MyWestworld

Editor’s Faves: My Fave Victoria Hotel

Posted on 14. Jun, 2009 by Anne Rose in BC

I admit it, it’s a fun part of my job, keeping a lookout for great places to snooze – locally, regionally and internationally. Yet it’s surprising how many hotels, no matter how lavish, don’t have what I’m interested in. And I’m not talking highbrow expectations, either. Maybe I’m just picky, but it’s important to me when parting with anything more than $100 a night to be rewarded with:

• ambience (whether my room is a bure on a Fijian beach or rustic backcountry escape)
• the uniqueness factor: what sets the hotel apart from its peers, and surprises and delights?
• a sense of ease, comfort and lack of pretension
• staff or owners skilled in the art of making everyone feel immediately at home, without fuss, and who go well beyond the expected in terms of hospitality
• a certain flair and attention to detail in design, decor and presentation
• value for money
• great location

Victoria’s Magnolia Hotel & Spa won me over immediately – on all counts.

Built in 1998 by developers Rourke Group Design as a labour of love, and classed as a four-diamond city boutique hotel that Conde Nast Traveler readers consistently rank as one of the top hotels in Canada, the seven-floor, 64-room Magnolia on Courtney Street is conveniently tucked amidst downtown Victoria hot spots. Floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Inner Harbour, classic-but-relaxed decor by Vancouver-based award-winning BBA Design, Aveda toiletries (including fabulous, daily “bath bombs”), a newly reopened onsite spa, a new, independently owned restaurant off the lobby, gas fireplaces in many rooms and feather pillows so plump I’m currently scheming how to beg, borrow or steal six for at home . . . and it only gets better. Because, ultimately, what makes everything in a hotel mesh, no matter how polished its separate components, is something rather intangible….that feeling….of being at home, of feeling welcomed without the perception that it’s business as usual or a bit of a front. In other words, staff who are interesting, interested individuals and not PR clones or, worse, indifferent.

Anne and Jana at Magnolia's grand spa opening and restaurant launch

As with any business, I believe good staff are honed by the leadership at the top, and in this case that’s general manager Jana Cornelius. Jana has that rare ability to imbue any encounter

with a naturalness and quiet charm, making those she is speaking with feel like they’re the most important person in the room. And she’s the reason, I believe, that before Christmas when my teen missed the last ferry home to Vancouver from Victoria, and I phoned another hotel we’ve stayed at over the years and was told “No,” they couldn’t give my daughter a room because they didn’t have my credit card imprint (nor, apparently, any suggested alternatives), I phoned the night desk at the Magnolia.

Markus came on the line immediately: discreet, calm, the epitome of class. Yes, perhaps I was the editor of a travel magazine and website who had stayed at the hotel recently. Perhaps not. More important, I was a mother with a young teen stranded in the city at midnight. There was no “I’m sorry, ma’am, that’s the hotel’s policy.” No “I’m sorry, the manager has gone home for the day.” Just a good human being on the end of the line who took my credit card number on faith . And I’ll be forever grateful he did, as will a certain tough-but-still-sometimes-scared teenager.

The Other Victoria

I confess, I used to consider Victoria a tad staid. What a mistake! The capital’s hoppin’ these days, with one of the best microbrewery scenes in the Pacific Northwest; funky, artsy shopping, including the Lower Jo, for starters, where even the teens at our house can find something cool (a small miracle in itself); the island’s Cowichan and Comox valley foodie enclaves barely a half-hour drive away; winery tours; Travel with Taste foodie tours with Kathy McAree; the only tea-tasting bar in North America, Silk Road and Spa (book ahead for a green-tea facial); the Royal B.C. Museum, a world-class museum doing nifty things year-round, including this summer’s Treasures: the World’s Cultures from the British Museum (a global journey charting the development of civilization through art and artifacts); and the list goes on (www.tourismvictoria.com/gettinghere; www.tourismvictoria.com/vacationguide;
www.tourismvictoria.com/events; www.tourismvictoria.com/videos)

Not Your Average Steakhouse

Chef Bruce Batty: Where were you when I needed you most?

I’d have been a better mother if Bill Almeida had opened his pride and joy 10 years ago. As in, my kid would have been begging, yes, begging, for vegetables versus picking off “all those green things.” Instead, I’ve been trapped in the kitchen with the pickiest eater on the planet, pureeing veggies into soups and conniving with my own mom over chocolate cake recipes surreptitiously stuffed with zucchini. Where were you then, chef Bruce Batty? Because Prime, though ironically billed as a steakhouse (and yes, beef-lovers, its lovingly tended servings of High River, Alberta beef are superb, too), performs wonders with those “green things.” I’ll put it this way: since raving over the four side-dishes of vegetables I had at the restaurant’s Grand Opening (after two days of events I was desperate for something light), I’ve been indulging daily at home with my own makeshift version of Batty’s beefsteak tomatoes, even at breakfast. But my versions just haven’t had quite the same panache. So finally I broke down and begged for the recipe posted below. Now if I can just nab the secret behind the chef’s magic touch with asparagus — sea salt, olive oil and ?? (which I’m thinking might do wonders for green beans, too.)

Then there’s the Magnolia’s just-opened redesigned Aveda spa…already hailed as “the best spa in Victoria” by locals in-the-know. Soaring old-world ceilings, seabreeze-aqua walls – now that the weather’s finally turned Mediterranean the plan is to drag he-who-can’t-stand-his- feet-touched over the local pond for a pedicure, along with my online tech partner who apparently has a similar phobia re: anyone laying hands on his hair. (Us wives are dying to have fun with this, but more about that when we have the video in hand). I mean, hey, why should other women have all the fun - and they are having fun, with 33% of leisure travellers flocking to hotel spas in droves,  and boyfriends and husbands accounting for some 29% per cent of those spa visits annually.

Meanwhile, laptop fired up, fire on, a view of the harbour framed in the rainy background and that first succulent forkful of blue-cheese-dotted greens and gourmet “hamburger” (sans bun) giving a whole new meaning to the term “room service,” I’m already feeling spoiled rotten despite the five hours of work ahead.

***
Batty’s Beefsteak Tomatoes
2 large beefsteak tomatoes (one per person)
Sweetest onion you can get your hands on (red or white; tripiline is good), shaved super fine (use mandoline)
Blue cheese (Rosenberg or Salt Spring Island’s Blossom Blue by Moonstruck)

Dressing (makes enough for 6 tomatoes):
1 tbsp dijon
1 oz rice wine vinegar
1 oz lemon juice
pinch salt
pinch pepper
pinch of sugar
1/2 sweet onion
Blend, then slowly blend in 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/2 cup olive oil)

To prepare:
1. Slice tomatoes 1/4″ thick and fan on plate
2. Arrange arulula in middle of tomatoes and top with shaved sweet onion
3. Drizzle with dressing
4. Top with blue cheese

Tags: Editor's Faves, Victoria