FIVE NEW MUST-DO CULINARY EXPERIENCES IN VANCOUVER

Vancouver chefs, culinary operators and restaurateurs are always cookin’ up something new. Here’s the latest batch of food adventures, fresh out of the oven.

• Off the Eaten Track’s Sip, Savour, Shop on Main Street three-hour tour (starting February 2017) combines the best of this edgy neighbourhood’s food, apothecary shops and kitschy stores. The adventure starts at the Honey Shoppe for a local honey tasting, then continues on to a sampling of gluten-free Brazilian pastries; a knife-cutting lesson at a neighbourhood knife store featuring the largest collection of Japanese knives in Canada; samplings of cold-pressed juice, kombucha and ginger beer; a button-making lesson at a paper shop; and a taste of mind-blowing fish tacos with a sustainability message co-delivered by a local biologist and Iron Chef.

• Harvest Community Foods, located in trendy Chinatown-Strathcona, started as a community project and has flourished into a hub for urban produce and small-batch vegan foods; at lunch, lineups quickly build for the fresh noodle bowls packed with organic greens. Harvest also offers community supported agriculture shares intended to cultivate a closer connection between people and their food.

• Timber Restaurant’s Long Table Canadian Supper is the perfect way to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. Intended for groups, the experience features a family-style dinner with cribbage boards, a Canadian themed “photo booth” and make-‘em-yourself s’mores at the Timber campfire. All guests depart with a small gift. Minimum 15 people.

• Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s new afternoon tea takes a page from the classic Brothers Grimm stories to transform Notch8 Restaurant into a fairy tale wonderland. Guests will enjoy treats that include Red Riding Hood’s basket of savoury and sweet scones, as well as an enchanted forest tier of tea sandwiches.

• Need travel inspiration? Chef David Hawksworth of Vancouver’s celebrated Hawksworth Restaurant and newly opened Nightingale has partnered with Telus Optik to present a five-part miniseries showcasing British Columbia’s rich culinary bounty. Throughout the series, Chef travels across the province to scout out renowned restaurants that include Nightingale, Miradoro in Oliver, and Okanagan’s lush wine country. The series launches February 3 on Telus Optik TV on Demand.