Eating Victoria- Food Blog and Eating Guide

Tropical Island feels like an island on the Shelbourne stretch. The decor is unique but questionable in taste. The service was more than friendly. The food is a mish-mash of Malay, Singaporean, Thai and Chinese. We started with an appetizer of roti canai, oily soft and layered bread with red curry coconut sauce for dipping. I was vegetarian at the time so I ordered some mixed vegetables with rice (Cashew Vegetable Delight). Our server was very sweet and she was able to answer any questions we had. I would come back here to try some of the other dishes, there are a lot of things I’ve never seen or heard of before. A fun spot in the Shelbourne area.

Lao Vientiane
771 Vernon Ave.
250-475-3522

This restaurant is off the beaten path, but well worth the trek outside of the city centre. The room is beautiful with great window views and intoxicating aromas in the air. The service is a bit sparse and casual, but the food is worth the wait.

The salad rolls were well-balanced with flavour and texture. The yellow curry was a ” flavour elevator”(anyone watch Masterchef?), layers of spice and flavour unravelling throughout the meal.

My only issue is with the slow service, since I only have an hour for lunch, it was cutting it a bit close, but the food is excellent.

Posh Sukiyaki Restaurant
1063 Fort St.
250-382-7674

I’ll say it. Posh is a horrible name for this restaurant, I don’t get it. The main reason I went to Posh was because I had a Groupon for it, 12 dollars for 25 if I recall correctly. I remember dining here when it was the Med Grill, and it didn’t strike me as a big change to the interior. The host( a young guy) was friendly, dropped us off at the table and didn’t say much else. Our server, was delightful. She was a young lady, very helpful, patient and knowledgeable. She recommended the prawns with passionfruit mayo and apples/pineapples(~9 dollars I think). We ordered the set-amount hotpot sukiyaki for our main($18.98). The prawns were a good size, I think 8 or 9 prawns, without tails attached and no heads. The prawns, apples and pineapples all had a tempura-like coating on them, I don’t think the fruit really needed it, I would have preferred them without being fried. The prawns were a nice texture, well-cooked, and not fishy at all surprisingly. We really enjoyed them.

Shortly after our sukiyaki pot arrive, and she placed it onto the hotplate in the centre of the table. The broth is 50% sukiyaki sauce and 50% water,  which you periodically top-up as it boils away throughout your meal. She gave us 2 trays of thinly sliced beef, and 2 trays of thinly sliced pork, a big bowl of vegetables, udon noodles, ramen noodles and some white rice. We were also given two passerine-safe eggs to whisk up for a dipping sauce, and she assured us they are certified safe to be eaten raw. The interaction factor with this meal was a lot of fun, and it’s healthy. We ate for over an hour, and it would be great with a group of 4 people. The amount of food for one portion of the sukiyaki is really good value. The veggie bowl had zucchini, shitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, tofu, yuba bean curd, taro root, cabbage, sui choy and a few other things. Our server truly enhanced our experience and she was very sweet.

Veggies and meat

Noodles, eggs, and hotpot

It was a fun novelty experience, but I don’t know how often I will “crave” sukiyaki. The meat tasted like it was decent quality, some of the other additions(particularly the tofu and the mushrooms) were a bit off-tasting. But, you can’t beat the price, and the service we had was  really good. I would give it another chance. My only other suggestions would be to repair some of the bench seating, the one I sat on was cracking leather/upholstery, and because it wasn’t a very busy night, the young staff all gathered behind the bar and were chatting for most of the night. Their conversation overpowered the conversation I was trying to have with my friend, so that was an issue. That’s great the staff gets along, but it’s not very professional. Is there no management?

Korean Gardens
3945 Quadra St.
250-744-3311

Last week, some colleagues and I went to Korean Gardens for lunch. It was definitely busy inside, giving a positive first impression, perhaps a lunch favourite in this area. This was my first Korean food experience in Victoria( in the last 5 years!). I don’t know much about Korean food, so I’m glad I went with some people who knew their way around the menu. Two of us ordered the Korean Bento Box, and our other colleague ordered the seafood hotpot. Korean Gardens has an interesting representation of Japanese, Chinese and Korean dishes on their menu, and the most extensive of them all if the sushi menu. Initially I was confused, I thought this was going to be only Korean? But apparently it is common among Korean restaurants in Victoria to flesh out their menus with sushi, in order to offer more selection.

The Korean bento came with japchae( sweet potato glass noodles with sesame, top left), and bulgogi(BBQ beef). A small salad and orange pieces were served as well. I didn’t know what to think of the noodles, I liked their texture but I found them a bit oily. I liked the flavour though. The bulgogi was quite salty, but it had a nice sweetness perhaps from tamari or some soy product? The salad was just there, nothing much to it. I liked the juicy oranges to finish! It also came with tea, and miso soup to start. Overall, it was good value for the money. The seafood hotpot was huge too, with lots of fish, prawns, and mussels. The broth looked quite spicy, and our colleague enjoyed it over rice.

The service was very quick, so Korean Gardens is perfect for a lunch destination. If you’re craving something a bit different for lunch, I would suggest trying it out.

Cheers

Yokohama Japanese Restaurant
980 Blanshard St.
250-384-5433

Last night, the Pacific Northwest Ballet was performing at the Royal, and the lovely SP wrangled some tickets for us.  I had never been to a ballet before, so I didn’t have any expectations. A pre-show meal was on the agenda, and SP’s mother suggested Yokohama, as it is located directly across from the Royal Theatre.

It’s charming inside, with thin wall dividers in the booths that encourage positive posture( you don’t want to lean back against them). We ordered a round of tea, and a bottle of Mission Hill Pinot Blanc to start us off. The tea was served in cute little cups with a painted carp on them, and the pot held enough tea for a few re-fills. The wine was nice too.

It was busy inside, and I liked the positioning of the sushi-bar, quite central. I felt like some sushi, whereas my company went for some bento boxes. I ordered a salmon and avocado roll, and a prawn tempura roll. The bento boxes came with shabu soup, and sunomono salad, rice, tempura, and a main. Needless to say, when the meal arrived, they were quite impressive in size.

I was surprised to see in their “sushi creations” that imitation crab meat was used in almost all of them. I steered clear of those rolls, kind of put me off. The rolls I did end up ordering were good, smaller than expected, but fresh. The bento boxes seemed like a good deal, deliciously crispy tempura yams, zucchini, onions, and prawns. It isn’t the best Japanese food I’ve had but it was good.

Yokohama works well if you’re seeing a show and want to grab a bite beforehand. The staff were pleasant and quick.