Sushi at Sen Zushi

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

A cozy Langford sushi room with a fireplace at the back, rated among Greater Victoria's best rolls at friendly prices.

Victoria's tiny Indian-spiced seafood room on Fort Street, where vindaloo mussels and French technique share a table at 4.6.

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

Steak frites and French red by candlelight in a Chinatown schoolhouse that doesn't take reservations for two, so arrive early.

Fort Street's Italian-leaning West Coast institution: house salumi, 300 bottles of wine and a room that makes three hours vanish.

Fort Street's beloved all day breakfast room since 1991, with art crammed onto every wall and a benny list that runs to double digits.

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.

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

A 112-year-old James Bay house, a Genova-born owner cooking your pasta personally, and herbs from the garden out back.

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

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.

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