Off The Eaten Track

11/28/2023

Happy Travel Tuesday ✈️

My love of travel is what inspired me to start Off The Eaten Track. I was very lucky to be able to roam the world and I always loved meeting locals, trying the local cuisine, and truly experiencing other cultures.

My goal was to create that same experience at home for those lucky enough to visit Victoria 🫶

I haven't been able to travel as much these days but I am currently in El Salvador! Here are a few foodie pics to get you inspired on this

The food, people, and land have been nothing short of exceptional and I would highly recommend anyone to visit this beautiful country

11/27/2023

🚨🚨 LAST DAY TO GET 20% OFF ONLINE GIFT CARDS 🚨🚨

Today is the last day to get a great deal on our gift cards and gift certificates. Use promo code FRIDAY at check out.

🫶Support a local small business
🫶Give a unique experience
🫶Get your holiday shopping done early and easy

To purchase gift cards or gift certificates visit our website:
👉 https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/gift-certificates/

11/25/2023

Black Friday may be over but the deals continue! ALL WEEKEND LONG, everything in our gift shop is 10% off including our food tours. Need a gift for the foodie in your life, Off The Eaten Track has got you covered. As well as a wide variety of other great gifts from local Vancouver Island companies. Come visit us at 470 Belleville St.

11/23/2023

This holiday season, gift a unique experience that includes food, history, stories, and a ton of delicious fun 🫶

This is our biggest sale of the year! All our gift cards and gift certificates are 20% off this weekend only from Friday NOV 24 - Monday NOV 27th. Use code FRIDAY at checkout.

You don't have to be a foodie to enjoy our tours - and we promise that even locals are surprised by the hidden gems that we uncover 💎

Click here to purchase and instantly receive via email 👉 https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/gift-certificates/

11/23/2023

Our new Cozy Christmas Food Tour mentioned in the Tasting Victoria newsletter! Get your tickets soon, they are going fast!

'Tis the season for love, joy and an abundance of delicious treats

11/19/2023

Great little article about our new Cozy Christmas Tour - check out our website for more info & to book!

The new Cozy Christmas Food Tour, which starts on Nov. 17, means you can savour delicious treats like gooey melted cheese, rich truffles, peppermint bark,

11/09/2023

Word is out! We are now booking for our festive Cozy Christmas Food Tour starting November 17th! Get in the yuletide spirit, eat festive treats, and get exclusive discounts at some amazing local shops like The Papery, Russell Books, and The Victoria Market Collective. Thanks to Victoria Buzz for the mention!

Launching on Friday, November 17th, guests are invited to partake in the ‘Cozy Christmas Food Tour’, organized by local food tour company Off The Eaten Track.

10/27/2023

⚡️⚡️FLASH SALE ON FOODIE TOURS THIS WEEKEND ONLY ⚡️⚡️

We have some space on our tours this weekend and we want you to join us so we are offering 15% off our super tasty + super fun Downtown Food & City Tour running this Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Just use promo code WEEKEND at checkout.

Discover a new foodie favorite on this 2-hour culinary journey that takes you to 7 culinary stops to eat, drink, and learn more about our fair city:
📍Artisan Wine for a BC wine tasting
📍Smile Chicken for a Korean corn dog
📍Crust bakery for some sweet & savory treats
📍Yalla for a comforting Iranian stew
📍L'Apero Wine & Cheese Bistro for some charcuterie
📍Chocolat & Co for a decadent drinking chocolate & truffles
📍Bon Macaron for some uniquely-flavored macarons.

Tour runs 11:30am-1:30pm & 2:30pm-4:30pm daily. For tickets and info visit our website at: https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/downtown-food-city-tour/

10/16/2023

Hello to all our lovely American guests - if you are thinking of coming to Victoria this fall check out this great deal from our friends at Victoria Clipper! Did you know you can book one of our food tours on their website or on board? Hope to see you soon 😀

Your Pacific Northwest travel experts featuring ferry deals, hotels and vacation packages in Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver and more.

10/12/2023

New sample alert 🚨As sweater weather approaches we are switching things up on our Downtown Food & City Tour. We will now be featuring the very delicious Ghormeh Sabzi stew from our amazing tour partner Yalla.

This decadent stew is the unofficial dish of Iran and a warming bowl of comfort food filled with spices, herby greens, and beans. A perfect dish for cooler days.

