A handful of restaurants serving breakfast, lunch and/or dinner comprise the limited but good dining options on Mayne Island.
The Bennett Bay Bistro is an oceanview dining spot at the Mayne Island Resort (494 Arbutus Drive), offering restaurant, pub and patio seating options. Burgers, salads, entrees with an emphasis on local seafood - the housemade tuna cakes are a specialty.
Springwater Lodge, reputedly the oldest continuously operated hotel in BC, has been serving good grub at the Miners Bay dock since 1892. Open early for breakfast or enjoy fish and chips, burgers and substantial entrees at lunch and dinner.
Eating Local
Wild Fennel Food & Wine has a lively atmosphere, Sunday night music events in the summer and "some of the most creative coastal cuisine in BC," reports Mayne Island resident and CBC broadcaster Jurgen Gothe. The lunch and dinner menus lean towards fresh and local, and the decorative papier-mache creations of co-owner Peter Weis are as delightfully zany as the staff.
Café
Sunny Mayne Bakery Café is a lively meeting place run by master baker Linda Steele and her husband Bruce. Substantial muffins (try the "almost a donut muffin" for the full experience), date squares, samosas, homemade soups, sandwiches and a daily pizza special.
Grocery Stops
An emporium of all things healthy and natural, Happy Tides Fine Health Foods, is located in the mini-mall across from the public library in Miners Bay. Whole grain foods, juices, power bars, organic feta cheese, smoked salmon, and even wild dried fish snacks for pets.
Tru Valu Foods, the island's well-stocked grocery store, features a deli and plenty of options for BBQ cookouts or home-prepared meals. Those who want to buy local can pick up salad greens from Varalaya Farm here as well as a full line of organic jams, salsa and chutneys from Deacon Vale Farm, one of the island's major food producers.
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