Edible Notables: Sea Chest

Sometimes you stumble across a place that just feels like it was made for creating beautiful summer memories. 

Sea Chest is one such magical place. 

Owner Mouette Loustalot brings her 20 years of experience in the culinary industry to the adorable organic ice cream and coffee shop in the “seemingly middle of nowhere.” But it was a circuitous path to get here.

Eighteen years ago, she opened the Smokin Tuna Café with her sister—an experience that forced her to quickly level-up her kitchen experience. Although the restaurant endeavor was successful, Mouette and her sister realized after five years that running the business long-term wasn’t sustainable for either of them. 

So for awhile, she pursued different paths, studying nutrition and Ayurvedic medicine and moving to the Bay Area of California. But still, she remained obsessed with cooking and creating culinary experiences, holding long table dinners and teaching various food and nutrition classes. 

Eventually, she found herself back on the Island, where a passing conversation about the flow of people to Aylard Farm at the East Sooke Park and the possibility of creating delicious treats for these passersby led to the whimsical idea of Sea Chest. 

Nowadays, you can find Mouette’s smiling face greeting her customers from the quintessential Island structure that her shipwright father built out of salvaged boat parts. Sea Chest really is a treasure trove of summer magic, offering a variety of fresh treats, drinks and items from local artists. 

The biggest draw, however, has to be Mouette’s handmade organic ice cream. She creates unique flavours using in-season ingredients (many of which she has grown and harvested in her own garden) to create delectable options such as rose petal rhubarb swirl, grilled fig leaf blueberry, coriander raspberry ripple, lemon balm blackberry and juniper lime. “Each flavour also has a complimentary cookie pairing, which offers a creative and fun challenge for me that keeps it interesting,” she says. (She also offers gluten-free and dairy-free options.)

Mouette loves the interaction she gets to have with her customers, as most of her previous culinary endeavors kept her secluded in the kitchen. “I missed the connection to the people having the experience,” she says. While she adores the creative aspect of preparing her delicious treats for Sea Chest, the real draw is being able to share her passion with her customers. “This to me is magic, and an aspect of this venture that I could have never anticipated.”

“The Sea Chest has taken on a life of its own it seems,” says Mouette. “It's the people that make it what it is. Whether it's the familiar faces that have ‘the usual’ or someone visiting the area for the day on their Island adventure, it is such a joy and a pleasure to bring something to their experience—as they always bring something to mine.”