Here's your first look at Marilena Cafe and Raw Bar

For years a sign in a ground-floor window of the Rotunda building across from Victoria City Hall has promised “A New Culinary Experience Coming Soon!”

With its white marble, gold, pink, and blue accents, state of the art kitchen, and well-rounded cast of educated and established servers, bartenders, kitchen staff, and chefs, Marilena Cafe and Raw Bar is precisely the elevated dining experience Victoria has been anticipating for almost four years.

Now, 1525 Douglas St. has been transformed into a 160-person dining room, with a mounting wall of award-winning spirits, winding hallways leading to stocked wine cellars, and an open-concept kitchen and authentic Japanese raw bar.

Acquired in 2014 by the Aquilini Investment Group, Toptable has established itself as le meilleur of premium dining experiences, operating in some of the best places for food in North America: Vancouver, Whistler, and New York.

With Marilena Cafe and Raw Bar, the Aquilini-owned Toptable Group has tapped Kristian Eligh to come on board as the executive chef.

Prior to dining there this week, I didn’t really know what the Toptable Group was, or who Francesco Aquilini was either (he owns the Vancouver Canucks).

But there was so much buzz around the opening of this restaurant, either because of Toptable’s reputation, its opening delay due to COVID-19, or its mysterious blackened windows and “opening soon” sign displayed to the Victoria core throughout the pandemic.

Either way, the wait is over, so rejoice—and if you must know, it doesn’t disappoint.

Tasting Victoria attended Marilena before its opening on June 28. According to a press release, Eligh intended on crafting a menu of West Coast cuisine with local and globally sourced seafood; therefore, I was excited.

We were afforded a five-course meal, which started with a tower of fresh and raw East and West Coast oysters, shrimp, scallops and lobster, with a particularly poignant and powerful ceviche mixto.

Next, we had a three-course appetizer with an unbelievable kanpachi crudo. The shiromi, a white fish, was bathed in a bed of meyer lemon, horseradish, and Domenica Fiore olive oil.

With it we were served an aburi sockeye salmon oshi with serrano chili and black pepper, and a delightful collection of fresh, locally-grown heirloom tomatoes drizzled in basil pesto and Venturi-Schulze balsamic. Sometimes, it’s the simple things—like Marilena’s fresh heirloom tomatoes—that can leave the most lasting impression. They did.

The whole afternoon was made that much better with Marilena’s wine director, Savannah Robinson, pairing the meal with Duncan and Cowichan Valley wines—a testament to the depth of wineries on Vancouver Island.

For the mid course, we enjoyed a plate of grilled octopus, as well as a creamy collection of seared Digby scallops and succulent-soaked pork belly—a delectable dose of umami flavour.

On to the entrees and we ate parmesan crusted chicken sat on a bed of fingerling potatoes, broccolini, lemon, and lemon butter sauce; the Hecate Strait halibut simmered in a summer corn, shishito pepper, and coconut lemongrass broth; and crispy skin striped bass, which absolutely stole the show, its flavour marinating into a smokiness with yu choy, maitake mushroom, and cured pork.

Chef Eligh told Tasting Victoria he’s not giving the secret to the bass away just yet.

To top everything off, we enjoyed a collection of desserts created by pastry chef Dominique Laurencelle from Boom + Batten, which included chocolate molten cake, vanilla bean cheesecake, pistachio cake and fresh blueberries, key lime curd, whipped dulcey ganache and yuzu sorbet.

A perfectly sweet and filling way to finish the meal off.

I’d talk more about the spirits served, but the list is extensive—about 27 pages full of premium vodka, gin, tequila and mezcal, rum, whiskey, brandy, cognac, and aperitifs.

The cocktail menu, created by Jayce Kadyschuk, is divvied up by subheadings: lively, adventurous, and sophisticated. Which is a great way to describe Marilena, too.

Homecoming is another word; at least for chef Eligh, who is originally from Victoria.

In 2002, he left to go to Vancouver to pursue work as a chef and worked for some great companies, including Hawksworth Restaurant Group. Now, he says he intends to be in Victoria for a while. “[Marilena] is here for the long run,” he said. “And to be financially supported like that is incredible for this day and age in the restaurant business.”

While certainly there are requirements for each Toptable restaurant, Eligh says there’s not a “corporate standard or chef or director imposing [their will] on the audience.”

He says a portion of the menu will be dedicated to bringing seasonal and local dishes that are sourced from and support Vancouver Island fisheries and farmers. “We want to put an emphasis on fun, unique, and sustainable products—that’s an important piece for us.”

The same can be said for a lot of the products at Marilena, and it’s like Eligh said: “If the culture is great—the food will be too.”

Marilena Cafe and Raw Bar will be open daily starting Wednesday, June 28; it will open at 4:30pm for cocktails and then 5pm for dinner service.

Address: 1525 Douglas St., Victoria

Hours: Every day, from 4:30pm-late

Instagram: @marilenacafe