Find out more about what makes this stew so unique and meet the wonderful Tehari family that own Yalla on our foodie walking tour:

10/12/2023

October is a time for us to slow down, take a breath after a hectic summer, and look for new ways to adapt & discover new business to highlight on our tours. We have decided to rebrand our Chinatown tour to better reflect the tour's spirit, a culinary adventure of our favorite small, local, and eclectic business in the neighborhood.

We are thrilled to announce our new Hip & Hidden Chinatown + Old Town tour will be a little of the old tour mixed with some new and exciting tour partners! Join us on this 2-hour culinary walk that includes seven of our favorite tucked-away gems that make Victoria an impressive multicultural foodie destination

We are over the moon to announce that the incredible Cafe Malabar is joining our Hip & Hidden tour. Located inside the Victoria Public Market, this cafe celebrates the regional cuisine of Kerala in Southern India. Chefs Karma & Kiran come from a prestigious culinary background and they are bring not only skills but an obvious love from their home and childhood.

On the tour we will sample the Egg Puff, a tasty mash-up of Indian and French cuisine with spices that were roasted and blended on site. We pair this with the Sulaimani tea - an Arabic inspired black tea with spices, citrus, and mint.

Stay tuned to find out more or join us on a tour! Visit our website at: https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/chinatown-oldtown-dining-tour/

10/04/2023

Victoria made the list if top 10 best food cities in the world! Join one of our foodie tours to find out what makes our city so tasty 😋

These are the tastiest cities in the world, as voted for by you in this year's Readers' Choice Awards

09/25/2023

Thanks for the mention InsideHook - we are proud to be committed to the biosphere certification!

Where to eat, stay and play in Victoria

09/15/2023

The 29th Victoria International Wine Festival starts in 2 weeks and features over 400 wineries from around the world! In addition to the always epic grand tasting events there are also wine-makers dinners, seminars, and more.

Check out the website for the schedule, tickets, and information about the featured region (hint hint it will have you "dreaming" about their wines). Check out their website for more information: https://vicwf.com/

09/08/2023

Hey music lovers - did you know we are part of the Rifflandia wristband deals? All wristband holders get 20% off our self-guided foodie tours. Just use promo code RIFFLANDIA when booking and show your wristband when you pick-up your foodie passport. Or just visit us at our shop inside the Steamship Terminal Building along the Inner Harbor.

What is a self-guided foodie tour? Thanks for asking!
🎵 Listen to stories and history using your cell phone with our GPS-enabled APP
🎵 Use our foodie passport to get awesome samples from local restaurants
🎵 Learn more about the city and have fun discovering new foodie spots!

We have two self-guided tours to choose from:
1️⃣ James Bay Self-Guided Tour - $45
2️⃣ Chocolate & Churches Self-Guided Tour - $35

Each tour has 5 culinary stops included in the price and both take roughly 2-3 hours to complete. So grab a friend and a charged up cell phone and eat, drink, and explore Victoria on your own time with no tour groups 🫶

For more information visit our website: https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/

08/31/2023

Looking for a fun part-time job with a small business? We are looking for a shop attendee to help us run our small gift shop downtown Victoria. Send your resume to [email protected] or stop by and say hi!

08/30/2023

We are taking a much needed break today - the gift shop and our foodie tours are closed. Back to work and regular hours tomorrow Aug 31.

08/01/2023

https://scoutmagazine.ca/2023/07/06/victorias-best-food-drink-right-now/

A great reason to visit Victoria is for the lively and vibrant restaurant scene. Thrilled to see a few of our tour partners make this list including MAiiZ Nixtamal Tortilleria dumplingdrop and The Courtney Room

07/27/2023

Excited to be mentioned in this great article about foodie itinerary that the Island has to offer curated by the amazing Magnolia Hotel

No restaurant or distillery can buy a spot on the Magnolia Hotel's curated travel guides—it has to earn it. The newest map highlights Vancouver Island's coastal cuisines.

