Food connects cultures and creates a sense of home. A Singaporean foodie shares what she’s enjoyed about Victoria’s local ingredients and culinary traditions.
About a year ago, I received a WhatsApp text from a friend in my home country of Singapore, excitedly announcing that he was in a commercial for a new Canadian restaurant: Tim Hortons!
Restaurant? I queried his description of the outlet, picturing in my mind the familiar Timmy’s found in every strip mall in Canada, each one identical to the next, featuring coffee, doughnuts and sandwiches.
It turns out that to let the ‘restaurant’ concept fly in Singapore, Tim Hortons took on a menu makeover—the coffees became espresso drinks, iced and fluffed for the tropical market; the doughnuts were replaced with fancier cakes and pastries; and, according to my friend, it has this exotic dish—poutine.
I pride myself as a well-travelled foodie, having made my home in some of the world’s renowned food capitals, including Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and London, where weekends were spent exploring lesser-known corners of each city for the best (fill in the blank) laksa, roast duck, pastrami sandwich, chicken tikka…
When I came to Victoria, B.C., in 2014, I was excited to see what the city had to offer on the food front. Here are a few things I’ve discovered:
1. Poutine was as weird and exotic to me as chips and curry when I first lived in the UK. I now understand the base of the dish—fries and curds—and how it can be elevated with different sauces to suit one’s fancy.
2. Spot prawns—those sweet and tender crustaceans that are in season for only 6-8 weeks a year. I did my research into why, and the findings are fascinating. In non-science talk, spot prawns are hermaphrodites, beginning their lives as males and transitioning to female later in life. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans carefully sets the spring harvest each year so only younger males are harvested before they transition to females. These management practices help support the sustainability of this wild-caught delicacy. Spot prawns are delicious and best prepared simply—grilled or boiled and served with lemony garlic butter or tossed in a pasta.
3. Eating local produce seasonally matters, especially for its eco-friendliness. The smaller the eco-footprint of food travelling to your plate, the kinder it is on the environment. I also love supporting our small-batch growers who put love and care into what they grow and how they treat the land.
4. Maple syrup goes with everything, including snow! My kids experienced such excitement when they learned about maple syrup candy from the neighbours on one of the rare snow days in Victoria. They delighted in pouring strips of hot syrup in the snow, waiting for it to harden into candy – the simple joys of childhood!
Over the past decade, I have also noticed how Victoria’s restaurant scene has expanded to include cuisines from around the world. Diners are becoming more adventurous, embracing new flavours, new ways of eating, and enjoying the experience. From tapas to omakase, seafood boils to dim sum, Victoria’s restaurants are a delectable mishmash of culture and diversity, and I cannot wait to see what’s coming next!