The Dutch Bakery: A Review

There's a difference between someone who likes their job and someone who loves their job. Today I searched Victoria's downtown core determined to find someone who loves their job.

I don't know her name, but I found her. She's worked as a waitress at the Dutch Bakery for nineteen years and may be the most genuine person I've talked to in a while. “I love working here” she says. “I love the different cultures, the fact that I get to see the same people every Saturday morning.” I believe her. She casually stands with her hand on her hip and her face lights up as she shares a recent happening- a pair of her favourite “regulars” couldn't wait to tell her that they got engaged in Europe.

She explains that her job lets her see people over the course of their lives. “I used to spend my lunch breaks helping a mom feed her toddler lunch. Nine years later, he comes in, now a confident young man.”

Eating lunch at the Dutch Bakery is hard to describe. You feel like you've been transported back to 1955, the year the Schaddelee family came from the Netherlands to open the coffee shop at 718 Fort Street . Enlarged black and white photos line the walls, complimented by Dutch china and needlepoint pictures. Maroon vinyl booths make everyone feel comfortable and back to the days where people never checked their blackberries while eating or worried about too many carbs. At the Dutch Bakery, babies are given old fashioned high chairs and pats on the head by the waitresses.

The Dutch menu items are quite something. Try a “Flying Dutchman” or an order of croquettes. And for dessert, use your saved up Weight Watchers points on their famous vanilla slice or sacher torte.

If you're having a bad day at the office, you might just need a lunch at the Dutch Bakery to raise your spirits. Sometimes, we all need to be reminded that loving a job is more possible than we'd like to think.

Bistro 28: A Review

Bistro 28
2583 Cadboro Bay Road, Victoria BC
(250) 598-2828
Price range: $18-22 for most plates, wine is reasonable
Menu Items: small plates to share or plates for one (steak, scallops, house salads with really tasty cashews, fancy fries served vertically)
Why I love it: It's brand new and brings me back to my European vacation


I usually avoid dining behind the tweed curtain. Don't get me wrong-Oak Bay is lovely and I can appreciate front lawns that look like golf courses or a couple that still wears matching Commonwealth Games tracksuits. We never want to lose the Spirit of '94 nor our respect for the hardworking green thumbs that run the place. But dining in Oak Bay? Not for me.

Yes, there are quaint pubs and overpriced waterfront restaurants, but I don't want to sign up for either of those. I want to feel classy, sexy, and somewhat European when I'm dining. I want to hold my wine glass like a true believer in the “joie de vivre” philosophy.

Although Bistro 28 resides behind the tweed curtain, it looks dark and romantic from the outside and who doesn't like dark, candlelit places? As I opened the door to this little Bistro, I was welcomed by a nicely dressed server that, in my mind, could be named something like “Sebastian.”

We were too hungry to properly look through the leather bound menu so we quietly told “Sebastian” that we would have what the couple next to us were enjoying. We had no idea what they were eating but it looked juicy and we wanted it. People don't like copy cats and our neighbours did give us an awkward look when we turned out to have matching halibut and steak dishes. Their dried raisin facial expressions gave away the fact that they hadn't got it on in a few years and hopefully the romantic vibes of Bistro 28 changed that.

The sauce on our halibut made us want to say “compliments to the chef” but we agreed that a pretentious saying like this would make us look like we were trying to keep up with the Joneses. Instead, we drank our beer straight from the bottle and compared Vegas stories.

Would I go again? Definitely. It was quiet enough that good conversations could take place and dark enough that we weren't headed for a dry spell anytime soon.

Try Bistro 28- you won't be disappointed. No need to dress up overly formal. Jeans are acceptable but don't be lazy- iron your shirt or it might make you look sloppy standing next to Sebastian.