Burgers, butter chicken and other exciting things to taste in town, plus a timely reminder to support our friends and neighbours.
Openings and Big Moves
- It took us longer than we would have liked to get to Kinu by Sizzling Tandoor at Uptown, which is still owned by the Bawa family, but has had a fresh, stylish and sophisticated makeover as a modern Indian tapas restaurant. For that, credit Kirn Bawa, daughter of founders Narpinder and Gurinder Bawa. (They still have Sizzling Tandoor locations downtown and in Langford.) One of the most tempting reasons to visit is the great drinks program, which features house cocktails like the Fortuna (London Dry gin, ginger liqueur, fig syrup, lime, vegan foamer, edible glitter) or Garden of Silence (vodka, pear, lychee and rose cordial, banana and bergamot bitters, Prosecco). Dishes are sharable and often crafted with a cheeky note, like the “fish tacos” (mini naan stuffed with panko-crusted fish pakora) or aloo tikka “smashburger,” a housemade potato-cake slider on a brioche bun, best enjoyed with khatti meethi “dirty” fries. But don’t worry — you can also still get their famous butter chicken, too.
- Great news for fans of the multi-award-winning Cafe Malabar: After the brief closure of their Victoria Public Market digs, chefs Kiran Kolathodan and Karma Tenpa have found a bigger and better space at 407 Swift Street, in the old Tug Eatery location. For opening details, follow them on Instagram @cafemalabar.ca.
- We could not be more thrilled to see Blue Nile Restaurant reopen in a new location less than a year after the popular East African restaurant’s landlords announced they would no longer continue the lease long-term. For 20 years, Blue Nile had been offering its hearty and flavourful dishes in Esquimalt. Now it’s got a primo new location on Douglas Street across from the Victoria Public Market, where it’s serving up its delicately spiced beef, chicken and vegetarian dishes, dine in or take out. It’s licensed, too, so you can enjoy beer or wine with your meal, as well as excellent Ethiopian coffee. And you can feel even better knowing that the owners make an effort to employ recent immigrants and help them get their start in Canada.
- Victoria has fallen in love with Syrian food, and now there’s a new place to enjoy it: Levantine Middle Eastern Restaurant in the heart of James Bay. You’ll find all your favourites here — hummus, fattoush salad, falafel, beef or chicken shawarma wraps, pastries — but we are especially excited by the loaded shawarma fries, which come topped with beef or chicken shawarma, tahini and garlic sauce, like a sort of Syrian poutine.
- Speaking of Middle Eastern restaurants, we’re hearing plenty of raves for Niloo Persian Kitchen & Grill, which opened recently in Royal Oak. You’ll find all the classic Persian dishes here — think koobideh or marinated chicken kebabs, fragrant stews, saffron rice and the like — along with favourites from across the Middle East, like falafels, hummus and baba ghanoush. For the latest hours, find them on Instagram @niloorestaurant.
- Here at YAM we are seriously in love with proper smashburgers — the kind with thin, crunchy, lacy meat skirts, squishy buns and melty cheese — and are delighted to find not one but two great options settling into new locations. Murder Burger began as a pop-up and now is solidly ensconced at Picnic on Fort Street, open Fridays and Saturdays, 5 to 8:30 p.m. It’s all about the meat here — dry-aged, grass-fed, super flavourful — topped simply with pickles, onions, secret sauce and American cheese, served on a squishy potato bun, as it should be. Don’t even try to resist the krinkle fries. Order ahead at eatmurderburger.com.
- Meanwhile, after a brief closure, Bangers Burger Club has moved from Shanzee’s Biscuit Café to Ile Sauvage Brewing on Bridge Street, where it serves up its marvellously messy burgs around lunchtime on Thursdays through Sundays, and on Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. Smashed ground chuck, housemade pickles, onions, “real” cheese, with the option of mayo, ketchup and gooey cheese dip. Find them on Insta @bangersburgerclub.
Goodbyes
It’s the end of an era — Shawn Soole, the long-time lounge manager at Clive’s Classic Lounge, has poured his last Negroni at the multi-award-winning bar. It’s hard to express what a huge impact he has had on not just the city’s cocktail scene, but its entire approach to hospitality. Since he arrived here from Australia in 2008, he has always raised the bar, whether opening new joints like Little Jumbo, helping others develop their cocktail programs, hosting collabs with global bar stars, telling it like it is for his Post-Shift Podcast or becoming a mentor to a whole generation of young barkeeps.
Now he’s heading over to Vancouver to oversee Laowai and Bangheera, two hot speakeasies in Chinatown, with the promise of some exciting new opportunities to come. (He promises to keep doing some consulting gigs in Victoria.) We wish him nothing but the best, whatever comes next.
Fans of Clive’s need not fear, though. The talented Harry Tham is stepping into the head role here, so we know that we’ll be in good hands.
As we all know, this has been a terrible few years for restaurants, and it breaks our hearts to see so many of them struggling. Just recently we saw the closure of Sushi Jiro, Sea Glass Waterfront Grill in Sidney, Blue Bayou Cafe in Brentwood Bay and Cafe Zanzibar, also in Brentwood Bay. Also gone: The North Saanich-based Epicure, a direct-to-sale cooking supplies business, which not so long ago employed up to 175 people and carried hundreds of products. And then there’s the loss of Coho Commissary in the Victoria Public Market, and now Charelli’s, the beloved destination for cheese, charcuterie and all things delicious, has announced it will be closing on May 24 after 22 years in operation.
We know you’ve heard it before, but if you don’t get out and support your favourite eateries and culinary businesses, they simply won’t be around. Lose them and we lose not just a place to go for dinner, but an essential part of our city’s character.
So go eat!