Kinu by Sizzling Tandoor

A moody Bastion Square wine bar with oysters, blankets in the back courtyard, and wines that reward asking questions.

The quieter, candlelit alternative to the Empress: Victorian afternoon tea in an 1890s mansion, five minutes from the Inner Harbour.

Air Canada Best New Restaurants longlisted Kerala cooking with a patio pointing straight at Victoria Harbour.

Climb above a Victoria bar to find Spanish tapas since 2014 and a happy hour with 50% off the wine list.

A tiny face-to-face bouchon in Oak Bay where the wine list has won awards and the elbow room has been intentionally omitted.

A Sidney fromagerie by day and wine bar by evening, owned by two wine-shop refugees who cut 150-plus cheeses to order.

The Toptable group's Victoria showpiece: Japanese-style raw bar, West Coast plates, and the atrium is where the intimate seats live.

A properly small room on Herald Street pouring funky low-intervention bottles and chef Billy Nguyen's seasonal plates, worth every booking.

A space-themed speakeasy behind a bookshelf on Johnson Street, 450-plus bottles, and the shared satisfaction of finding the door.

A neighbourhood pub on the Saanichton corner that has been an inn since 1859, and the only room out here that runs to midnight.

Fort Street Korean tapas and cocktails: low-lit, late-running, and serving a 'Squid Game' gochujang dish with the world's most appropriate name.

The 130-year-old tea house where choosing between a hundred loose-leaf options and the pastry case somehow becomes the whole, happy date.

A brick basement off Yates Street with old-book niches, lamplight, and cocktails consistently ranked among the city's best.

Vancouver Island's best-known brewery pours its whole range in a bright sixty-seat lounge with a patio the same size again.