Where to Eat in Victoria: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need
Ugly Duckling Restaurant
In recent years, British Columbia’s charming capital, Victoria, which hugs the southern coast of Vancouver Island, has quietly become cool—and now it’s one of Canada’s most exciting food cities.
In fact, a 2024 report by the meal kit company Chefs Plate ranked Victoria the third-best food destination in Canada, and according to Statistics Canada, Victoria has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the country. From premium desserts to innovative share plates, there is so much to celebrate about Victoria’s food scene. Here’s where to eat to make the most of it.
Opened in 2023, Ugly Duckling is a darling of Victoria’s Chinatown neighbourhood—and a love poem to it, too. With a laidback aesthetic of exposed brick and warm wood, Ugly Duckling lets the food do the talking. The name itself is an ode to lesser-celebrated ingredients, with the culinary team working to honour everything from soybean to sunchoke. There is no à la carte option here, with the restaurant instead serving only a leisurely yet intelligent tasting menu that changes based on what’s in season. A recent visit unveiled such delights as Ugly Duckling’s take on the Japanese savoury custard chawanmushi with sunchoke, scallion, and trout roe, and tortelli stuffed with caramelized onion and chanterelles, topped with a knockout fermented soybean sauce. For dessert, an apple was glazed and topped with Chinese five spice, coconut, and lemongrass. To cap things off, this was followed by a housemade chocolate fortune cookie. By using a mix of West Coast and Asian ingredients, Ugly Duckling is an edible sampling of its home.
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There is nary a bad order at Janevca, the restaurant in the newly opened boutique hotel Rosemead House. The hotel itself is a master class in maximalism, with contrasting patterns, colours, and textures from the hundreds (if not thousands) of antiques that dot every surface to set pieces from Netflix’s The Crown (including the Buckingham Palace front gates) to dinnerware from The Savoy hotel in London coming together to throw an artful party. All of this is not even to mention Janevca, which itself is worthy of the short drive over the bridge from Victoria into neighbouring Esquimalt. Here, an expertly prepared dirty gin martini sets the tone for a series of excellent dishes cooked on the kitchen’s wood-fire grill. Coal-roasted cauliflower with coriander, cumin, and anchovy is bright and affirming, while the AAA dry-aged strip loin is decadent and classic. The must-order here, though, for any meat eater, is the wood-grilled half chicken, which is drenched in a Chinese barbecue-style siu haau sauce that is sweet, savoury, and addicting.
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Indian food is so much more than butter chicken and daal, and Cafe Malabar is leading the educational charge with its modern Kerala cuisine. On the city’s waterfront, the Indian restaurant began as a food stall in the now-closed Victoria Public Market and opened its own bricks-and-mortar location earlier this year. The food is inspired and a little bit whimsical—from the fried chicken marinated in Indian spices and topped with pickled onions to the vattayappam with beef roast (slow-cooked chunks of flavourful beef served with a spicy and sweet rice cake—the perfect mix of sugar and heat). Ask for the specials, too: a recent meal at Cafe Malabar included a standout sole dish served with delicious chunks of creamy tapioca and a fragrant fish curry. Don’t miss the house-made chai, either.
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Not all hotel restaurants are created equal. The Courtney Room, at the perfectly situated and altogether charming Magnolia Hotel & Spa, exemplifies what a hotel restaurant can and should be. The service is warm and efficient, and the food and drink program is excellent, no matter the meal. For breakfast, shakshuka with chickpeas, poached eggs, and grilled sourdough is an easy choice. In the evening, one could not go wrong with a series of share plates, including the restaurant’s famed potatoes courtney (crispy potato rosti fried in duck fat, served with buttermilk ranch). The seared Hokkaido scallops with charred fennel and roasted seeds are also a standout, as is the dry-aged kampachi crudo with toasted rice and sweet magnolia dashi. To wash it all down, the bar program features house creations that change every six months, and all pay homage to the Pacific Northwest—from the Understudy (whisky-aged gin, plum amaro, absinthe mist, orange) to the Passages & Alleyways (beet tincture, smoked aperitif, Sichuan peppercorn, cassis).
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This casual eatery in Chinatown serves some of the city’s best (and trendiest) dumplings. Amidst bottles of natural wine and B.C.-made ciders and beers, diners can indulge in fresh, handmade meat or vegetable dumplings that are deep fried for added crunch and then topped with crispy onions, cilantro, and homemade chili oil. Add a side of classic cucumber salad or rice with chili oil to make it a meal.
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Chinatown’s Union Pacific is a cozy café hidden amongst the area’s high-end furniture stores. Here, tuck into a chewy chocolate chip cookie and an Americano misto—or opt for one of Union Pacific’s popular breakfast sandwiches: smoked wild salmon on a bagel with caper-lemon cream cheese and pickled onion or the bacon egger with thick-cut bacon, egg, honey mustard, and cheddar.
