One of the main reasons we love to travel is the food. When we are back home in Victoria we love to satisfy our tastebuds by eating at all the different ethnic restaurants we can find.
Below is a guide to our favourite ethnic restaurants in Victoria. We will continue updating as we try new ones!
Guide to the Best Ethnic Restaurants in Victoria, BC
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Best Filipino Food in Victoria, BC
Casa Philippines Cuisine & Grocery
Located right downtown on Douglas Street, this is a tiny little, unassuming Filipino grocery store. I only noticed it because it was next to my bus stop and a halo halo picture caught my eye.
This is a random little store, with tons of posters on the windows that you can barely see inside. You probably wouldn’t even realize you can get a meal here as it looks like a small convenience store. And it is, but the owner also cooks up some wonderful classic Filipino dishes!
The menu is fairly simple but consists of many Filipino favorites, such as adobo and lechon.
Since I often make chicken adobo at home we decided to try the kare kare and paksiw na lechon. The woman who runs Casa Philippines set off to cook up our dishes while we took a seat at the small little tables scattered throughout the store.
This isn’t the type of place you eat at for atmosphere. You will be sitting amongst the groceries and people coming in and out. But it is the place to go if you are missing some good home-style Filipino cooking.
Kare kare is a thick peanut sauce stew made commonly with either pork, beef or oxtail and eggplants and bok choy. It was a tasty choice. Mild but flavorful.
The paksiw na lechon was absolutely delicious. Paksiw means to simmer in vinegar and lechon is roasted pig. The meat was very tender and easily fell apart. We loved the big chunks of garlic.
Both dishes were served with a scoop of rice. We were also given a small dish of bagoong which is a fermented fish/shrimp paste. It is VERY strong and salty and I would say an acquired taste.
For dessert, we of course had to get the halo halo. If you haven’t tried this colorful Filipino dessert, you’ve got to! Every place makes it differently. But most consist of at least the core ingredients of shaved ice, sweet evaporated milk, ube paste, red beans, coconut jelly, ice cream, plus many other ingredients, including flan and taro! All the ingredients are layered in a cup or bowl to make a colorful concoction.
I normally don’t want to mix it all up because then it doesn’t look so appealing but it tastes best this way! I usually take a few bites of each ingredient individually before smushing it all together.
The halo halo here did not disappoint. For $6, I can definitely see myself coming back here for a summer treat whenever the halo halo craving strikes. It total, our bill for the 2 of us came to $28 for lunch.
Best Japanese Food in Victoria, BC
Maiko
Living in Hawaii and visiting Japan a few times has made me very particular about my sushi and sashimi. You can go to your everyday, westernized Japanese restaurant in downtown Victoria that your Western friends will tell you is good. But, if you would like to try something that is somewhat acceptable to my Japanese palate, make your way to Langford and try Maiko.
The owners and workers are Korean, but they make some good Japanese sushi. While my parents were visiting we took them out here and even my dad enjoyed the sashimi.
We tend to order spicy tuna by impulse. It is a nice roll with ahi tuna, chopped like tartare, and mixed with a spicy mayonnaise sauce. Many other restaurants have tried and failed. But Maiko seems to do it well. I love some of their other rolls like the dragon roll and caterpillar roll.
The dragon roll consists of unagi (fresh water eel), crab and deep fried panko bread crumbs. The best part of the roll is the unagi sauce they drizzle on top, which is like a sweeter teriyaki barbecue sauce. The caterpillar roll is very similar to the dragon roll but they add a neatly sliced avocado atop the roll and also finish with the delicious unagi sauce.
We only just tried their sashimi platter while my parents were visiting and it was surprising wonderful. The tuna was thick and fresh. The squid was perfectly crisp and fresh. And my dad’s favourite was the salmon. He even said he never had such fresh salmon sashimi. It was so good they ordered a second order.
We really underestimated some of their other menu items as we tend to stick to what is popular and can’t mess up. Since it was my parents first time visiting in a few years, we indulged and ordered the prawn tempura and miso soup. Both where very good and pretty authentic. But how can you go wrong with miso soup and shrimp tempura.
We have been to a few of the other Japanese restaurants around town and haven’t been back. Expect for Maiko – it is the only one we continue to come back to! The best part of the restaurant is the service and ambiance. The owners, Brian and Alice, are so nice and they even remember Louise’s name every time.
Make your way down to Langford and sit down for some great Japanese food!
Best Korean Food in Victoria, BC
King Sejong
Louise and I love going to eat Korean food whenever we are reminiscing where we first fell in love. We have been to a few different Korean restaurants in Victoria. Some cater more to the western palate and serve the common barbecue beef and lack authenticity. But we’ve found that King Sejong has the closest dishes and flavours to what we remember eating in Korea.
They have a wide variety on the menu. We usually go with our favourites: deokkbokki for Louise and naengmyeon for me. Their deokkbokki consists of rice cakes, a few green onions, potatoes, and noodles, slow cooked in a sweet and very spicy red pepper sauce. They make it to perfection here and Louise says it’s as close to authentic as it gets outside Korea.
