The London Chef at work.
We recently had the pleasure of a tour of London Chef, a Victoria business operated by Micayla and Dan Hayes for the last two years. Primarily a catering business serving Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, Micayla manages the business and Dan is the chef. The store front at 953 Fort Street houses a Café & Pantry next to a show piece Cooking Class Room, equipped for the diverse cooking classes they offer. Their 600 year old, Douglas Fir table seats 18 for class dinners and private functions.
We recently had the pleasure of a tour of London Chef, a Victoria business operated by Micayla and Dan Hayes for the last two years. Primarily a catering business serving Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, Micayla manages the business and Dan is the chef. The store front at 953 Fort Street houses a Café & Pantry next to a show piece Cooking Class Room, equipped for the diverse cooking classes they offer. Their 600 year old, Douglas Fir table seats 18 for class dinners and private functions.
Both Micayla and Dan are extroverts who obviously love what
they do. Dan is a passionate and
entertaining chef. Based on our
mini-class, Dan’s must be a blast! He
even passed out trivia prizes. Micayla operates a successful business in a
tight local market. They and their staff
did an excellent job of making us welcome.
Dan prepared a delicious seafood dinner, starting with Southern
Provencal fish soup with croutons and freshly made roasted red pepper rouille. The soup was followed by Risotto Nero with
squid. This unique dish uses squid ink
to turn the rice black and add a distinctive Mediterranean flavour. Dan turned the presentation into a cooking
lesson with lots of great tips and funny personal anecdotes. He showed us how to easily peel garlic and
explained why risotto rice should be stirred in just one direction to develop
the starch, how to fillet a squid, and why saffron is sooo expensive. We now know that many culinary herbs grow
wild on Vancouver Island. It truly was
an entertaining evening. In addition to catering
and the café, they offer cooking classes for kids (age 4 to 10), kid's birthday
parties, adult cooking classes, private dining events, corporate events, and
private cocktail parties. Check their
website at http://thelondonchef.com/
for details. For more pictures, please go to our Facebook Page.
