Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tuson's network of local suppliers provide
wild mushrooms and berries, organic
chicken, wild duck and rabbit, and tender
suckled lamb, pork, and veal. The menu
changes every day, but you may find
entrees like herb-roasted lamb leg with a
nectarine-oxeye-daisy salsa on potato
corn cakes with braised fennel and purple
cabbage, or a baked Pacific halibut filet
with trout roe, served with cabbage-fennel
ravioli, broccoli, and banana squash.
During the week, dining is all prix-fixe,
though some a la carte selections are
available on weekends. Book in advance
if you want the seven- or nine-course tast-
ing menu, which also includes a wine-
pairing option. (
Wine Spectator
places
Sooke Harbour House's wine list in its elite
“best in the world” category.) Various spe-
cial packages nab you with special perks
like a tour of the inn's wine cellars, a
guided tour of the gardens, or an after-
noon spent with the chef. Note that the inn
closes for 2 weeks in January, and on Tues-
day and Wednesday in winter, except for
the December holiday season. Sooke Har-
bour House has the courage to be a little
different—that's all part of its ineffable
charm.
Skate wing with tuberous nasturtium at Sooke
Harbour House in British Columbia.
the inn's own gardens—everything from
rosemary and thyme to kiwis, plums, nas-
turtiums, and passionflowers. Seafood
also features prominently, including Dun-
geness crab, salmon, black cod, mussels,
and oysters, much of it caught in the
waters right outside the inn. Chef Edward
1528 Whiffen Spit Rd., Sooke Harbour
(
&
800/889-9688
or 250/642-3421; www.
sookeharbourhouse.com).
(
Victoria (30km/19 miles).
Gourmet Inns & Resorts
74
Three Chimneys & the House Over-By
Skye High
Isle of Skye, Scotland
A century-old stone crofter's house on a
remote loch on this windswept Hebridean
island—it's a most unlikely setting for one
of the world's top restaurants. And yet here
is where you'll find the award-wining Three
Chimneys, which proudly declares its
Scottish heritage with menu items such as
Aberdeen Angus beef with potatoes Dau-
phinoise; pan-fried Scottish salmon with
asparagus and lemon sauce; roast loin of
Glenhinnisdal lamb with kidney, heart, and
liver,
neep purry
(mashed rutabagas), and