Naengmyeon is a cold buckwheat noodle dish in an ice cold broth with a hard boiled egg and some thinly sliced pork. You can add vinegar and hot mustard to taste, which we do as we like it spicy. Their noodles are perfectly chewy and the broth is very delicious. I wish they served it all year long, but unfortunately it’s only on the menu for the summer.
The few other times we have gone I’ve also really enjoyed the doenjang-jjigae. This is a scalding hot soup that is made with a fermented bean paste, similar to natto (my favourite food of all time) and served with tofu, vegetables and beef. It’s an acquired taste, but if you’re feeling adventurous, I highly recommend it with bowl of rice.
King Sejong may seem like a hole in the wall, but that is why we love it here. You could walk down the street and miss this hidden gem, but don’t! On a busy night you will hear lots of people speaking Korean and soju being poured (or spilled) so you know the food is good and authentic.
Best Mexican Food in Victoria, BC
Now I am not too sure if it’s because we are so far away from Mexico or just not enough good cooks from Mexico have moved to Canada and want to start a restaurant, but I haven’t found really good authentic Mexican food. Even our Mexican friends have agreed. However one of our Mexican friends recommended Rica Salsa as somewhere acceptable so we had to check it out.
Rica Salsa
Rica Salsa is located in Cook Street Village. The menu is pretty simple but has your Mexican staples. They have burritos that you can get with pork, chicken, beef, chorizo or veggie. If you are looking for a low carb alternative they also have it in a burrito bowl.
They also have soft tacos that come in fish, pork, shredded chicken or veggie. Enchiladas come in the choice of pork, chicken, chorizo or veggie. And you can also get a quesadilla with chicken or chorizo. Or a bowl of Sopa Azteca. On the side you can get chips and salsa or guacamole.
Louise chose the burrito with chorizo and I had the enchilada with chorizo. When he served us, he asked if we liked spicy, and of course we said yes. So he gave us a side dish of homemade hot salsa. It was pretty spicy and very delicious. “Rica Salsa” for sure. Both Louise and I added it to our dishes and even asked for more.
Louise’s burrito was pretty big. It was filled with the chorizo, Mexican rice, baked black beans, and cheese. They garnished the top with some shredded cabbage, sour cream and hot sauce. She thought it was very good. The added salsa had great spice and all the fresh ingredients had lots of flavours.
My enchilada came with Mexican rice and baked black beans on the side. They also garnished it with a little bit of guacamole and some tortilla chips. The rice wasn’t like the typical Mexican rice I’m used to, it was a little dry for my liking, but still tasty. The baked black beans were nicely salted and topped with queso fresco cheese which I liked. The enchilada sauce was very tasty and not over powering.
Overall I thought it was pretty good. The salsa was really the highlight so it sure lives up to its name – rica salsa! Compared to some of the other Mexican food here in Victoria, this is the most authentic we’ve had. A few other good places only have tacos, but Rica Salsa actually has a few more selections.
Best Senegalese Food in Victoria, BC
Le Petit Dakar ** CLOSED**
**2019 UPDATE: Sadly, the restaurant is currently closed until the owner finds a new location. However you can message her on Facebook and place orders! This is what we’ve done since we greatly miss her food and hot sauce!**
Le Petit Dakar has recently moved from their downtown location to Esquimalt. Located at the corner of Esquimalt Road and Head street, it is easily accessible by the #15 bus or by car. Free parking is available on the street by the Carlton Club. They are open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 8pm.
We came for a late lunch on a Saturday. The menu on the wall has a number of delicious sounding options but not all are always available, so make sure to check before ordering. Luckily the day we went they had my favorite dish available: mafe. Ryan tried the Saturday special: Chebu Jen.
Mafe is a spicy peanut butter stew made with either beef, lamb or chicken. The day we went they had chicken mafe. It smells strongly of peanut butter and has quite a spicy kick to it! The mafe is served with white rice and a dollop of their homemade habanero hot sauce. This dish is already quite spicy so if you can’t handle the heat, skip the hot sauce! Their hot sauce is pretty potent so you only want to take a speck of it with each bite. And if you can’t handle spicy food at all, skip this dish altogether.
The Chebu Jen was a white fish slow cooked with carrot, potato and eggplant, and rice that had been cooked in spiced tomato sauce.
Our server asked if we wanted to try the ginger juice ($3) and we said sure. Ryan described it as like a ginger lemonade. It was super potent – if you don’t like ginger don’t order this because the ginger flavor could be pretty overwhelming. We actually really liked it though – it was quite refreshing and complemented the spicy food. Definitely won’t catch a cold anytime soon with all that ginger! They also have other specialty juices on offer like hibiscus and baobab juice! Next time we’ll have to try that.
After our meal a Senegalese dessert sounded good but we were too full! Will also be on our list to try for next time. The restaurant also has African products for sale such as spices and teas. We loved their hot sauce so much that we decided to buy a jar of it ($10).
Not only is the food great but the owner is so warm and welcoming as well! She remembers all her patrons and is super friendly. There’s not many places to eat African food in Victoria so give this one a try! It is one of our favorites.
