Hopefully you’ve read our earlier posts about Whistler, British Columbia by now and are inspired to go there to experience ziplining, the Peak to Peak Gondola, a helicopter tour, or any of the other amazing activities available. While there, we were so active and busy during our short stay that we wanted some quick and affordable meals, which helped to keep our spending in balance. Several locals recommended Purebread bakery for breakfast, and it was so delicious that we ate there 3 times. As soon as you walk in you feel like you’re in a scene from the movie Chocolat and need to restrain yourself from diving in and making a fool of yourself. The diverse array of pastries, cookies, cakes, sandwiches and more are enough to set a diabetic into a coma just from looking at them. They are stacked on pedestals of varying heights and the display is a work of art, especially for someone who loves sweets like me. I was in bakery heaven, but that soon turned to bakery hell when it came time to decide what to get since there were so many mouth-watering options. I realize I’m being a little dramatic, but I did hold up the line (that went out the door since apparently every knows this is THE PLACE for breakfast) trying to figure out what to get. I opted for a savory egg muffin with sundried tomatoes, basil pesto, onion and bacon since that seemed like it would fill me up longer than a sweet pastry, and seemed somewhat healthy. Bertaut opted for a double chocolate muffin and a blueberry scone since he’s never worried about his waistline (he’s naturally lean and muscular, so not fair). Of course I had to taste both, and I was back in pastry heaven. The next few visits we tried other varieties of scones that were equally tasty, a Nutella brioche that was sinfully good, and another savory egg muffin that left us wanting more. I think I would gain 10 pounds if I stayed in Whistler much longer, with this place beckoning me to try more and more of their sublime sweets and savory treats. I am actually salivating right now just writing about it and looking at this photo.
So we had breakfast covered for our 3 night visit, but were in search of a good place for lunch while strolling through the village. I love Mexican food, being a Cinco de Mayo baby whom has always had dinner at Mexican restaurants to celebrate my birthday. I had read good things about Tacos La Cantina on TripAdvisor and wanted to give it a try. Once again, it was so delicious that we ate there twice on our short stay in Whistler. I know we must sound not so adventurous when it comes to food, but when we find something we love, we go back for more. So yes, maybe we are a little boring on that end, so be it. The food was delicious! On our first visit to Tacos La Cantina, we tried the burritos. I chose the chicken burrito which featured pulled chicken in a chipotle tomato sauce, while Bertaut chose the brisket burrito which included slow-cooked brisket and potatoes in a tomatillo sauce. Burritos are served with cubano rice, beans, rustic salsa, green tomatillo salsa, lettuce, feta, and sour cream. Sadly we forgot to take photos of our humongous burritos, but they were artfully decorated with green salsa and feta cheese. I could not finish mine because the serving was so large, but Bertaut helped me out and we were both beyond satisfied with our delicious meal. The food is so fresh and the ingredients so creatively put together, it was like a masterpiece of flavors.
On our second visit, we shared 6 tacos and a Cantina Greens salad. There are many tacos to choose from, and since they are small, we ordered one of each of their classic tacos and one vegeterian taco- the poblano. It’s hard to pick a favorite because they all were fantastic, but if I had to choose I’d pick the fish taco with its cornflake crumble, guajillo majo, and cucumber pico de gallo. The Chicken Tinga taco comes with pulled chicken in a tomato sauce, cabbage salad, and cilantro pesto. The Cochinita comes with Mayan-style pulled pork topped with pickled red onion and cilantro pesto. The brisket has slow-cooked brisket and potatoes in a tomatillo sauce, cilantro, and onion. The pork belly has pork in Kao paigu sauce with cabbage salad and pickled onion. The poblano has poblano pepper, mushrooms, chipotle sauce, sweet corn, and feta. And finally, the Cantina Greens salad is served up artistically with mixed greens, rice, beans, carrots, tomatoes, orange Padilla dressing and your choice of chicken, pork, or tofu. I chose chicken, my favorite protein, which was once again delicious. If someone had blindfolded me, I would have never guessed that I was at a casual taco bar rather than a 5 star restaurant, the food was THAT GOOD! And the best part about this incredible food is that it was totally reasonable.The salad cost under $10 and the tacos were about $3 each (in Canadian currency), so in American dollars it ended up being much cheaper and surprisingly affordable for a European-like resort town comparable to Vail or Aspen.
I cannot say enough positive things about Whistler, and hope you that make it there too. It is a town for foodies with many high-end restaurants catering to all tastes, as well as budget-friendly options that surpassed all expectations for such affordable eateries. Whistler even offers tasting tours, which would be fantastic on our next visit, if the kids are old enough to sit through a dinner without making a scene. Tell us about a meal you’ve had in Whistler or the surrounding area that will make us drool! We’ll try to be a little more adventurous next time when it comes to food and try some new restaurants, so tell us where we must go next! If you liked this post, please sign up for our RSS feed for updates each time we publish a new post and our email newsletter to get our tips to travel like a millionaire.
