Ravenlady Oyster Forte - Ucluelet, BC

This is Part 3 of our Vancouver Island Food Adventures! Check out the rest!

After visiting Tofino in the daytime, we went over to Ucluelet as that’s where we’re staying on this trip. Our first night, it took us a while to decide on what to eat for dinner. We didn’t want just regular pizza and burgers, and I had been wanting oysters, so after much debating, we finally decided on Ravenlady Oyster Forte.

Ravenlady Oyster Forte is a food-truck-esque eatery located in Ucluelet. It is in the same rock garden as the resident “Ravenlady” and “Surfer Girl” statues created by the artist Mike Camp. The garden also features cedar benches and a steel tree off of which you can hang oyster shells with written messages.

They are also outdoor seating only, being a food truck and all…so we ordered to bring back to our place. Plus it was raining.

I had originally had my heart set on some fresh shucked oysters, but they weren’t on the menu this day, so I settled on the Steamed Oysters ($2 each). These oysters were seasoned with Chinese soy sauce and topped with pickled ginger & scallions.

I placed an order for 2 but I think they gave me 4 because the oysters were super small.

I had always been a fan of the Asian way of steaming the larger oysters with black bean sauce and that’s what I had in mind for these, but I think these were too small to be steamed, as afterwards there was not much oyster left for eating. I also think the pickled ginger takes away from the freshness of the oysters. Not the best execution in my opinion.

Nov 6, 2017 Edit: After seeing what the Steamed Oysters were supposed to look like on Ravenlady’s instagram, the ones I were given really looks subpar and not up to standard. Despite given 4 instead of 2 because of the size of oysters they had available, the sizes of these were much too small to be any good steamed (after cooking they were the size of half my thumb). I am actually really really disappointed with the quality of these and wish they had just told me they didn’t have them that day instead of still taking my money for them.

AngryRussian ordered the Seared Tuna Taco ($7 for one) and it was topped with spicy pineapple chutney, cumin aioli, cilantro & sesame seeds .

I didn’t have a chance to tasted it but the fish itself looked decent sized. AngryRussian says it was fresh and tasty and the chutney had a little bit of a kick.

My entree pick was the Po’Boy ($11 for a small- single oyster on half a bun) sandwich. The fried oyster was topped with coleslaw, pickled onions, chimmichurri and came with beer battered fries.

The oyster in this case was a decent size and cooked just right…still a little soft and moist while having a nice crispy outer crust. The chimmichurri was a little tart, or it could’ve been the pickled onions. LOVED the beer battered fries…very crispy and perfectly seasoned.

AngryRussian also ordered a ‘side’ of their Beer Battered Fries ($7). I say ‘side’ as the portion was ginormous…much more food than his single taco. It was served with rosemary & anchovy aioli.

Now AngryRussian is not a fan of anchovy at all. The only time he’s had it with me was on our first date and he was trying to impress me. After that never again, so I’m not sure why he thought he could handle it this time. I didn’t know he did this, but it was hilarious.

As soon as he opened the box he scrunched up his nose and says he can smell it already. And indeed it was intense. I loved it. The anchovies made the aioli quite salty though. The rosemary was pungent also. And as with my dish the fries themselves were executed perfectly.

Ravenlady was a good find for dinner and I would definitely have the Po’Boy and the fries again, and maybe next time they’ll have fresh shucked oysters?

This is Part 3 of our Vancouver Island Food Adventures! Check out the rest!