I fell in love with The Magnolia Hotel & Spa in Victoria, BC. I really did. From the moment I first communicated with Bill, the General Manager, to the moment walked in, to the nights I stayed there, to being able to walk less than two blocks to the conference site for Social Media Camp Victoria 2011, to the attention to detail, to the extreme generosity and focus on service. I simply love The Magnolia Hotel. And not only because they invited me to stay with them during SMCV’11. But because they are SO focused on good service.
I’ve already mentioned before how much I love boutique hotels. I think that the attention to detail, the fact that they are not chain-like, the emphasis on customer service, are all bonus points of boutique hotels. The Magnolia Hotel & Spa is a boutique hotel located in the heart of downtown Victoria, on Courtney Street, strategically very close to Clive’s Classic Lounge (fantastic cocktails, as I have mentioned before).
Just steps from Victoria’s picturesque Inner Harbour, The Magnolia Hotel & Spa wins over guests with its unbeatable location and service. The award-winning hotel, voted one of the top hotels in Canada by Condé Nast Traveler readers and recognised as one of the Top 10 Luxury Hotels in Canada by TripAdvisor’s® 2011 Travelers’ Choice® awards, is one block from the harbour and the city’s best restaurants, shops and entertainment – exactly where you want to be during your Victoria stay.
Searching hotels in Victoria for an event venue or spa getaway? Check out our new meeting space and see why businesses are making us their corporate hotel. Plan a spa retreat with the girls and slip into Zenlike bliss at our newly expanded Spa Magnolia. Try Prime Steakhouse for lunch or dinner, a favourite in Victoria since opening in 2009. Our complimentary deluxe continental breakfast gets rave reviews.
Discover the kind of undistracted, unmatched service you can experience only in a boutique hotel with just 64 rooms. Aeroplan® members earn miles while staying at the Magnolia Hotel & Spa
When I arrived, a box of chocolates was waiting for me on my desk.
Extremely spacious and perfect to hide away for a few days while attending a conference, I really enjoyed the fact that The Magnolia Hotel has everything I could possibly need: fantastic service, a great restaurant downstairs, complimentary Continental breakfast, newspaper delivered to my door, and great attention to the smallest details.
I’ll definitely come back to stay at The Magnolia Hotel, and I definitely know why I will come back: because the service is extraordinary. And that comes from their philosophy – they treat you like family.
Disclosure: My stay at The Magnolia Hotel & Spa was sponsored very generously by the hotel as they knew I was coming to speak at Social Media Camp Victoria 2011. My expenses to travel to and from Vancouver Island were covered by the sponsorship package of SMCV’2011, but I paid for every other expense I incurred on during my trip. I wasn’t paid to write this review, nor was I required to do so either. The purpose of this blog entry is just to describe my experience at the hotel. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times. Should you have any questions/concern feel free to contact me via e-mail through my contact form.
On the second day of the Travel Bloggers Exchange, I will admit I attended less sessions than on the first day. But the two that left more of an impression on me were the photography one and the one about research. Overall, I can’t really comment much on the content of the conference as much of it was really basic bloggers relations, etc. The photography session was incredibly useful to me, and the research one was interesting too. Overall, I had a fantastic time. You can read my impressions and see some of my photographs after the break.
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June 12th, 2011 in
travel | tags:
TBEX,
TBEX11 |
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During our time at TBEX 2011, I visited Bella Gelateria with my friend Emme Rogers. We tasted a few sorbet samples (courtesy of James, the owner and creator and mastermind behind Bella Gelateria).
- Mango mango
- Granville Island Raspberry Ale
- Meyer Lemon
- Maui Gold Pineapple
- Coconut Water
- Hibiscus Flower (Jamaica)
I was particularly touched because James choose to put together samplers of flavors that would be easily accessible to me, like the hibiscus flower sorbet (Jamaica, as we call the hibiscus flower, is considered a really typical Mexican flavor). Also, the Granville Island Raspberry Ale sorbet was incredible because it had just been released on Wednesday.
I have been a fan of James and of Bella Gelateria in general, but now that I’ve actually tried it out, I’m even more of a fan. I love the fact that James is a follower of the Slow Food movement, as you can see when you read his Philosophy statement. Overall, a nice addition to the downtown Vancouver food/dessert landscape.
