Pastries at Crust Bakery

Walk-in BC oysters shucked to order on Blanshard Street, with all-day Sunday happy hour and a 4.8 you can actually trust.

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

Victoria's long-running Ethiopian-Eritrean room, where dinner is one shared platter by hand and the closing act is a from-scratch coffee ceremony.

A downtown Victoria Vietnamese bistro where fragrant pho, fresh salad rolls, and the hoisin-vs-sriracha debate become the whole date.

Downtown Victoria's 4.6-rated Korean grillhouse where you cook for each other and emerge smelling faintly of garlic-soy triumph.

Chinatown tortilleria where heirloom corn gets nixtamalized overnight and pressed into tacos that embarrass every other taco in Victoria.

Downtown Victoria's modern hawker-stall with pineapple fried rice, butter chicken and cold beer: the happy, low-stakes weeknight date.

A deaf owned cafe on the West Bay Marina boardwalk, serving waffles, smoked salmon toast and an ocean view from 7am.

An 1889 heritage house in James Bay where the cooking is vegetable forward, the light is good and nothing is in a hurry.

Bay Street Korean-Chinese noodles where ordering one jajangmyeon and one jjamppong and swapping halfway is the best date hack you'll find.

A decades-loved Broughton Street sushi bar where two counter seats and the word 'omakase' is all the plan you need.

Sidney's teal boothed diner on Beacon Avenue, turning out stuffed Belgian waffles and five different hashes three blocks from the sea.

The West Shore branch of Victoria's pink diner, where you can hand the menu back, say Mahoney, and let the kitchen decide for you.

Victoria's Korean spot for crispy three-glaze fried chicken, a bubbling army stew with cheese, and a 4.5 that keeps the room packed late.