Swallow Tail Culinary Tours

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!

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.

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!

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!

I attended Dinner with the Wild Things and I was blown away by the succulent dishes and thoughtful décor. 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.

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.

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!

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 canapé & 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.

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!

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.

I’m actually surprised at the other 2 reviews, but given this is 4 months later, maybe Swallow Tail has done some work — because my experience was everything I could have hoped for and more.
I purchased the grooster for their Secret Supper Soirée tour, which was a wonderful evening experience — an actual full fledged experience, not just a meal.
The theme was 1930’s (prohibition!), so the guests were all decked out in flapper dresses and gangster fedoras. We all boarded the bus and were taken to our first location, an unexpected surprise — the crime museum. After a drink and our two starters there, we headed to the next location, which was the Urban Winery — a space that hasn’t even opened to the public yet but was absolutely gorgeous. There we had a wonderful dinner, and suddenly some of the guests started to swing dance — we realised they were part of the tour — it was fantastic. It was like being transported back in time!
The owner of the company was there on the tour, along with the other guide, and probably 30 or more people. We all ate in long tables getting to know our neighbours while gushing over the delicious food. We learned why the owner chose the wines she did to pair with the meal, and were able to ask as questions.
Everyone was friendly and helpful, and it really was a wonderful experience with amazing service. It wasn’t just dinner — it was an entire dining experience, which is what they were going for. I think they more than succeeded!

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 pâté, 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.

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 pâté 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.