Skinnytato ▪ Victoria, BC

615 Johnson St
Victoria, BC
250.590.6550
website

The culinary highlight of my trip to Vancouver Island came during my last meal in Victoria. We decided to try Skinnytato, a small Polish restaurant, that has quickly become popular since its opening. Trapezista and I met some of her friends for dinner there. While a few tables were free, many of them were reserved, so the owners scrambled to find place for us and another large party.

Skinnytato.

We each ordered different dinner items that included a daily soup, which was borscht on the day we visited. I am not the biggest fan of beets but it's a food I want to learn to enjoy. I actually very much enjoyed the borscht.

Borscht.

Trapezista ordered an extra large potato pancake, stuffed with sauerkraut and Polish sausage ($15.95). She seemed to really enjoy her pancake and the accompanying four salads. Skinnytato's menu boasted about its four vegetarian and gluten free salads (two cabbage salads, a potato salad and a beet salad).

Large potato pancake.

I ordered the vegetarian platter ($14.95) that included 3 small potato pancakes, 4 perogies and 2 salads. You can select the perogie of your choice, depending on what is on hand. I got 2 cheese and potato perogies, and 2 sauerkraut and mushroom perogies. I absolutely loved the crispy pancakes that were well seasoned. While the cheese and potato perogies were good, I was blown away by the sauerkraut and mushroom ones. What an usual combination! The mushrooms' earthy flavour went well with the pickled sauerkraut. Finally, I also really liked the Nature's gift salad, a red cabbage salad but felt indifferent toward the potato salad.

Vegetarian platter.

Personally, a great meal for me involves well cooked food and discovering something new. Skinnytato introduced me to food I was unfamiliar with, and was a lovely way to end my BC trip. In addition, the Polish couple who owns the restaurant could not be sweeter, giving us coupons and encouraging us to check out their Facebook page. If you're in Victoria, Skinnytato is well worth a visit!

Red Fish Blue Fish ▪ Victoria, BC

1006 Wharf Street
Victoria, British Columbia
250.298.6877
website

During my first full day in Victoria, my old roommate, aka Trapezista, showed me around downtown Victoria. Before heading out to the wharf area, we saw a (relatively) short line before opening hour at Red Fish Blue Fish and decided to give it a try (and wait). Red Fish Blue Fish is an outdoor eatery in an up-cycled cargo container that has been featured on Eat St and its owner was also a competitor on the latest Top Chef Canada.

Red Fish Blue Fish.
 

The wait still ended up being 50 minutes, and we were unfortunately followed by two very loud-speaking obnoxious people. It was slightly amusing at the beginning, as listening in to strangers’ conversations can be, but quickly grew annoying. Snippets of conversations included gems such as “girls who date online are 90% princesses of everything” and “you could totally date a younger girl and it would not be creepy”. Sometimes I really wonder about people…

View from the pier.

Onto the food… I had my heart set on ordering the BBQ Qualicum scallop tacones but was very disappointed to find out it was not available on that day. After pondering it for 50 minutes, I made up my mind to order the chipotle shrimp tacones. When we got to the ordering counter, I asked how the shrimp was cooked and was told it was served cold. This did not appeal to me so I ordered my third choice of tempura cod tacones ($5). I was very happy with my choice; you can never go wrong with ordering deep fried fish and I liked the combination of the slaw, pea shoots and chili adobo sauce.

Tempura Cod Tacones.

Trapezista ordered the BBQ salmon tacones ($5) as British Columbia is well known for salmon. She didn’t love her choice of fish.

BBQ Salmon Tacones.

We decided to share a serving of sweet red-curry slathered chips ($6.00). The chips were very good and we wished we had ordered them on their own. I had imagined a spicy Thai red curry but the sauce was an overly sweet tomato sauce that caused our chips to become soggy. We were sorely disappointed by our chips choice.

Red Curry Chips.

I love that Red Fish Blue Fish prides itself on only serving local fish. It also set up a station so organic waste could be composted and plastic trays reused. It is very popular so expect a long wait, at least an hour on a beautiful sunny day!