In recent months, I've gotten out of the habit of writing about restaurant experiences. Which isn't to say I have stopped photographing them, but I wanted to step back and evaluate if the stories were grabbing the attention of the basic 'foodie' or actually exploring a deeper story; like questioning our consumption, and teaching us something constructive about the food system. I made a personal goal to only write about things that would benefit the movement of food understanding ('literacy').

What happened next? - I stopped writing altogether.

I'm going to let the photos tell their story, but I was invited to photograph the Tangoo gathering of influencers at the Secret Location brunch. Not only was I super excited about Secret Location's marvellous plating and food offerings; since arriving in Vancouver, I had walked by the concept store with my face plastered against the window of this curated showroom & tasting space, thinking “this is the Dream!”. It felt unattainable, like a gallery I’d be too afraid to enter.

Now it seems silly. Over brunch I got to see the side of the designed experience that I didn’t get to see from the outside. The staff were fun and approachable, the food was refined and polished. I’m so excited about the flavours and appearance of the space, the food, and the experience. Secret Location offers an additional level of polish. Two things that excite me most; a) they now serve Matchstick Coffee, a local Vancouver roaster. It’s also extracted with some of the most well-considered water… if you were at our April Coffee Potluck you’ll know that water chemistry can be geeky. I encourage you to ask Marc, at Secret Location about their water; and b) they have a very accessible enomatic wine offering, made unique by their understanding and adventure in wine. This means you can get flights of wine! FYI, let’s just say I came back with one of my oenophile friends, head of the oxford wine society and so many other sensory geeky things and we had a great tasting adventure – that’s all.

We should be excited about what we taste, and the experience that goes with it.