June 12th, 2011 in
dessert |
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I will fully confess I’m not 100% a travel writer. I do a lot of travel writing but I don’t categorize my “niche” to be only travel. I write about food, theatre, dance, non-profits, and of course, travel. I found myself yesterday at the first day of the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) 2011 conference (TBEX’11) both inspired and confused.
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June 12th, 2011 in
travel | tags:
TBEX,
TBEX11 |
2 Comments
Along with a number of TBEX (Travel Blogger Exchange) 2011 conference attendees, I roamed the streets of downtown Vancouver trying to find a place to have lunch yesterday (the first day of the conference). We settled (thanks to a lucky chance encounter with the girls from Tourism Whistler and Tourism Victoria and BC Ferries) on Feastro Taco Truck (located at Thurlow and Cordova).
I ordered a chicken taco ($7) and an organic soda ($3). The tacos are well-served, and obviously they’re a variation on a taco theme, as admitted by the owner and co-founder. Chef Steve has created a nice taco-style concoction that will please your taste buds and leave you full (although I’ll admit I went for a second one). Feastro’s specialty seems to be seafood and maybe next time I’ll have to do the fish-and-chips. Good choice of food truck, to be quite honest.
Good times with the Tourism Victoria, Tourism Whistler, BC Ferries and many more, including my friends Emme Rogers, Deirdre Rowland, Michelle Leroux, Bob Kronbauer, etc. I’ll definitely come back. You can find Feastro on Twitter and Facebook.
June 12th, 2011 in
Downtown,
lunch |
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I had the pleasure to listen to Evelyn Hannon (@JourneyWoman), one of the premier storytellers and travel writing resources for women worldwide (and a Canadian, to boot!). Her keynote was incredibly inspiring, because her main message was, without a doubt, a call to stay true to your mandate, to your values and to your own self. It’s really easy to get caught on the shiny stuff, on the amazing media trips that we can get invited to do.
It’s easy to get caught on issues of monetization, of wanting to make our travel blog the best and most accessed blog worldwide, on the fame and fortune. But listening to Evelyn talk about how she came back from a divorce, from having a life of travels with someone she loved and how she continued to travel solo, and how she built an amazing audience from scratch. She invested $1,000 on her travel magazine/site and it’s grown from there.
I think I already got out of TBEX what I needed. A reminder that staying true to oneself is the most important thing to do. That we can survive heartbreak and sadness, and that we can thrive. Evelyn Hannon is the premier example of that, and for your wonderful keynote, Evelyn, I thank you.
June 11th, 2011 in
travel | tags:
TBEX,
TBEX11 |
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It was really hard to write the blog post where Isabella and I announced that we were not going to organize Mental Health Camp Vancouver 2011. We both really wanted to make it happen, yet we realized that we were facing every minute even more obstacles.
I have noted here on my blog and on my other social networks that, while 2011 has been amazing professionally, it’s been a horrible year in terms of personal life. I’ve had family and friends pass away in the past few months, I’ve faced a number of other challenges recently. All in all, it’s been very tough for me. And I’ve decided that I can’t live like this. Having to organize MHCV would have been yet another volunteer thing to do this year, on top of everything I have to do.
I had a conversation with Isabella as soon as I got back from Qualicum Beach and we agreed we needed to take care of ourselves first. Isabella has had a very rough year herself, and it’s really the right time for us to start looking first for ourselves and then look to help the community. Below is the message I posted on the Mental Health Camp blog this morning.
___________
This year has been incredibly tough on both Isabella and I. We’ve been facing a number of challenges that, despite the help we’ve been extended (thanks, JP and Terra, and those who answered my call for volunteers), make us believe it’s best to not organize Mental Health Camp Vancouver this year.
It was a hard decision for us. Mental Health Camp has been a labour of love and an important project for us, and we don’t want to discontinue it. But as I told Isabella, I felt that organizing MHCV 2011 would have compromised my own mental health, by overextending my capabilities and adding stress to my life. Ironic, eh?
We thank everyone who has wanted to get involved with the project and we hope that 2012 will be a better year for us to be able to organize Mental Health Camp again.
Yours,
Isabella and Raul
My good friend Jay Catalan (cofounder of The Network Hub) is extremely involved with the local Filipino community, and he passed on the information that Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture and Tulayan will be presenting tomorrow, Friday, the Vancouver premiere of IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK! with Carlos Cedran.
