Beyond the proscenium, Stratford is a charming epicurean destination with things to do from shopping to dining, boating to garden strolls. Here are five Unique Experiences that should top any list when visiting Stratford and looking for something cool and out-of-the-box to do between shows at the Stratford Festival.
Classes at the Stratford Chefs School
Outside of the Stratford Theatre Festival, the quintessential visitor experience is a cooking class at the Stratford Chefs School. Culinary adventures through intensive hands-on workshops in the kitchen demystify Thai, Chinese, Indian, Greek and Italian. There are also classes for knife sharpening skills, bread baking, budget friendly meals, trade secrets, and even “Kids Can Cook” classes. It’s fun and easy. A professional instructor demonstrates each component of a menu that we follow at our individual kitchen stations. Afterwards, with plates and utensils in hand, we sit around a table in the dining room and sample each other’s creations. These cooking classes sell out fast, but they’re open and accessible to everyone. Read DINE’s full article on Cooking Classes at the Stratford Chefs School here.
Wellness at The Salt Cabin
The Salt Cabin‘s Salt Room is equipped with a Halogenerator to generate small, dry, pharmaceutical-grade salt into the air. As we actively breathe the projection and infusion of salt circulating through the air, it enters the lungs for a range of health benefits in the respiratory system, and naturally triggers skin micro-circulation and membrane activity. The Oxygen Bar is the mic drop of afternoon pick-me-ups. Whether before a performance, during a hangover, or after a long drive, the oxygen-intake counteracts blood vessel constriction, hastens metabolization, and boosts energy. Choose your preferred aromatic essence or your desired feeling. Read DINE’s full article on The Salt Cabin here.
Tea Leaves Tasting Bar Experience
Canada’s premier tea sommelier, Karen Hartwick, stands in front of a wall of the finest teas in the world at her Tea Leaves Tea Tasting Bar. 125 different kinds of fresh, quality tea, include White, Black, Green, Oolong, and Pu’er, as well as 70 to 80 different kinds of roots, herbs and spices are all plucked from source in Japan, China, India and beyond. Hartwick’s Chakra Teas are blends for connecting with the body’s energy centres (root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown.) Survey the colours and aromas of all the Chakra blends to sense the right one. Different teas are right for different times of the year, seasons and moods. The quality and temperature of the water; the exact steeping time; the mouthfeel of the porcelain cup; the aromas, and even customized blends are all part of the unique experience of sharing a soothing brew as Hartwick, like an apothecary, gently assesses the right tea for you. Tea Leaves Tea Tasting Bar.
The Bruce Hotel’s Cooking Classes & Competitions, Market & Farm Tours
The Bruce Hotel offers hands-on Cooking Classes to explore techniques, the origins of your food, provide a fresh perspective on seasonal cooking and recipes to take home. There are also hands-on Cooking Competitions with a mix of cooking challenges and head-to-head competitions in the hotel’s professional kitchen, followed by lunch in the dining room or outdoors on the patio, complemented by a sampling of local wines. Embark on a chef-led Market Tour to a curated selection of vendors, showcasing the finest local goods. The tour concludes with a return to The Bruce Hotel, where you can choose to continue with a Farm “Tour” Fork specific pre-fixe menu at The Restaurant at The Bruce featuring ingredients from the local producers at the market. For an immersive agricultural experience, explore a chef-led Farm Tour to three carefully selected local farms. Travel in luxury with chauffeured transportation, and during the tour, delight in exquisite creations made by The Bruce Hotel’s culinary team, featuring ingredients sourced directly from each visited-farm, as well as a wine flight tasting at Perth County’s First Winery, The Perth Farmhouse. The Bruce Hotel Events
Junction 56 Distillery Guided Tastings
Junction 56 was originally built as a church by the railroad tracks in 1874. Now it distills a different kind of spirit. The tour of the distillery shares the hand-crafted small batch process from grinding to bottling—all done on site. All ingredients are sourced locally, except the bourbon barrels that come up from Kentucky.
There are 19 products on the shelves not including seasonal vodkas of Pumpkin Spice, Gingerbread, and Candy Cane. The Vodka, distilled sixteen times, is so clean and smooth, it won Gold in 2022 for Best Local Distiller in Canada. The most popular flavoured vodka is the Mint Smoothie Liqueur, infused with pure mint extract and chocolate for a round mouthfeel that truly imbues the essence of the Rheo Thompson Candies’ chocolate. The S&G Buttertart Vodka is inspired by an Ontario-based comedian who asked for a vodka that would be a blend of sex and gold. And Voila!
The London Dry Gin is so approachable and a true essence of Southwest Ontario with its natural botanicals of juniper, orris root, angelica root, lavender, lemon balm, bitter and sweet orange peel, fennel seed, coriander and lemongrass. There are a variety of flavoured gins, including the popular Black Raspberry and the Ruhbarb.
The Rye Whiskies blend five grains, are distilled four times and then barrel aged. They are mellow, nuanced, with hints of caramel, spice and smoke. The flavoured whiskies include the Cinnamon Liqueur with steeped-cinnamon sourced locally from Tea Leaves, whose aromatic blend of organic cinnamon is from Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China. This is a sexy liqueur that belongs by the fireplace on a romantic snowy winter’s eve. The Maple Liqueur is Canada in a bottle, sweet but balanced. This would pair with a campfire or an ice cream, on the rocks or in a coffee.
Nothing here is volatile or harsh. All the flavours are pure, accessible, refined and exceptionally smooth. A junction is a meeting point. The guided tasting at Junction 56 Distillery introduces us to a taste of place that we want to bring home. Junction 56 Guided Tastings.
