Cozy up with family and friends over a feast of lovingly sourced local food at Victoria's popular slow food restaurant OLO this fall. Harvest time is here in the heart of Chinatown, and OLO's Executive Chef and Owner Brad Holmes is excited to bring the bounty of Vancouver Island through his kitchen doors, with daily deliveries of produce from local hardworking farmers, fisher folk and foragers.
A new five-course Tasting Menu ($65pp) is a delightful tour of individually plated dishes that showcase Chef Brad's love for local, with dishes such as porcini gemelli pasta with foraged mushrooms, garlic, oregano, chili and Grana Padano and Stillmeadow Farm pork loin with chanterelles, black beans, red fife and tomatillo relish. Vegetarians and vegans can enjoy the finest produce of the season with a dedicated Tasting Menu ($55pp), which includes imaginative delights such as red fife succotash with chanterelles, Swiss chard, wax beans and hubbard squash. Menus change frequently to reflect the freshest ingredients that arrive in the kitchen every day.
OLO's Family Meal ($55pp or $45pp vegetarian and vegan) offers a more casual way to enjoy a four-course feast with friends and family over shared platters of seasonal food. Hearty new fall dishes on the evening menu include Parry Bay lamb roast with potato gnocchi, squash, pumpkin seeds and sumac lamb sauce. Daytime diners can tuck into brunch at OLO for a relaxed start to the day - try shakshuka baked eggs, chickpeas, tomato, fresh cheese, charmula, salad, charred bread, or enjoy a taste of fresh pasta with the garganelli carbonara.
Fall flavours can also be found behind the bar as OLO's Bar Manager Matt Cooke creates handcrafted seasonal cocktails that showcase the best of Vancouver Island products and highlight an impressive list of B.C. distilleries, breweries, wineries, and Canadian whiskeys. Enjoy the last of the late orchard fruit in a bitter-sweet 'milkshake' called the Hundred Acre Wood, which features Unruly honey-based vodka, Wood's Pacific Northwest Amaro, plum and cherry puree, egg white, and Sea Cider King's & Spies apple cider, or indulge in the boozy Sazerac style Elephant's Whiskers with Forty Creek Barrel Select whiskey, Elephant Island apricot wine, salted lavender honey, Bittered Sling Moondog bitters, and Okanagan Spirits Taboo absinthe.
OLO is open for brunch, lunch and dinner seven days a week. For dinner reservations and details, visit olorestaurant.com.