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!

Restaurant Review: Ignite Cafe, Langley BC



Daily Ignite Specials posted curbside

I work in downtown Langley (the old part) and its been really hard to find a yummy lunch place close to the office. Well, you can imagine my excitement when Ignite Cafe was opened by local owner Dan. Absolutely delicious food - aways fresh and everything is made from scratch! Check out Dan's facebook page to stay current on whats going on at Ignite and to see some photos of his awesome food.

This is a great little restaurant open for lunch on weekdays and dinner on the weekends (be sure to make a reservation for the dinner service - seating is limited). I've broken down my review of our most recent lunch experience at Ignite Cafe into the following sections: Restaurant, Location, Food, Service, Atmosphere, Price.


Ignite interior, viewed from front entrance

Restaurant: Ignite Cafe
Location: 5572 - 204 Street, Langley, British Columbia

Ignite wine list

 Food:

The food at Ignite is always delicious (soup of the day is sooooo good!!). Dan sources ingredients locally and always has the freshest produce. He makes all of his soups, sauces and dressings from scratch and it shows - the taste is always superb. I recently had lunch at Ignite and my group tried the french onion soup, potato leek soup, the Ignite Burger (topped with avocado, proscuitto, yummy flavoured mayo and stuffed with provolone cheese), the Cajun Chicken Sandwich (topped with delicious cajun seasoning, avocado, delicious spiced mayo, roasted red peppers with a full chicken breast - thats right - a full chicken breast that is perfectly cooked - none of these pre-processed chicken patties here), and the daily special - Roasted Chicken Panini. All of these sandwiches were served with fresh greens topped with an absolutely divine homemade vinaigrette.

The only downside (if you can really call it that) is that there aren't any fries with the burger! But honestly, given the size of the burger, unless you have a HUGE appetite, you won't even miss them. And if you do have a big appetite, or if you're starving... probably if you talked really nice to Dan he would whip you up some kind of potatoey goodness to go along with the burger!!

Overall rating for food: 5/5

Soup of the day: Potato Leek

 Service:

I've got nothing bad to say about the service here. They check back to your table regularly to make sure you have everything you need. Dan usually comes out to check on the tables even if he's got a server on staff that day - that’s what makes it special and makes the service so great. Its always personal - Dan remembers you and he'll take care of you when you're in his place. And you'll always get service with a smile. :)

Overall rating for service: 5/5

Soup of the day: French Onion

 Atmosphere:

This cafe is cozy and makes the perfect lunch place. Not the most ideal location (its pretty hidden on a side street and street parking can be hit or miss) in the older area of downtown Langley, but the food makes it more than worth checking out!

I haven't noticed any music on at the cafe each time I've been in (maybe its on, but it must have been a little too quiet because I didn't notice!!) - it would add a nice touch to have some music playing while customers were there otherwise if there are only a couple tables of customers it can be a little awkward when you can hear everyone elses conversations!

Overall rating for atmosphere: 4/5

Special: Roasted Chicken Panini

 Price:

Prices are super reasonable at Ignite. You get a huge burger for only $11! Most of the prices range from $7 - 16 (a little more for some of the daily seafood specials). Considering the locally sourced, fresh, healthy ingredients used in preparing the food, you're getting a bargain here.

Ignite also offers wine at reasonable prices starting at $28 per bottle or $6 per glass. For such a small place, they carry a decent variety of wine - most people should be able to find something they like to drink on the menu.

Overall rating for price: 5/5

Cajun Chicken Sandwich

Picture doesn't do the Ignite Burger justice!! Fantastic, huge burger!

 

As you can see, I like this place. So do my co-workers and my friends. I'll be back and I would strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a great lunch place (or weekend dinner place) in Langley. See you there friends!

Another interior shot of Ignite Cafe

Roger on 10th - Restaurant Review

While I was out of town for work, my co-workers and I tried out a great new restaurant in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Roger on 10th was delicious - great west coast style food with wonderful service. Check out the review I wrote on TripAdvisor if you're interested. Otherwise, just check out the pictures of a couple of the dishes we ordered. Above is the herb crusted chicken with pureed potatoes and below is a lamb curry served with rice and raita. Both dishes were great! I can't wait to go back there and try out some more of their exquiite menu.

Happy Friday to all of you! Hope you enjoy your weekend and have lots of fun (or relaxation) planned. Happy Cooking my Friends!

Baked Alaska, Astoria Oregon

While my hubby & I were away in Oregon we went to a fantastic restaurant in Astoria for dinner. The place was called Baked Alaska Fine Dining & Public House. Our experience got off to a bit of a rough start, but they definintely won me over by the end of our visit. I have to apologize for the quality of my photos... hubby was a little embarassed at me taking "obsessive" photos of our plates and people were looking at me, so I had to be quick about it to minimize his embarassment. ;)

When we first walked into the restaurant, it initially took a while for someone to come and seat us. We almost left... but the fellow who finally came was so nice and convinced us to sit on the patio - something we definitely didn't regret! The view was fantastic - right on the Columbia River where all the big barges dock and the little boats zip by. Lots of little seals playing in the water etc.

We both had a drink - hubby had a beer & I had a lovely blueberry mojito.

Next up our server came around with a tray of assorted fresh breads - foccacia, sourdough, and some kind of whole grain. She also brought a tray with four little dishes - garlic butter, olive oil, balsamic vinnegar, and their signature seasoned sea salt (seasoned with fresh choppped herbs). All for dipping the bread in - it was all great and so beautifully presented.

We each ordered an entree. I ordered a "small" sized dinner (which wasn't actually all that small)! I ordered the Campfire Salmon which was "an alaskan amber barbeque marinated Alaskan Coho Salmon filet, pan seared and flambeed campfire style". It was served with mashed potatoes and green beans and an amazing citrussy sauce that complimented the bbq sauce amazingly well.

Hubby ordered the Natural Ale Braised Baby Back Ribs which were "glazed with an alaskan amber bbq sauce and frizzled sweet onions. His was also served with mashed potatoes and green beans. Everything was cooked to perfection and the ribs were fall-off-the-bone tender.

Now by this point we were both soooo stuffed from all this delicious food, but we had to find room to order the restaurant's signature dessert - the Half Baked Alaska. It looks so simple in the photo, but sometimes the simplest things are the best. The most exciting thing for me was the way it arrived at our table - flaming! The half baked alaska consists of "a double chocolate chip cookie baked fresh in a cast iron skillet. Topped with vanilla bean ice cream, walnuts and chocolate sauce. Arrives at your table flaming with brandy." It was so fun. Unfortunately it was too bright outside to get any photos of the flames. :(

This was definitely a place I'll be returning to. If you're ever in the area, definitely stop by and get "half-baked". Its well worth it!