Just in time for Valentine’s Day, OpenTable recently put out a 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in Canada list for 2019, and four Okanagan venues were featured.
OpenTable is an online restaurant reservation system that’s been gaining popularity over the last two decades.
According to the website, the list reflects the combined opinions of more than half a million restaurant reviews of approximately 2,5000 restaurants in Canada, submitted by OpenTable diners.
The romantic hot spots in the Okanagan featured on the list are La Bussola in Kelowna, Villa Rosa Ristorante in Penticton, Block One Restaurant at 50th Parallel Winery in Lake Country, plus the charming and romantic Old Vines Restaurant at Quails’ Gate in West Kelowna.
“It’s really about the ambiance and all the little touches that we do here,” said Quails’ Gate marketing and communications manager Lindsay Kelm. “We have the best view. We have such a romantic warm cozy space.”
The team at Quails’ Gate, a winery which has been around for more than six decades, embraces the spirit of Valentine’s Day.
“At the restaurant, we have full service for Valentine’s Day and we have that wonderful cooking class,” Kelm said. “And then in our wine shop, we have little love notes all around so people can stop by here. Leave a little message for their sweetheart. We also do little love notes on a bottle so you can personalize their favourite bottle of wine.”
Although reservations are now fully booked for Valentine’s Day dinner, the special Valentine’s Day cooking class is still open to the public.
The workshop will focus on sensual desserts, appealing to couples with a sweet tooth.
“Romance and Valentine’s Day is all about chocolate, so I’m going to teach some chocolate lava cake, some chocolate Nutella macaron and some lemon cake,” said head pastry chef Ange Vallejo. “Recipes that people can actually do at home.”
Vallejo has some advice to those making their own desserts for a special romantic occasion.
“We have to remember the shapes. If something is round, then make the other thing square,” Vallejo said. “Same as the texture in pastry. You have the crunch, the soft, and when you put it all together in the mouth, it’s all delicious.”
The 100 Most Romantic list features restaurants from 50 Canadian cities across 9 provinces.
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