Celdran, a Philippine-based performance artist dubbed “The Pied Piper of Manila,” comes to perform his world-famous walking tour of Intramuros, titled If These Walls Could Talk. This coming June 10-11, 2011, Vancouver’s Gastown will star as Intramuros, the Spanish-built walled capital of colonial-era Philippines.
As Jay indicates,
it would be a wasted opportunity if only Filipinos get to see the show, as it’s a very entertaining way to learn about Philippine History, and from a non-traditional angle.
I agree with Jay, so I’m hereby inviting you all to attend the Vancouver premiere of If These Walls Could Talk. This weekend, June 10th (Friday) and June 11th, 2011. More information on the Facebook event. Hope you can join in the fun to celebrate Filipino Independence Day in Vancouver!
The event’s registration fee is by donation (suggested: $20) – Starting point is Cathedral Square, Richards St. & Dunsmuir St., Vancouver. First Show: Friday, June 10, 2011 – 7pm. Second Show: Saturday, June 11, 2011 – 5pm. And kudos to the organizing committee!
Anna Mae Abia
RJ Aquino
Jay Catalan
Diego Maranan
Sammie Jo Rumbaua
Charity Zapanta
Who has two thumbs, is one of Ryan Reynolds’ AND Green Lantern’s biggest fans and has two double passes to the advanced screening of Green Lantern in Vancouver on Wednesday June 15th at 7pm at the Scotiabank Theatres in downtown Vancouver to give away to a couple of lucky readers? THIS GUY!. Thanks to the good folks of Warner Brothers Canada, I am able to give away 2 double passes to the advanced screening of Green Lantern, and of course I’m super excited about the movie (didn’t you see that I wrote about it twice this year?).
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Photo credit: NetChick on Flickr
It’s been a year, I think, since I last saw Tanya Desrosiers (neé Davis), one of my best friends, and one of the most established bloggers in Vancouver and since a year or so, in Calgary. Tanya has a heart of gold and was one of the very first people in the blogging world in Vancouver who became my friend.
I’m very proud of the many ways in which Tanya has grown, in the past 2-3 years she’s made a number of changes in her life that have taken her to another level, and that have made her a role model for anyone who wants to grow and evolve. I’m very proud of you, Tanya, and I’m sending you much love.
And sorry I missed you this past time I visited Calgary. Next time!
Raul and Kate. Photo credit: 6S Marketing
My good friend Kate LeGresley (Community Manager at Invoke Media) is celebrating her birthday today. And I’ve been travelling for 2 weeks and haven’t had a chance to congratulate her. But I’m thrilled that she is celebrating her birthday today, as 2011 has been the first year that has allowed us to work together (professionally) on a social media project.
Kate and I are currently collaborating in a project for the City of Surrey and I’ve been amazed at how well we work together and at her very strong work ethic and wonderful ideas in the social media realm. Kate, it’s awesome having a chance to get to know you first as a friend and now as a colleague in a project. Your smile and ability to keep calm and carry on with the projects you start are things that make working together on collaborative projects all the more fun.
And of course, needless to say, I really value your friendship. You’re a gem. Much love always.
Today is Wine Wednesday (hey wineries and wine suppliers, have you sent me samples of your wine to review yet?). And since I don’t really have time to blog, I’m just going to post a few photos I’ve taken of drinks and cocktails recently.
When I visit a new city (or a city like Calgary, which is the home of my brother, sister-in-law and nephews, as well as Tanya and a few other Calgary-based friends), I usually try to visit their libraries. I visited the University of Calgary recently when I spoke at the Canadian Association of Geographers but I did not get photos of that library. That said, I did get photos of the Fish Creek branch of the Calgary Public Library.
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June 7th, 2011 in
Calgary,
travel |
1 Comment
There is a store that sells cow-themed things and nothing else. I am SO not kidding you. In our recent trip to Whistler, JT and I stopped at Cows and we had some ice cream. We were fascinated by the number of crazy things that we saw there. And the ice cream was nice too. (EDIT – a reader made me realize Cows sells ice cream, not gelato – thanks for the correction!)
Worth the visit.