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This place might call itself a natural wine bar, but the food is just as memorable—if not more so—than the drinks. Rabbit Rabbit is Chinatown’s latest hot spot, and for good reason: the room is sexy and dark, drenched in various shades of pink and red that would be right at home in culinary capitals like Hong Kong or New York. With a subtle Alice in Wonderland theme (hence the name) and an Asian-inspired menu, Rabbit Rabbit is equal parts playful and cool. Standout food dishes include the savoury and umami-bursting mushroom lo bok go, which features shiitake mushrooms on a pan-seared rice-flour cake and topped with black garlic aioli and mushroom conserva; and the warm and perfectly spiced curry udon, with thick, chewy noodles, yellow tamarind curry, bouncy tofu, soft squash, and squeaky enoki mushrooms. The wine list is a who’s-who of natural wine producers, including B.C. favourites such as A Sunday in August and Averill Creek.
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Vegans, look away: this dessert is full cream (and full decadence). Better Acres, in the heart of downtown, serves artisanal ice creams using premium Canadian dairy products. Because this key ingredient is such high quality, Better Acres ice cream is actually lower in sugar than many of its contemporaries. Every flavour is pure, unadulterated happiness, be it Coffee Cream (a dupe for the beloved Häagen-Dazs coffee flavour), Californian Pistachio, or Summer Strawberry (the edible epitome of childhood, and so good that this author ate a whole scoop despite being lactose intolerant). The cones are homemade, too, and are gluten-free—not that you’d know it to taste them.
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A staple of Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood, Nourish is a healthy eatery located in a charming historic home. Among the large windows and framed posters of different foods, guests can find a nourishing breakfast or brunch. Start off with one of the café’s house-made, nutrient-rich bone broths, which taste like health in a mug. For food, the grain bowl features poached eggs, a mix of brown rice, millet, and quinoa, pickled vegetables, roasted vegetables, and tahini sauce (make it meaty by adding a house-made sausage). The Golden Benny sees poached eggs and cashew hollandaise draped over roasted sweet potatoes and served alongside mushrooms and fresh greens.
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Inspired by the schnitzel restaurants of Germany and Austria, Chinatown’s Eva is casual, cozy, and cool. Anyone visiting this restaurant should expect to feast: at brunch, the jägerschnitzel includes crispy schnitzel, poached eggs, mushroom gravy, potatoes, and salad, while the Not Quite Fried Rice comes with peas, fried spaetzle, smoked ham, and a sunny-side-up egg. At dinner, indulge in European delicacies such as raclette, currywurst, a pretzel with mustard, and of course, plenty of schnitzel options for meat eaters and vegetarians alike.
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Sister restaurant to Wind Cries Mary, Rudi is a downtown share-plates spot with a focus on Mediterranean flavours and Vancouver Island ingredients. Start with a house-made seasonal shrub to drink, along with some pinchos—such as socca (an Italian fried bread) topped with goat cheese and onion jam), or a Gilda skewer with anchovies, olives, and pickled hot peppers. From there, move on to the butter lettuce salad, served simply with creamy goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, chives, and a subtle vinaigrette, followed by the albacore tuna with stewed tomato, legumes, and radishes, and the handmade al dente vegan penne with well-spiced lentil bolognese and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast.
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Toptable Group’s first restaurant in the capital does not disappoint. The restaurant team behind Vancouver heavyweights like Elisa and CinCin and Whistler favourites including Araxi and Bar Oso has done it again with Marilena: an expansive downtown seafood restaurant that stays busy well into late night. Dim lights set the mood, but it’s the warm staff who make this place sing (well, that and the fish). From seared sockeye salmon sushi to yellowfin tuna tartare to miso-glazed sablefish, it’s hard to go wrong.
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Located in Esquimalt, a short walk or drive from downtown Victoria’s bustling heart, Boom + Batten shines for its floor-to-ceiling views of the marina, where it’s not uncommon to spot a superyacht or three. Whether it’s the Boom Noodle Salad (crispy noodles, scallions, carrots, cucumber, radishes, peanut dressing, choice of protein) or the falafel bowl (house-made falafel, harissa chickpeas, turmeric hummus, pickled red cabbage, fresh greens, tahini dressing), the food on offer here is the perfect accompaniment to the setting: elevated yet relaxed.
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Photo by Johann Vincent
Faro, the beloved Oak Bay Beach Hotel’s onsite pizzeria, is a swish space serving some of the area’s best pies. In the morning, expect Italian pastries and fresh coffees, but lunch and dinner are where this place does its best work, with pizzas such as the Spicy Beast (soppressata, nduja sausage, chili flakes) and the Capricciosa (artichokes, prosciutto, onions, olives, roasted mushrooms) that are baked in a wood stone oven. Olives marinated with garlic, lemon, and herbs are never a bad idea, either—a good rule for life if ever there were one.
