Pho & Salad Rolls at Green Leaf Bistro

Fort Street's oven-roasted Korean chicken spot where the lighter, juicier alternative to deep-fry has a near-perfect 4.7 to back it up.

A women-run Fort Street bakery of French pastries and tarts, where the last croissant always causes a diplomatic incident.

Victoria's neon-lit Korean pocha pub, where you pile the table with tteokbokki and pour each other rounds of soju all night.

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.

Downtown Victoria's 4.8-rated Korean fried chicken spot, where the cheese-pull corn dogs are both a snack and a mild competitive event.

Brad Holmes rewrites the menu weekly in a tiny, loud Chinatown room, so come curious and ready to share everything.

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

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

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

Cook Street Village's 4.6-rated cult chicken joint: double-fried, shatteringly crispy, and almost impossible to leave without a Megan croffle.

Quadra Street Afghan-Persian home cooking: mantu dumplings, qabuli palaw and hospitality so warm that ordering too much is practically required.

Family-run Thai on Fort Street's antique row, where Mama and Papa Sookjai make the green curry Victorians won't stop raving about.

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

A Korean-born chef cooking Japanese soul food in a tiny Langford room with a 4.8 and complimentary tea that arrives before you ask.