We went to a Secret Supper, put on by Swallow Tail and Chef Robin, at her house in Mt Pleasant. Very lovely experience, they bring in a secret chef and have a 4 course or 6 course meal. Our secret chef was Sri Lankan, and the food was beautiful. There are different parts of the house all set up with long tables, for family style dining. Servers were lovely, but to lacked a bit of knowledge on what they were serving. The chef came down after the meal to answer a few questions. All in all, very cool evening. NB: there are lots of stairs in and leading up to the house. read more

See all

We booked a private tour with Robin with 13 people. She and another person gave us a great run-down of what to look for, safety, and everything I need to know to get started on mushroom foraging. We started at a training area with real examples, then we went to a total of 3 locations. Our group found a handful of mushrooms in each location, and we had lots of fun in this very unique experience. Chef Robin was incredible accommodating for our special situation as well (needing to end early for another event). I can't recommend this experience enough! read more

Did a foraging education tour in jericho park. It wasn't the season yet for mushrooms, but Robin brought a bunch of dried samples and educational material to explain it. We then went on a walk around the park and she showed us many varieties of edible plants that I never realized were around us! Since it was a park, we didn't forage anything, but the education and her knowledge are top notch! read more

Extremely disappointed, was looking forward to a great morning foraging with Robin. Instead I was met with massive disappointment. First of all, the instructions for the meeting location is in very small print on the email, it's not posted on the website nor are there clear instructions on how to get to the meeting point. We tried to find the location which was the Jericho beach east parking lot, when we couldn't find it and tried to call Robin to ask for directions. We were in the west parking lot, she told us we were in the wrong place and that she had to Start class so goodbye. We drove 45 mins Just to make 500 meters from the meeting spot only to drive home again. What an insane waste of money. read more

It wasn't a great tour, in all honesty. It lasted 2 hours, the first hour and a half or so was spent in the parking lot (!) next to a forest. The guide was telling about how to treat mushrooms like your friends and how difficult it is to separate edible ones from non-edible ones. He showed us 3 different samples from the grocery store, while we were getting restless in that parking lot, and bombarded us with the scientific names in Latin. One of the families left in that time because it was getting unbearable. Then we walked for 100metres into the nearby forest and the guide showed us a couple of mushrooms that he found earlier that week. That's it. It was definitely not worth $59 that we each paid. The tour was called 'Foraging Tour' and it was organized a culinary company, so we actually expected something completely different than a science lesson in the parking lot. I understand that it was a dry and warm month and that mushrooms don't grow in such weather, but the tour organizers should have been honest and cancelled the tour with a full refund, which obviously didn't happen. read more