07/05/2023

https://www.vicnews.com/business/victoria-restaurant-scores-prestigious-awards-for-fine-wine-high-spirits-654459

We are thrilled to have The Courtney Room on our Evening Fine Dining Tour. On our tour you will get to sample multiple dishes from chef Brian Tesolin and some BC wine curated by their award wining sommelier Colin Davidson. We have seats left for the tour tomorrow on July 06 - book now to grab a seat on this gourmet foodie tour - https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/fine-dining-evening-tour/

Bar team earns Top 10 honours in Canada

06/30/2023

We have 3 seats left on our Eat Like a Canadian Tour tomorrow for Canada Day 🍁

What better way to celebrate than indulging in awesome Canadian dishes like poutine, maple syrup, Nanaimo bars, locally cured seafood, traditional bannock, ketchup chips, maple chocolate, and some tasty BC ice wine 🥂

For more info and to book tickets visit our website: https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/eat-like-a-canadian-tour/

06/27/2023

Thrilled to be a judge for the YAM Magazine – Victoria Restaurant Awards

06/14/2023

Hi there - we are looking for some part-time help in our new downtown gift shop space inside the Steamship Terminal Building 🫵

Here are the shifts - roughly 20 hours per week
Saturday noon-6pm
Sunday 9am-5pm
Monday 9am-5pm

What's in it for you?
▫️ Wage is $18/hour
▫️ $50/month restaurant allowance - we pay you to go out and eat!
▫️ Friends and family rate on all our foodie tours
▫️ Work with a fun and passionate team

Qualifications?
▫️ Must like talking to people including international guests
▫️ A passion for the local restaurant scene
▫️ Extensive knowledge of Victoria

How to apply?
▫️ Send your resume to [email protected]
▫️ Drop off your resume to our shop at 470 Belleville Street

05/31/2023

🎉🎉HUGE NEWS 🎉🎉

We are extremely excited to announce that we will be taking over the old Robert Bateman gift shop right next door to open up a new and improved Off The Eaten Track shop.

We will be selling a wide variety of locally made goodies as well as some new merch!

Our kiosk space will be closed for the remainder of the week as we complete the move over process. Don’t worry, we will still be running our tours as scheduled!

Stay tuned for our opening launch date 🥂

05/27/2023

Happy Memorial Day weekend! This is our tour availability for this long weekend:

On Saturday we have a limited spots left on our Downtown Food & City Tour at 2:30pm, we will explore beautiful views of the inner harbour and discover downtown hidden foodie gems.🍽️

On Sunday we have available spots on our Modern Chinatown Food & History Tour at 11am, where we will feast on modern cuisine at new, hip, and hidden restaurants in Canada’s oldest Chinatown.😄
We also have spots available on our Eat Like A Canadian at 2:30pm on Sunday, where we will take a beautiful stroll through historic James Bay to the Inner Harbour. On this tour we will show you some of Canada’s most traditional dishes and tell you the stories behind them.🇨🇦

And on Monday we have spots open on our Downtown Food & City Tour at 2:30pm! 👍

Book now through our website or give us a call to book:
💻 www.offtheeatentracktours.ca
☎️ 778-918-4584

05/14/2023

Thank you Mom for everything💓

We are wishing everyone a very Happy Mother’s day from each of us at Off the Eaten Track 👩‍👧🌸

05/06/2023

Love my job and love supporting our local restaurants.

05/05/2023

Had a super fun night at the Chamber Business Awards and so proud to be a finalist for Business of the Year.

Congrats to the lovely ladies at 🥳 You are awesome 💥

Got to rub shoulders with the who's who in the business world including my sneaky pic of the legendary

Thanks to the staff at the for hosting such a lovely dinner.

05/02/2023

Happy National Truffle Day! 🤎
We are a big fan of truffles, hence why we include “Terrible Truffles” on two of our tours!

What are Terrible Truffles? They are terribly delicious handmade chocolates created by David Booth. Terrible Truffles Fine Handmade Chocolates can be found at the Birdcage Confectionery, as well as Chocolat & Co.

Please join us today on our Downtown Food & City Tour where we include a tasting of the best truffles in Victoria! 🍫

Book Now! ⬇️⬇️

https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/downtown-food-city-tour/

04/29/2023

Last chance to get 15% off any of our awesome food tours with our spring sale ending April 30th!

Use promo code SPRING23 at checkout and join us on a fun, tasty, informative, and creative tour that celebrates the amazing food & history of Victoria.

We have seats left on today's Downtown Food & City Tour running 2:30-4:30pm that includes seven culinary stops including Artisan Wine, Smile Chicken, Crust Bakery, La Taquisa, L'Apero Wine & Cheese Bistro, Chocolat & Co, and Bon Macaron!

Book your tickets with the discount here: https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/downtown-food-city-tour/

04/26/2023

Such an honor to be listed among such great businesses.

The celebrate all of our members nominated for a Greater Victoria Business Award. The finalists represent businesses judged to have gone above and beyond. They inspire us. And their stories of success make us eager to take on each day with renewed excitement and energy.