I am trying hard to feature travel-related posts on Tuesdays as it’s Travel Tuesday. So, this time I am featuring a cute cafe that, from what my friend Alexis Hinde tells me, it’s one of the best coffee shops in the Greater Victoria regional district.
The one I visited was Habit Coffee at the Atrium.
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Photo credit: wasme on Flickr
For obvious reasons (the time that Ben spent in my life, how much I learned about Japanese culture and the language), I’ve grown a soft spot for all things Japanese. I realized that there was a little Japantown in Vancouver many years ago, and I asked my good friend Rebecca to blog about it (which she did here). To celebrate the remnants of Japanese-Canadian culture in Vancouver, we have the yearly Powell Street Festival, which in 2011 celebrates its 35th Anniversary in the form of a fundraiser (and check their Facebook Page).
Here’s some information that Kazuho Yamamoto sent me:
The Powell Street Festival, the annual celebration of Japanese and Asian Canadian Arts, Culture and Heritage. This year, the festival marks its 35th Anniversary and it is the longest and largest community festivals in Lower Mainland. The festival has been free event since 1977.
To stay stronger another 35 years, we are holding the 35th anniversary party KANPAI! (cheers! ) on June 15th at Performance Works on Granville Island. The event features hip hop artist JayKin, old time music by Shout! White Dragon, silent auction and appies by hapa izakaya etc. Tickets are $35 and 10% of sales will be donated to Canadian Red Cross.
When: Wednesday, June 15
Doors at 7:00pm, Show at 7:30pm
Where: Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC)
What: KANPAI! Powell Street Festival 35th Anniversary Fundraiser.
With all the buzz around social media, it was very refreshing to walk around West Pender and find a building that promotes its businesses in quite an innovative way.
Have you seen any other innovative ways to promote local businesses? I’m not a fan of sandwich boards, to be honest!
The second of my stops in my whirlwind crazy conference speaking circuit was Social Media Camp Victoria 2011 (in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia). For some reason, my talks and keynotes here in Victoria are (for the most part) wildly successful. With the exception of once (last SMCV10 where people thought my talk was too academic), I’ve always had resounding successes.
The highlight of the conference for me, I will have to selfishly admit, was (in addition to Derek K. Miller winning the Most Inspiring Social Media User ‘Westie’ Award) realizing how much more I have matured as a speaker. Admittedly, this is my job, right? I’m an educator. I teach, speak and give keynotes and talks for a living. Yet I knew I needed to refine my presentation skills. I procured the help of Janice Tomich (Calculated Presentations). Janice has been working with me for the past few months on both sides – academic talks and social media talks.
And yes, my delivery is improving dramatically. I noticed in the way I led both of my talks, the first one that I shared with Janni Aragon, and the second one on my own, on a topic I know well but that could be dry – reputation management and digital identity. And another highlight is – the friendships I maintain online stay alive just as well when we see each other offline.
Overall, it was a wonderful conference. I felt again amongst friends, and I tested a few ideas that I had wanted to explore in the field of social media. Congratulations and thanks to Paul Holmes, Chris Burdge, Yukari Peerless, Katharine Holmes and the hordes of amazing volunteers, sponsors and attendees.
One of the things I love the most (in addition to my friends John and Minna Van living there) about Commercial Drive is its ethnic diversity and the mosaic of cultures you have there. Interestingly enough, Commercial Drive used to be an ethnic enclave for the Italian community, and it continues to be celebrated that way. I had a chance to cover Italian Day on Commercial Drive last year, but this year I’m in Victoria so I will be unable to do so. But you can follow my friend Minna’s Twitter stream as I’m sure she’ll be livetweeting from there. Today June 5th, in addition to being World Environment Day and Ships to Shore Steveston, is Italian Day on Commercial Drive. In fact, June is Italian Heritage Month, so one more reason for you to check out this festival.
Come celebrate ‘all that is Italian’ from Venables to the Grandview cut on Commercial Drive, Vancouver’s original ‘Little Italy’. Join over 50,000 attendees on June 5th 2011 from noon until 8pm as ‘La Dolce Vita’ hits the street in style to include food, entertainment, fashion, specialty products, activities and much more. Share the spirit, pride and tradition as we pay tribute to the Italian community and the contributions made to this city as Vancouver celebrates its 125th birthday and Italians commemorate Italy’s 150th anniversary of unification. Viva l’Italia e benvenuti a tutti!