We booked a private Mushroom Foraging BC Tour. 6 people in my group + our guide - Ideally, you should be enthusiastic about cooking. - Bonus if you also like natural, organic ingredients! - If your group is full of great, enthusiastic people, this tour is a lot of fun. Your group (and you yourself) NEED to be curious about the topic! There's only so much the guide will do! You have to show interest, ask questions, and laugh! We LOVED our guide, Robin. I read lots of reviews on Alex being an amazing guide as well. We picked up a mushroom that tastes like pepper and we ate some on the spot! The lunch (and tea) she made (SHE made!!) was full of very, very natural and fresh ingredients. And the lunch was very light. You won't get stuffed like a McDonald's burger meal but her lunch was so delicious! She made a mushroom paste... thing (pictures to come) idunno... I think my boyfriend's family is pretty hard to please (ESPECIALLY if it's something I picked). Many times when we try something new/different, they have SO many harsh opinions! This is one rare occasion where THEY LOVED THE TOUR TOO!! And I picked this! ** BTW we are from Ontario. ========WHAT TO EXPECT: The tour was just a nice walk in the Lynn Headwaters park (literally a walk right beside the BC Mills House). Lots of mushroom spotting, we may have pointed out every single mushroom we could find -and Robin knew exactly which was which. The walk was about 30-40 minutes in the woods (big steps over the large tree roots and uneven wet soil -but there are wooden planks on the main path). Lunch was enjoyed in the small little BC Mills House (little hut/museum of lumberjack history). Home-made meal, feels like eating at a friend's house. The tea she made (lemon balm, and something..) was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love teas.. ========PRICE: $69/per person, private tour (any day!) $39/per person, group tour with strangers (weekends only) I agree it's very pricey for what it is... Especially the private tour for $70! But still, it was something we wouldn't have been able to experience in Ontario. And also my hard-to-please group was happy (although they didn't pay and didn't know the price). I'm so glad we came! (again: pictures to come!!) ========WHERE THIS IS: We rented a car! Funny that our hotel's managers, local bar staff, waiters, my Vancouver colleages etc.. actually don't know about this tour AT ALL. But "Lynn Headwaters Park" made sense to them. Follow the map you (will) receive when you book the tour, it tells you to drive on the road until you hit the end. Do that! Robin actually texted my personal number to make sure we weren't lost! ========HOW TO DRESS: During our visit in Vancouver, it was RAINLESS (crazy, I know!) but the soil at Lynn Headwaters was quite damp. NOT muddy. Wear comfortable shoes that you won't mind stepping in damp (or wet) soil with. Oct 28: It was chilly, definitely have your mittens ready! read more

My friend and I bought the ethical deal tour from Ethical Deals, and went recently. It's a bit of a trek from the bus stop, but the house they use for their gathering spot and the tea time is quite nice, and since no one else is using that building on Sundays, it's secure since they lock it up while we're out for a walk. I assume they took Rebecca J's review to heart, because there were two guides for our tour to split up our large group. Group sizes ended up being around 8 people. It was great, we saw quite a few mushrooms, but the majority of them were inedible. The groups didn't quite time up very well, so in the end my group got back to the house much earlier than the other team and had to wait around for them. The lunch / high tea was okay, but it was definitely not what I would consider a lunch. The best part was the mushroom pate, of which I could probably eat that entire platter if it was socially acceptable for me to do so. All the food was locally bought and delicious, but I was still hungry by the end of it. It's definitely expensive if you had to pay full price for it, and I'm not sure it'd be worth the $70. The Swallow Tail Tour was very good and I enjoyed learning about the wild herbs and mushrooms. Overall, it's a fun trip and something different to do on a Sunday morning. read more

I did the mushroom tour this morning. The good: the guide, Alex, was great. Really knowledgeable and interesting. Lynn Headwaters is gorgeous too. And the group of people was really nice. The not-so-good: too big a group (the Ethical Deal we purchased said a max of six people. We had about 15 with two kids so not sure what happened there). Also, the lunch / high tea was a bit of an oversell. While it was tasty (great bread from Nelson the Seagull in Gastown, a mushroom pate from Swallow Tail, tea and some fruit), it was pretty basic. For $35, it was fine. $70 would have been ridiculous. Kind of put me off the idea of doing anything more with Swallow Tail. Would prefer to stick with Edible Canada (used to be Edible BC) instead. read more

I've been to a few Swallow Tail events, including a Valentine's Day truffle dinner, South Indian vegetarian feast, Mother's Day brunch, and mushroom foraging tour. All the secret meals/suppers I have been to were held in Chef Robin's house. The food is always fantastic, and you can bring your own wine or beer. Seating is either private or altogether depending on the event. The mushroom foraging tour was in North Vancouver and while we were not allowed to pick any mushrooms due to the park's rules, we were able to learn about local vegetation and a variety of mushrooms. The prices for the secret suppers are a bit steep, but you do get a unique experience and delicious meal. I would strongly recommend Swallow Tail as a great place to take a date, friend, or family member on a special occasion. Chef Robin is very knowledgeable and passionate about what she does. I'm glad we have something like this in Vancouver. read more

