordinary tiramisu. The portion at the back of the plate has a lady finger base and is topped with mascarpone ice cream sprinkled with cocoa powder. At the front of the plate is coffee and liquor soaked "spaghetti" served on a delicious chocolatey sauce and topped with a sprinkle of pistachios and little frangelico chocolate crisps.

The Wick's take on Tiramisu

 Then I ordered the Key Lime Pie. It wasn't really pie, more like the chef's rendition of the flavours of key lime pie. I was totally okay with that! It was presented so spectacularly. They brought it to the table and then poured the spiced rum sauce over the blown sugar tower very dramatically at the table. The dessert started with a base made of a disk of white chocolate, next it had a small scoop of key lime sorbet which was enrobed in creamy coconut custard ice cream. Then the whole thing was crusted in a graham crust and served inside of a blown sugar tower. As I mentioned above, it was then topped with a lovely spiced rum sauce that went so well with the lime and coconut flavours hidden inside. This dish was an absolute show stopper!!!

Key Lime "Pie" served in a tower of blown sugar

View from the Pointe Restaurant

 And thats about all I have for you today. Stay tuned tomorrow - it's the Secret Recipe Club's group C reveal day tomorrow. I'm really excited about the blog I've been assigned and I can't wait to share it with you. Sometimes keeping the secret until reveal day is the hardest thing about this club. :) :)

Long beach at the end of our walk - all clear and sunny

I'm so glad to be back to blogging. I feel like I've been going through withdrawals these past two weeks! I've missed you all. Hopefully you're still hanging in there.

Happy Baking my Friends!