If you attend, please post photos so that I can blog about them.
For some reason, everyone and their mother organized their festivals when I am out of town. And one of the nicer areas of Richmond (south of Vancouver proper) is Steveston, a lovely community where my good friend Erica Hargreave lives. I learned that from June 3 to 7th, the Ships To Shore Steveston 2011 is taking place, so you still have a couple of days to check it out.
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Strangely enough, Earth Day (April 22nd) and World Water Day (March 22nd) tend to be very highly publicized but World Environment Day (set by the United Nations Environment Programme) is rarely paid much attention to.
As a specialist in environmental policy, and more importantly, someone deeply concerned with environmental protection, I think it’s important to remind people that our consumptive patterns are one of the biggest causes for environmental degradation. We consume at a much faster rate than resources are replenished. Our ecosystems are fragile.
My research focus has been, for the past 10-15 years, pollution reduction and prevention, hazardous waste, solid waste and more recently, wastewater. I hope that people can take a moment today, June 5th, World Environment Day, to remember just how blessed we are with having resources that so many people are unable to, and access to a number of satisfactors that others don’t. Let’s protect our environment not only today, but every day.
World Environment Day (WED) is an annual event that is aimed at being the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action. WED activities take place all year round but climax on 5 June every year, involving everyone from everywhere. WED celebration began in 1972 and has grown to become the one of the main vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action.
What are YOU going to do for your environment on WED 2011?
I love Vancouver, and as an educator who teaches environmental politics and someone who works hard at sustainable living, I’m pleased to see that on World Environment Day (today, June 5th), there’s also a festival on sustainable living: Love Vancouver, Love Your Planet.
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This Sunday, June 5, marks the 30th anniversary of Vancouver’s first reported cases of the deadly disease that we now know is HIV/AIDS. As you may all know, HIV/AIDS is one of the causes I hold near and dear to my heart. I found out that in the last 30 years, British Columbia has earned global recognition for being on the cutting edge of HIV/AIDS research, treatment, care, and support. From what I hear, the Dr. Peter Centre’s unique model of HIV/AIDS health care has helped garner that international acclaim. Even more so, it appears that in March of this year a report by the Provincial Health Officer recommended that the Dr. Peter Centre’s model be expanded throughout BC.
At the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, we’re helping to rebuild lives shattered by HIV/AIDS, addiction, mental illness, poverty, and discrimination because of gender and sexual orientation.
It does appear fitting that this Sunday the second annual fundraising event, The Hangout, is being held to raise money for the Dr. Peter Centre. This year The Hangout will be a tea dance from 2pm-8pm at The Helm, one of my favorite restaurant and lounges, and feature local DJs, door prizes, a silent auction, and an art show/sale. The Hangout is an event that is organized by Perry Boldt, Trevor Loke, Rich Overgaard and Ricardo Coral (all of whom I think are good friends with some of my friends as well), and the event aims to inspire a younger generation to take on the HIV/AIDS cause.
The Hangout will have two guest speakers, Shirley Young, Dr. Peter’s Mother will speak about her son’s trials with HIV/AIDS and the need for a new generation to take on HIV/AIDS in the coming years; and my good friend and MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert will speak about the importance of community engagement for the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at Priape (1148 Davie St) or Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium (1238 Davie St); and all proceeds from the event will be donated to the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation.
What: THE HANGOUT
When: Sunday, June 5 from 2pm to 8pm
Where: The Helm, 1180 Howe Street
Why: To raise funds for the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation
I have participated in musicals myself in my younger years, and been witness to hundreds of musical theatre shows, even more so in the past 4 years here in Vancouver. Having seen a number of wonderful productions brought to Vancouver by Broadways Across Canada, I mused to JT that if there’s a musical that I think has been flawless of all the BAC shows I’ve seen, it’s Wicked. And I mean it. Last night I attended the opening night of Wicked, playing from June 1st through June 26th. You may have read my preview earlier this past month, but I did not realize how well done and executed this show was until last night when I saw it in person.
An exemplary well-written, cast and produced show, Wicked tells us the story of two friends, Glinda and Elphaba. Glinda will remind you very much of a blonde-spoiled-little-brat (Britney Spears anyone?). Adorable (and gifted-with-a-spectacular-voice) Natalie Daradich gives us a sense of Canadian pride in the main cast as she is from Toronto. Her voice was powerful, and she projected a broad range of emotions, from selfishness to selflessness with grace and poise. And at the end, you can’t help but love her, despite her sometimes bratty behavior.