I recently attended an event called Tiki at the Bloedel Conservatory up at QE Park. It was a wonderful venue filled with different types of food from a few different local chefs. I think they did a great job choosing the food (oyster bar, roast pig, indian, monster sushi, more pig!) and pairing it with some wonderful cocktails. I would highly recommend Swallow Tail based on this event, it was a fun evening meeting new people and escaping from the Vancouver winter blues. read more

Did the full day wine tour to celebrate our anniversary. Robin was super accommodating and knowledgeable. Brendan was very courteous, easy going, and did a great job of getting us everywhere. We went to 6 wineries. Blackwood lane was our favorite. Had a wonderful lunch there and the wines are outstanding. We also really enjoyed talking to the owner of Festina Lente who you can tell loves what he does. Their mead, which was unique to us, was really good and a nice changeup. It was a great day of great people and wine, and seeing a little different part of the general Vancouver area. Definitely worth doing. A+ read more

We just did the berry-themed foraging tour, and it was fun! The group was big but it was split into two, and the foraging part was not that long (which was good, because I had a child with me), but it is surprising how much information the guides can share with you in that short walk! The food served afterwards was lovely too. Very well planned and set out; mostly made from foraged plants or those grown in the guides' gardens. I suppose some might find it not very filling, but for the price, and for those flavours, I think it is well worth it. I look forward to the fall, when the mushrooms start popping up! read more

My daughter treated me to Swallowtail's Mushroom Foraging class held September 17, conducted by Ficus Chan, whose love and understanding of the local plant and animal life shone through his teaching on the geomorphology, biosphere and climate conditions that produce chanterelles, boletes, morels and oyster mushrooms. He clarified hemlock trees as members of the pine family, how lobster mushrooms get their hue, the difference between sword, deer, bracken and lady fern as fiddlehead providers, that salmonberry shoots are edible and delicious, and how to make salal berry jam. Ficus did an amazing job, considering no mushrooms could be seen as nearly no rain had fallen for two months. The marinated burdock stems, and dandelion marmalade provided at the complimentary lunch were excellent. read more

I had a great time on the tour with Chef Robin. We wandered around Jericho Park for a bit, with Robin showing off a lot of the lesser known edibles, at least to me, that can be found. She was very passionate, and able to answer almost every question we had (she did have a disclaimer she only knows about edibles, but did a great job identifying other species you can't/shouldn't eat). My one minor qualm would be that the tour did seem a bit ad-hoc. We did get to identify a lot of different plants, but I felt that most started repeating by the second half of the tour. Overall it was an awesome experience, the lunch and tea were the perfect end to the trip. Would love to do the one in Lynn Headwaters! read more

We went to our first Swallow Tail event this weekend. What a wonderful time we had. Every one there was pleasant and friendly. The food was scrumptious, Chef Robin is charming and welcoming. We will definitely put Swallow Tail events on our calendar to go again. Thanks for a wonderful evening. read more

I've been to two SwallowTail events and been impressed with both. One was "Church of the Senses" (at a church in Kits) and the other was the "Culinary Speakeasy" last weekend. The price isn't cheap, but you need to consider it as "an event" (e.g., dinner + theatre) rather than "a meal". The Speakeasy event included bus transportation with background info along the way (hadn't realized that Vancouver invented Prohibition before our neighbour to the south!), cocktails and canapes at a 20's style house (Roedde House Museum), dinner and wine (cash bar after initial serving) at the Cricket Pavillion in Stanley Park with 20's style dancing. Most people were in period costume and everyone seemed to be having fun. The events generally have a "surprise" element to them (I was quite thankful that the Prohibition-themed event didn't feature a nasty "no-alcohol" surprise) and involve communal seating, so it's a fun way to meet new people. The food is quite good, especially considering the challenges they must face with advance preparation and transit. Each event is different - get on their mailing list and check out whichever appeals to you! read more

I've been on a few tours with Swallow Tail, and have enjoyed them all. Great food, fun times, and a nice atmosphere every time! Highly recommend! read more

