3 restaurants to try before Dine Around 2022 ends

February 02, 2022

Dine around continues this weekend, ending this Sunday, Feb. 6. The Tasting Victoria team embarked on the task of checking out participating restaurants, and sampling their dine around exclusive menus, to give you our top favourites to try out before Dine Around ends this year.

Check them out and let us know what you think! We’d love to hear which ones were your favourites this week.Thank you for supporting local restaurants.

Reservations recommended.

Saveur Restaurant

Saveur Restaurant offers fine dining food in a casual urban setting. Award-winning chef, Robert Cassels, delivers French-inspired contemporary cuisine through playful and elegant tasting menus, using local ingredients wherever possible. Their Dine Around & Stay in Town offerings are no exception.

Enjoy a $60 three-course menu along with optional pairings featuring BC Vineyards and local craft beer. This menu includes options to choose from—first course: Pear parsnip soup with pickled pear, rosemary, and Vadouvan Granola, or Paté en Croute: with duck and pork, pickles, and bitter greens, or sweet breads with sunchoke, brussels leaves, and sauce péirgueux ($10 Supplement. In their second course you get to choose from skate wing with rutabaga “Brandade” brown butter emulsion, dill, and trout roe or Gnocchi with maitake mushroom, blue cheese béchamel, and grilled kale or Cowichan Valley chicken duo: Confit leg, breast, potatoes Anna, cabbage, foie gras marshmallow, chicken skin granola, and black garlic jus ($15 supplement beef tenderloin instead of chicken).For dessert, options include a steamed lemon pudding, coconut anglaise, yogurt whipped cream, and earl grey tea milk bubbles or a chocolate cremeaux: 74% Ecuador dark chocolate, candied cocoa nibs, chestnuts, caramelized whey, and foie gras ice cream

The whole menu was exceptional, elegant and flavourful, excellent service and a very nice ambiance. A great experience that is definitely worth trying and we will be sure to be there next year!

Perro Negro Tapas + Wine

Perro Negro (Black Dog) is an extension of the popular Ferris’ Upstairs Seafood & Oyster Bar. Born of a love of Spanish food and culture, the restaurant features an extensive list of tapas, sherry, and wine from Spain, BC, and beyond, served in an atmosphere that is lively, casual and fun. Perro Negro’s $30 (per person) Dine Around menu is shared tapas for two is definitely one of the best deals this year.

The shared tapas include:• warm bacon wrapped dates with ermite blue cheese• montadito: toasted bread, whipped ricotta, spiced walnut, and honey• ensalada verde: mixed greens, pickled fennel, pepitas, and lemon peel vinaigrette• roasted carrots with romesco, and almonds• patatas bravas: fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce, and alioli• trucha: Lois lake steelhead trout, ajo blanco, and israeli cous cous• estofado de cerdo: braised pork, dried cherries, and smoked paprika mashed potatoes• yoghurt panna cotta with pistachios, honey, and mint

For us, the highlights were the warm bacon wrapped dates, patatas bravas and estofado de cerdo.

Perro Negro is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during Dine Around. No reservations. First come first serve.

LURE Restaurant & Bar

LURE has two different Dine Around menus this year: a $40 three-course menu and $50 three-course menu. We enjoyed both of LURE’s dine-around menus and tried from their $40 menu the artisan greens salad appetizer, selva prawn fettuccine as a main course and for dessert we had their vanilla cheesecake brûlée with balsamic pickled cherries. For LURE’S 40$ Dine Around you can also choose from other dishes such as their sweet potato and coconut bisque appetizer and as a main, your other choices are between LURE’s Columbia River steelhead, farmhouse chicken breast. For dessert you can also enjoy LURE’s house made sorbet (GF), if the brûlée doesn’t peak your interest.

For LURE’S $50 three-course menu Dine Around menu we had their caesar salad, their Columbia River steelhead and for dessert we had their dark chocolate pot de creme. Other options on LURE’S $50 Dine Around include their West Coast seafood chowder, and sterling silver beef 8oz striploin.

We hope you enjoy and get the most out of the last days of Dine Around & Stay in town. Let us know which restaurants were your favourites, and we encourage you to share your food photos on Instagram or Facebook by tagging @tastingvictoria or using #TastingVictoria so we can follow you along your culinary journey.