Elphaba (a sublime Anne Brummel, gifted with a voice range and potency that many would envy) is a green-skinned, often-misunderstood, cast-away girl who has a witchcraft gift that nobody (except, of course, The Wizard and Madame Morrible) knows. Born to a human mother and father, everyone in society is repulsed by Elphaba’s green skin, without even figuring out that soon enough, she will be one of the most powerful witches of Oz.
There is, of course, as always, a handsome charming prince. And in this case, I couldn’t help but melt into a puddle when I saw Fiyero (David Nathan Perlow, whom I met at the after party and with whom I chatted for a little while). For me, he was the biggest surprise of this show. While you would think Perlow’s character is only handsome, athletic and charming, he deploys a very strong voice, amazing dancing skills and a broad emotional range, making the spectator really like his Fiyero character despite his natural shortcomings (self-absorbedness being the major one).
Call me sentimental, but I shed tears with Glinda and Elphaba’s “For Good”. I obviously melted with Elphaba and Fiyero’s “As Long As You’re Mine”. And one of my absolute favorite numbers was “Defying Gravity”, with Elphaba, Glinda, the Guards and Citizens of Oz. But overall, the technical quality, the performances and the production were extraordinary.
With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and based on the book by Winnie Holzman (based on the novel by Gregory Maguire), Wicked is an extraordinarily well-put-together story of redemption, friendship and love. You will learn a lot about the backstories of those main characters of the story you know, The Wizard of Oz, in a lovely and well-crafted storyline that will leave you with a “feel good” sensation for the rest of the evening.
I absolutely loved Broadway Across Canada’s production of Wicked in Vancouver, and I hope you will get a chance to check it out too.
Week 1 performances run, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm, Sunday evening 7:30pm with Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 2pm matinees. Weeks 2, 3 and 4 performances run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8PM, Sunday evening at 7:30pm with Saturday and Sunday 2pm matinees. Ticket prices begin at $35.00. You can get tickets via Ticketmaster, all Ticketmaster outlets, or by phone 1-855-985-5000. There is an 8-ticket limit per patron.
Disclosure: I had media tickets to attend the musical theatre performance. This post hasn’t been paid nor am I obligated to write a review. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times, and producers and publicists are well aware of this. Should you have any questions/concern feel free to contact me via e-mail through my contact form.
Best way to enjoy a new-to-you-restaurant? Don’t even think about what the restaurant may bring you. JT and I were walking around Whistler Village looking for a place to eat and we found this cute place with two floors that didn’t even seem that exciting. The decor was nice, admittedly, but it looked like standard fare. What a cute hidden gem we found in 21 Steps Kitchen & Bar.
We ordered a fixed price ($35) menu which was fantastic value for our dollar. My starter was Garlic Chili Prawns ($11), which were absolutely delicious and very well served. My advice, though – don’t eat garlic chili prawns if you are planning to have a full meal. While extremely flavourful and strategically including nuts and other spices to mellow the chili down, I was full by the time my “Small Plate” was done.
My “Large Plate” was Moroccan Spiced Chicken ($23), which normally would be delicious to me. But with the overpowering (and tasty) flavour of the garlic and chili of my starter, I almost felt my Moroccan spiced chicken a bit bland. Extremely well cooked and flavourful, but sweet, I missed the power of garlic. Advice for next time – order something less overpowering for a Small Plate.
For the dessert, we totally went all the way and we both enjoyed what we love the most: in my case, the pie shown below.
A hidden gem and a really nice surprise for both of us. We’ll be back to 21 Steps next time we are in Whistler.
Disclosure: Both of our dinners were paid for by JT on his own dime, within the trip to Whistler to check out what to do when you’re not a winter sports person. However, I covered every other single expense I incurred during this travel, including (but not limited to) breakfast, lunch, dinner and transportation (except when explicitly indicated). I wasn’t paid to write this review, nor was I required to do so either. The purpose of this blog entry is just to describe and document my experience at a restaurant I really liked. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times. Should you have any questions/concern feel free to contact me via e-mail through my contact form.