I attended Dinner with the Wild Things and I was blown away by the succulent dishes and thoughtful decor. The entertainment portion was nice but I wish there was more of an audience interaction involved and ultimately an ice breaker that encouraged strangers to meet each other. I noticed that my neighbours weren't really fed because the vegetarian option was more like amuse bouches than a meal. read more

It was much smaller than the wine tours we are used to, but the smaller numbers made the tour feel really personalised and we were able to take our time more. The host selected great wineries read more

We've only been to one event....a secret supper soiree and it was such a beautiful evening! Lots of fun! You don't know the place where they take you, you don't know what kind of food you get and you don't know who else will be there ;-) It's all a secret! The place were very interesting, the food was so good and the people were all so nice! All well organized. We had an amazing evening and it made us curious to go on more tours! You get wine tastings with the meal. Any full glass needs to be paid. read more

When reading this please keep in mind - I'm only a self-taught foodie but many, many people think I should write a cookbook of recipes I have developed - that includes a classicly trained French Chef who owns a restaurant & uses some of them. I do not tolerate mediocre food when I make it - if it doesn't turn out - into the garbage. In a restaurant, everything goes back that has been microwaved or is ####. I had high hopes for the Swallow Tail Everything Wild Dinner after reading the reviews and seeing it profiled on TV as I am an avid fan of participatory dinners. We were imagining the dinner would be at the Aquarium dining with wild meats, wild mushrooms, wild rice, etc. and thought if that was the case the $195.55 (including taxes) for the each of us would be of good value. This event/dinner was way overpriced especially when wine was not included - it was BYOB! Hint from my previous experiences: two ounces of wine paired with each course or one glass of bubbly like champagne should have been included with the cost. We paid extra for a canape & for a drink but we are only sure that we got the drink. Staff were coming around with h'orderves for everyone - what was the extra $8.00 for? Instead of the participatory dinner there was a cute bunny-rabbit like costumed child shouting at us to ROAR every once in a while & three monstrous looking characters, probably inspired by the popular child's book Where the Wild Things Are, who came out a few times to mingle but there was no directed entertainment & no audience participation aside from photo ops. There were masks given out to some of the crowd who were told they were going to become wild things but the mood was never set & nothing developed beyond that. People wore the masks for a few moments, then took them off. The music was too loud & there was not enough variety of music before the loop circled to the beginning. The mingling was sporadic & needed to be facilitated with seating with advance activities - especially in Vancouver. The seating broke up the "audience" into two separate areas so no momentum could develop if indeed it was possible. The owner needs to take a page from murder mystery dinners or theatresports where there is participation on the part of the audience. The mood was not set right from the beginning in the parking lot where there was a welcome that left much to be desired we were invited to behave like wild things & jump up to bite people throughout the evening when the spirit moved us. I didn't know what to expect as far as participation but was game until I heard that! Later we were told to eat ribs with our hands (like cavemen?). Many of the candles that lighted our way through the forest to the Rugby Club venue were burned out by the time we had to return - making it dangerous we should have been accompanied through the forest on the way back. Finally the foods were not chosen so the palate would enhance each thing you ate - everything seemed to stand alone. Not one dish stood out as exemplary - most things could have been had at an average asian fusion restaurant. The five appys were what everyone else is doing right now except for the lamb hearts - and nothing was outstanding. Main Course: There was only one cooked vegetable, a yam & an ok papaya salad & ho-hum sticky rice. The beef ribs were overdone and dry with no depth of flavour (meaning sweet, salty, sour, spicy & hot), the lamb ribs were good, the pork ribs were excessively spicy hot but again lacking depth of flavour (I do like hot usually). None of the ribs were fall off the bone juicy & succulent, they should have been cooked longer on a lower heat - failing that then pre-boiled. Dessert was Mexican spicy hot chocolate and a donut. There should have been a plate with at very least 3 desserts with fruit served to each person or an option selected when buying tickets. There was no coffee or tea offered. Compare what is being offered for Murder Mystery dinners this New Year's! All in all a very expensive, poor quality experience and below average dinner. Service was great though. Whoever the Beasties are they need to seriously revamp what they are offering if they are separate from Swallow Tail. Money spent on decorations could have been better spent on menu. I hope the owner finds this advice helpful to plan better for future events. P.S.: Handicapped people should have been offered the option of driving to the venue. Afterthought: This is not a "pop-up" dinner. A "pop-up" dinner is where gourmands meet to enjoy superior food and wine pairings and great conversations about the food to get a deeper understanding of the culture & history of the foods and wines being consumed and their production. These pop-up dinners are generally off the radar (meaning the Health Department & Liquor Board) so they are not held in rented facilities but someone's home or a restaurant after hours and everyone shares in the cost. read more

