Il Covo Trattoria’s Secret Gallery – Victoria, BC

Once again, I’m taking a brief interlude from recipe posting to share pictures and tales from my recent trip to Vancouver Island. After my fabulous day at the lake, it was time for girls night out. Through the reach of facebook I’m still in contact with my oldest and dearest friends, literally dating back to kindergarten. I was so happy that we were able to arrange for a Friday night on the town.

I wish I had a snap of us all together but the one on my camera had someone with a their eyes looking the wrong way (Susie) and someone else with their mouth open, probably talking (me!) so I decided against embarrassing either one of us. 😉

I also don’t have any pics of the actual food we ate. Ooops! Truthfully, there was non-stop chatting, and the thought of taking pictures of my food didn’t occur me. Funny, for a food blogger, no?

But honestly the best thing about dinner at Il Covo, which is nestled on a corner close to the Inner Harbour in downtown Victoria, was the Gallery.

After we had ordered dinner and were happily gabbing away, an ornately painted door located almost directly behind us slowly opened. I didn’t even know it was a door! I thought it was art work. A silver haired man, slightly stooped over, hung a sign that read “Gallery Open” and promptly disappeared. We all looked at each other, quizzically. What’s the Gallery??

Our guesses ranged from a First Nations art gallery to maybe it being the bathroom. We had to know, so off we went down the dim hallway.

The first thing I saw was our host, John ( we would learn his name later) of the silver hair, who informed us that everything was for sale. Then I saw the Picasso lithograph and realised this gallery was going to be a little out of my price range. 😉

It was treasure after treasure, meticulously laid out. The walls, the tables, even the glass topped trolley in the corner was adorned with something amazing. Paintings, books, vintage bar tools, you name it.

Even John, the curator of this amazing gallery, was priceless. He had us in tears from laughter and we were all thoroughly charmed by his candor. He refused to stand still for a portrait so this blurry shot of him was the best I could do. He referred to the ceramic dog, as ‘the bitch’. She was not for sale.

It was so unexpected to stumble across this hidden gem, I felt like we had ‘stepped through the wardrobe’ so to speak. It was really quite magical.

After our tour, we enjoyed a fabulous Italian meal and while we sipped our tea and spooned decadent desserts we noticed John in the dining room, chatting with a few people. He stopped by our table to say goodnight, then disappeared behind the painted door, taking the Gallery Open sign with him.

Thanks so much to my girls Julie, Susie, Crystal and Jessica for sharing such a memorable night with me. Can’t wait to do it again. 🙂