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Culinary Adventures & Cottage Family Fun at
Viamede Resort
by Jennifer Merrick
“ Good stuff is coming out of that door,” says my 14-year-old son. He continually cranes his head towards the kitchen, eagerly anticipating the next course of the blind tasting menu at Viamede Resort, a century-old property situated a two-hour drive north of Toronto in the Kawartha Lakes district.
“ This one’ s fun,” says our waiter, who places an appetizer in front of us with corn prepared five different ways, including popcorn. For the parents, it’ s paired with a Riesling from Tawse, a Niagara winery.
It’ s the third dish of our seven-course dining experience at Mount Julian restaurant, prepared by Chef Kevin McKenna, a culinary master who prides himself on creating dishes that highlight local natural flavours. And local here often means right on the 165-acre property of Viamede itself, which has gardens, forgeable forests, and even their own farm.
During our stay, we see the animals firsthand on a tour of the farm, one of the complimentary scheduled activities for guests. Kids help herd the turkeys back in the pen, watch as the geese waddle en masse to get their food, hold a tiny quail egg and the best part, watch the piglets play.“ They love this,” says our guide as he turns on the hose. The three littlish pigs( who will each eventually grow up to be 600 pounds) splash around in the running water, and seem to be having as much fun as our kids did during their water fight earlier in the day.
Guests also have opportunities to forage with Chef McKenna, an activity he compares to treasure hunting, with the riches being wild leeks, cattail hearts, garlic, dandelion greens and berries; or join him on a visit to a local farmer’ s market to source ingredients for the evening’ s meal.