The Whole Beast

The BBQ pork is out of this world! Have been in there several times and the service has been a grumpy unsmiling guy who clearly does not want to be serving customers (hence the 3 stras) and is bothered by them — fortunately last week went in for my BBQ pork fix and a really awesome and friendly young man helped me out — looks like the service is on the improve and I will see and hopefully update this review to 4 stars if it continues

Best cured meats in Victoria by a long shot. Cory is passionate, knowledgable and talented. Everything is prepared to perfection

Holy meat heaven! You know what I ordered here? The WHOLE BEAST. No joke!
My boyfriend and I heard rumors of this heavenly place and took a cab to go find it. We raced there to make sure we weren’t going to miss them (they closed at 4pm on this day) and as soon as we got in the door we looked around and pretty much ordered a little but of everything.
The salamis and cured meats are spectacular, the selection is out of this world, the head cheeses are tasty, and the liverwurst and mortadella blew my mind. We had the meat sweats for days because we took everything back to our hotel, wrapped it in baguettes and cheese and just ate forever. It was pretty ridiculous but we couldn’t have it any other way. Customs wouldn’t let us take it back across the border, and we couldn’t wait long enough anyway. Best money I’ve spent in Victoria, hands down.
Do not miss this store if you’re looking to host a party, have a great dinner, or impress someone with with a locally made meat-​gift! I don’t think I have to go overboard next time but I don’t think I could visit Victoria again and not come back for more meat.

You had me at duck pâté. *Me melting…
I’ve had some pretty darn good artisan salumi by Elias Cairo’s Olympic Provisions in Portland, OR (who is finally going national) and by Chris Cosentino’s Boccalone in San Francisco, CA. Therefore, to find a salumi place in Victoria that knocked my socks off, well, hello, I can’t stop talking about you.
I need to make myself clear. I like duck pâté but not foie gras. First, foie gras is somehow too game-​y for my taste and second of all, I don’t believe in the way fatty goose livers are harvested. Many may ask, what’s the difference between eating duck pâté vs. foie gras? Aren’t they practically the same thing? The answer is NO. I see the former as eating offal, and in turn respecting the animals who gave up their lives for human consumption by wasting no animal parts. The latter, the animals are purposely force fed many meals a day through shoving feeding metal tubes down their stomachs where their esophagus are severely punctured thus making normal eating/​feeding difficult if not impossible. Anyway, I’ll stop with my animal right/​animal welfare paper right here.
In this little shop I bought the duck pâté and a few slices of Guanciale (Italian bacon made from pork cheek or jowl). When you buy duck pâté the minimum you have to buy is 100g, because anything under makes it hard to cut. But worry not, one can easily consume 100g in no time. The texture was smooth and silky. The balance and seasoning were so spot on. I’ve had duck pates where the cognac or sherry (or any preferred liquor) or spices was too dominating but not this one. It’s just perfect. The Guanciale we got was 85−90% fat. When you put in your mouth the fat just melts slowing to your body temperature. Slowly the flavor of the fat was released. I found it a tad game-​y but I loved the texture.
This cute little shop is located right next to a butcher shop that sells non-​medicated and hormone-​free meats. I thought these two businesses were somehow linked but they weren’t. Don’t be fooled just because there’s no wall dividing the two. The butcher shop sells baguettes and ciabetta. We got a ciabetta to go with our duck pates and Guanciale. The ciabetta was fresh and delicious. Our snack was cheap and yummy ($ 2 from the salumi place $ 1.50 for the Ciabetta).
Anyone visiting Victoria who can bring back some goodies? *Puppy eyes…