By Jenn Chic
As the globe of smoke was placed on the table, the excitement for tea at the Fairmont Waterfront was for good reason. This is my favourite dish, Chef Mark Wadsworth said, smiling. All the ingredients are from right here in B.C. and its our honey is what pulls it all together.
Chef Wadsworth lifted the small cone-shaped dish of Moonstrucks Beddis blue cheese from Salt Spring Island with roasted wild mushrooms roasted in honey and the cedar smoke gently curled out of the bowl, bringing the forest to the table. Together the components were a perfect balance of tangy, woodsy, smoky and of course, sweet.
Their honey isnt just local, though its harvested from the hives on the third floor of the hotel. Five hives in total sit amongst herb and flower gardens just out of sight of the roof-top pool deck. Chef Wadsworth comes from a long line of beekeepers and, when he was hired as chef just a couple years ago at the Fairmont Waterfront, his new employers were more than excited about his pedigree.
The Waterfront has had roof-top bees since 2008. Every spring, the hives are brought from their winter home at The Honey Bee Centre in Surrey. Chef Wadsworth and his staff are happy to don their white jumpsuits and mesh helmets to care for the bees and lead tours for hotel guest interested in the hotels culinary gardens and honey program.
The honey isnt just for the kitchen, its also about education. Most of the food we eat is on our plates because a bee has pollinated a plant. We want to support the bees because their population is so fragile with Colony Collapse Disorder and bee mites threatening their existence around the world and without them we wouldnt have much of the food we eat.
As the tourists swarm around the waterfront, little do they know that thousands of bees are buzzing around above their heads, making the trip back and forth from Stanley Parks extensive gardens to create over 600 pounds of honey for Fairmont Waterfront guests throughout the year.
At the beginning of June, Chef Wadsworth and Executive Chef Dana Hauser unveiled their latest showcase of their signature honey Hive Tea. While Fairmont Hotel Vancouver around the corner presents a traditional High Tea every afternoon, the funkier, younger little sister in the Fairmont family, the Waterfront, has a menu of seasonal honey-centered treats: Lemon-thyme honey cake pops, honey butter and West coast bannock, honey drizzled almond cake, honey panna cotta with rhubarb sorbet, and a honey basil Collins cocktail. Throughout the summer the rhubarb may be replaced by berries but the honey will always be the star.
For more info go to www.fairmont.com/waterfront-vancouver/
