Dinner in a yurt? Bayfield, Ont. restaurant offers unusual winter patio option
Summers are short and winters are long, especially in tourist towns like Bayfield, Ont., which is why the owners of Olio Too have added an authentic Mongolian Yurt to their restaurant.
“We call it our winter patio. It’s something different. If you want people to come to Bayfield in the winter, you have to give them an experience. This is it,” says one Olio Too’s owners, Joanne Oliver.
Oliver and her partner Brent Hillier added the yurt, built with actual yak hair, to their patio three years ago. It’s only up from October to May, but is generally booked solid when it’s up.
“People are coming. We had a group from Sarnia last weekend. People are coming from Kitchener, London and Toronto just to experience the yurt,” says Hillier.
The idea came to them after seeing a similar set up at a pub in Toronto. They thought it would work at their new restaurant in Bayfield, to help attract diners during the, usually slower, winter months.
“We want the yurt to be well known. We want people to leave happy and I can tell you everyone that comes out has a smile on their face,” says Oliver.
With seating for 18 people, Oliver says the yurt has seen a lot of family bookings for special occasions, but is open to smaller groups, as well.
“It’s just a different experience you don’t get anywhere else. Where else can you sit in a yurt and have dinner and some drinks,” says Hillier.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.