I had high hopes for my first Swallow Tail supper club experience, and although we had a good time, it was not good value for money. For $149 per person, we got a few canapes, 3 different kinds of ribs and two sides, and a hot chocolate with a churro for dessert. The food was ok, but just that, ok. No wine pairings - it was BYO. I had hoped that the Circus Beasties entertainment would be part of the justification for the high price, but that turned out to be a kid dressed as Max from the book, and three people dressed up as Wild Things that came out at different times to roar etc. There was no "performance" or "show" to speak of. It was nice ambiance, and the service was great, but again, not worth $149 each. The best part of the evening was the people we met, but I don't think new friends should cost that much! read more

This review is for a traditional kaiseki dinner that was supposed to have a Japanese chef visiting from Japan cook in partnership with a Swallowtail chef, but unfortunately the chef had health issues and could not attend, but they did know this two weeks ahead. I know that this is an unusual circumstance, but the resulting dinner was embarrassing in taste (unbalanced, underseasoned often. Subtle and delicate food can still have flavour), texture (massacred sashimi, a random few undercooked veg), amount of food, lack of interest (underseasoned onigiri for the first course?), and even serving details (no chopsticks were ever offered, hot green tea in pots on the table would have a been a nice touch, rather than just room temp water). Both the menu planned and the execution were lacking. The menu is not released ahead of time and it wasn't possible to even know how many dishes. At those portions, I would have included two more kaiseki components. And why give such small portions of the saba which were two thin rods the size of two french fries? No discount or partial refund was ever offered in relation to the change in the event (not having the main chef for the dinner) and instead an awkward email asserting that everything would be the "same!" was sent out, but how could it be the same, when the actual Japanese chef is not cooking, no matter how much she helped Chef Heather prepare. In total, it wound up costing over a hundred dollars! $88 prepaid ($79 before tax and ticket service fee), plus a full tip that you bring cash for the servers on the day of the event. So this meal cost over $100 per person without it even being satisfying. And because it is a secret supper in a home, I understand that it will never be cheap like an actual restaurant, but there was probably 20 people there, and I was thinking it was going to be something like 12, and a tiny intimate dinner experience made specially for a small group is worth a little more, but with that many, it just felt like dining in a regular restaurant. We made the most of things by having a good time at dinner and doing our best to remain positive. They seemed like nice people that were trying, but I feel they took advantage of our goodwill by keeping all the money but delivering half or less of the intended product. The matcha tea at the end was nice, and I enjoyed the dessert (even with the extra chewy rice flour part). I don't want to be negative, but I really feel like I could have used a review like this when I was deciding, so am only posting to be helpful to others who might be disappointed. I fully realize that other people would not be disappointed, so I have been detailed in my thoughts and you can decide whether the issues are relevant to you or not. read more

Lots of value here. The guide was extremely knowledgeable. While you won't be foraging anything, the education and technique is invaluable plus Chef Robin's homemade rustic lunch is a sure thing. Highly recommend! read more