Best Spanish Food in Victoria, BC
Chorizo & Co.
Continuing our ethnic food adventures in Victoria we decided to try Chorizo and Co. This Spanish eatery offers many different Spanish inspired sandwiches, salads, coffees and desserts, of course. We were both excited to try this place as we haven’t had Spanish food since our trip to Spain.
The restaurant is small and only has about 8 tables, including the upstairs loft, where we sat. It has a nice ambiance with Spanish music and Spanish inspired décor. The service was great and super friendly. And the prices were decent for the quality of food.
Louise ordered the Chorizo sandwich which had a chorizo sausage cut length wise, arugula lettuce, manchego cheese, piquello peppers, and a spicy aioli. She loved it as the bun was soft and the chorizo was spicy. Usually I will finish my food before her, but we finished at the same time.
I decided on the Castellana. This sandwich had thinly sliced jamon and chorizo, arugula lettuce, manchego cheese, piquillo pepper, and olive spread all on a crispy baquette that they toasted on a grill. It was fantastic. All the flavors married well together. I really liked the pickled olives, the salty jamon and spicy chorizon. It brought me right back to eating at the market in Barcelona.
One of our favorites menu items in Spain was the café con leche. Louise was excited to see it on the menu and we each ordered one. The barista was very talented and made it very fancy. The presentation was an A+. Now there’s nothing like a café con leche from Spain, but this cup of coffee was pretty close. I’d say it was one of the better ones we’ve had away from Spain.
For dessert we ordered the churros con chocolate. This was Louise’s favorite food from our trip to Spain. Now the chocolate at Chorizo and Co was already sweet. Usually, in Spain, it is bitter and they give you sugar to add. And the churros were also dusted in sugar which wasn’t common in Spain. But it was still very good as it was freshly made and tasted delicious.
Overall we enjoyed Chorizo and Co. I wouldn’t say it is exactly the same as the food we had in Spain, but they definitely had the Spanish flavors in their sandwiches. The churros were a little different, but the coffee was definitely the closest we’ve had to being in Spain. We will have to go back and try some of the other sandwiches on the menu.
Best Thai Food in Victoria, BC
Sabhai Thai
This is a very popular restaurant and it is for good reason! After finding success in Sidney, they opened up a second location in Langford and it is always packed. In fact, you should probably make a dinner reservation otherwise you may be disappointed.
First of all, the atmosphere is very nice – fireplaces in all 4 corners, a water fountain and Thai decor everywhere. Service is always very friendly.
Our favorite dish here is the pad thai – it is our favorite out of any Thai restaurant in Victoria (we’ve taste-tested a lot!). It’s such a basic Thai dish but so good here! Our second favorite is another basic Thai dish: Red Curry. We love to order it medium-hot and pair it with a bowl of the coconut rice. Each Thai restaurant seems to have a slightly different taste to their red curry, but this one has to be one of the best.
Sabhai Thai has quite a large menu and every time we go there (which is often) we try to order a different dish in addition to our usual favorites. From their flavorful soups, to their fantastic salads, delicious stir-frys and amazing seafood, you just can’t go wrong!
If you are a dessert-lover like Louise, don’t worry – they have you covered there, too! Louise’s favorite is their Mango Jello. It sounds simple but it is filled with mango-goodness and topped with coconut whipped cream – you gotta try it.
Best Vietnamese Food in Victoria, BC
Culis Market
You will probably be a bit confused when you first walk into this place as it is partly a small, random, family-run Asian convenience store and partly a Vietnamese restaurant/take out place that also serves ice cream and bubble tea. In fact, you’d probably never even think to come to this little hidden gem if no one told you about it. But we’ll let you in on the secret 😉
Culis Market is run by a woman and (I think) her husband. I see them there every single day, day and night. Don’t be put off if she is not friendly at first, she warms up after you order. And the food is worth it. Don’t come here if you are in a rush, though, as she makes everything to order so be prepared to wait a bit for your hot food. At least you can be sure everything is fresh and tasty.
There is no menu here. Well, there was at one point, but in the past year it seems to have disappeared. But pretty much their pho is the highlight here! I just ask for a regular pho and choose my bubble tea flavor (the menu for that is on the wall).
The meat is rare and gets cooked by the delicious hot broth. It is sooo flavorful. You are also given a nice big platter of mint, thai basil, sprouts, jalapenos, lime, etc. They also have delicious banh mi and bubble tea. The bubble tea comes in tons of flavors and the pearls are actually soft instead of chewy. They of course also serve bun cha (vermicelli noodles), spring rolls, and some other dishes which I haven’t tried yet. Craving Vietnamese coffee? They have that, too.
There are some tables inside, and some on the sidewalk outside, or you can take your food to go. Prices are reasonable. Bubble tea is $4 and the huge bowl of pho is $11.95 (enough to feed me for dinner plus take some home for lunch the next day!)
Stay tuned for more! And if you have any suggestions for ethnic restaurants we should try please let us know in the comments below!
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