We hope you enjoy reading about this year's finalists and that you continue to stay engaged and help build your chamber. We are in this together and being an active member of the chamber is a wonderful way to enhance your business and your life.

🕮 Learn more about this year's finalists in the 2023 Greater Victoria Business Awards program >>> https://bit.ly/3V8Zr8s

04/19/2023

We are so honored to be a finalist for Business of the Year (1-10 Employees). Thanks to our awesome foodie partner Crust Bakery for the delicious goodies.

Join us in shining a spotlight on Off The Eaten Track, a finalist for the Business of the Year Award (1-10 Employees) at the 2023 Greater Victoria Business Awards! 🏆 Proudly sponsored by the City of Victoria - Local Government

Off The Eaten Track creates authentic tour experiences that highlight the vibrant culinary community in Victoria. Their unique walking tours take guests to locally owned food businesses while entertaining guests with stories, history, and an invaluable local perspective of the city.

After two tumultuous years during the pandemic the company emerged in 2022 to have its busiest year ever, smashing their 2019 numbers. The company is on track to grow even further in 2023 as the appetite for travel has returned.

Learn more about Off The Eaten Track and the 2023 Greater Victoria Business Awards here >>> https://bit.ly/41h6WfJ

04/18/2023

🎉🎉 NEW FOOD TOUR LAUNCHING APRIL 28TH 🎉🎉

Fine Dining Evening Tour - Release your inner gourmand on this sophisticated progressive dinner tour that visits four exceptional restaurants in downtown Victoria. Indulge in local haute cuisine in stunning dining rooms with the option to add a BC wine tasting package. Perfect for foodies looking for a unique fine-dining experience.

https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/fine-dining-evening-tour/

We start the tour with an amuse bouche and a glass of bubbles at Bar 500 inside the Oswego hotel, an incredible farm-to-table restaurant in the heart of James Bay. After a lovely stroll along the inner harbour, we head to the award-wining Courtney Room for another delicious appetizer dish. Chef Brian Tesolin creates modern Pacific Norwest cuisine that truly showcases the bounty of Vancouver Island.

The tour then walks to L'Apero Wine & Cheese Bistro for a showstopping main course, Raclette. A decadent alpine dish of melted raclette cheese scraped over warm potatoes done right at the table. A dinner and a show! After a nice short stroll down historic Government Street the tour ends at Q at the Empress for a sophisticated dessert made by their incredible pastry chefs.

Tour costs $160 per person which includes the four-course meal, a complimentary glass of BC bubbles, and a three-hour guided experience led by a local expert guide. The tour runs 7pm-10pm and is 19+ only.

An additional wine package can be added for an extra $40 that includes three additional glass of wine including a port-style dessert wine paired with dessert.

Tickets on sale now! https://offtheeatentracktours.ca/fine-dining-evening-tour/

The Oswego Hotel
Fairmont Empress
L'Apéro - Wine and Cheese Bistro
The Courtney Room

04/17/2023

We were recently mentioned by Feedspot Blog Reader as one of the top 15 Victoria Food Blogs! We've been slacking a bit lately but we will post some awesome foodie content soon. In the meantime check out this great list of blogs you can read if you are planning a trip to Victoria and want to know where to eat from the locals!

15 Best Victoria Food Blogs ⋅ 1. Eat Magazine ⋅ 2. Gather Victoria ⋅ 3. Tasting Victoria ⋅ 4. Turmeric Indian Cuisine Blog ⋅ 5. From Alana ⋅ 6. Victoria Times Colonist » Food and Drink

04/14/2023

Foodie Friday is here at Russell Books!

Every Friday Don ( Don Genova - Food Journalist ) selects and cooks from some of the vast variety of culinary gems available at Russell books. He then posts the results along with some tips and tricks to help you in your own cooking efforts.🍴📖

You can check out this Friday's foodie post on Russell Books page or on Don Genova - Food Journalist page.

See the featured books and so much more in person at 747 Fort St. 📍

Happy Foodie Friday!

04/12/2023

We are pleased to welcome “That Other Sauce” to our kiosk at the Steamship Terminal. Are you looking for a special sauce that goes with everything? That Other Sauce is an organic and delicious hot sauce that adds a special spice to everything it goes on.
Sugar free✅Vegan✅Gluten free✅
Come pick one up from our kiosk to try for yourself!