I attended Swallow Tail's Wild Things event as a Christmas work party. Wasn't quite sure what to expect going in, but must say the food was excellent. Obviously they had a meat theme going - 3 types of smoked ribs served on large platters. Our table couldn't eat them all, they were piled so high. Throw in the sides and canapes and we were stuffed. I thought it was a fairly casual environment with lots of mingling, and occasional visits from Max and the rest of the wild things. I'm not really into dinner theatre, but this was so casual and not at all overbearing, and totally fit the theme - so a pleasant surprise. read more

We went on a Summer Wild Edibles Walking Tour in July. The tour was divided into two groups. Our group went first with Robin to look at wild berries, herbs, etc. and the second part of the tour was with Alex, who covered trees, mushrooms, and ferns. The tour part was followed by a sit-down lunch of gazpacho, flatbread, wild mushroom paté, salad, pickled ramps and other treats, followed by a dessert of fresh berries with rosemary crackers and an elderflower-infused goat cheese. We thought the price of $39pp very reasonable for all the information that was provided and the delicious lunch. We were very impressed and had a great time. It was well worth it, and we would recommend it. We will go on more Swallow Tail tours. The only slight criticism we would offer is that Alex could try to include more content inspiring people to go foraging and reduce the content about hazards. I'm very keen on outdoor safety but even I found all the cautionary content a little on the negative side. The points he made were all perfectly valid points about informing someone of your intended route and sticking to it, not eating things unless you know what they are, taking the time to properly identify mushrooms etc. because some can make you very ill or even kill you, but that material--and comments about not trying things close to areas of "high impact" (dog pee and poop, for example)--tended to overwhelm that part of the tour and there seemed to be less content about what you could do and more about what you shouldn't do. My partner kind of summed it up afterwards when she said that after Robin's talk you wanted to go out and try everything but after Alex's you felt you didn't want to try much. Part of the problem was the time of the year, though. Because it was July, Robin was able to actually show us many of the foods she was talking about and we were able to taste them, whereas it was the wrong time of the year for some of what Alex was telling us about. He was having to describe things that we couldn't look at, which is a much harder task than when you can actually show people what you're describing. We will go on the mushroom tour in the fall and hope to be inspired to go mushrooming ourselves. read more

Robin was very accomodating in rescheduling when I was unable to attend the original tour date booked due to illness, and to responding to several queries we had. We liked the fact it was a small group (max 6 people). We met our tour guide / sommelier, Kristina at Pacific Central Station, and headed to beautiful Langley, B.C. Kristina was very personable, and provided a few tips on how to properly taste the wine (swirl & slurp!) We were given a choice of whether to stick with wineries, or to also visit a meadery & cidery, and our group opted for the latter. We enjoyed all the wineries we visited & their wine tastings , which included Chaberton Estate, Township 7, and Blackwood Lane, which had a lovely view overlooking the valley and their vineyard, and where we enjoyed a really delicious lunch of salad with goat cheese & strawberries, and pizza made in a wood-burning oven (included in the price of the tour). We also opted to visit Festina Lente estate winery / meadery, (where they make their wine with honey), and were pleasantly surprised that their wines were all very tasty and not overly sweet. Some really creative & delicious flavours too, like the 'zephyr', which was flavoured with coffee, and would go really well with a chocolate dessert. They also sell honey on site, and have some ultra cute and very curious and friendly llamas and a donkey on their hobby farm. The last stop we all chose was at Fraser Valley Cider Co, where we were all blown away by the original and very delicious ciders on offer. Besides the original tart apple, they also had ciders flavoured with spicy ginger, one called "Rosy" with caramel & raspberry flavours (a definite winner!), and the floral tasting elderflower (unusual and also very good!). In all, a very pleasant way to spend the day touring the very picturesque & bucolic area, without having to worry about driving! (Kristina was very accomodating and after checking everyone was okay with a little detour, dropped off a couple to their home on the way back, instead of them having to double back from the drop off point ) I would definitely recommend this tour, and also look forward to trying one of Swallow Tails secret suppers in the not too distant future! read more