YAM magazine’s Best Restaurant Awards 2024 celebrate Greater Victoria, B.C.’s exciting food scene, judged by an independent panel of chefs and food experts.
BY CINDA CHAVICH | PHOTO BY JEFFREY BOSDET
Best Happy Hour: Block Kitchen + Bar
#101-538 Yates Street | $$ | blockvictoria.ca | Reservations optional
Block Kitchen + Bar gets the nod for Best Happy Hour, the 3 to 5 p.m. daily slot when you can get discounted menu items from their greatest hits.
Think lettuce wraps with crispy cubes of pork belly or karaage chicken skewers with spicy mayo. Get their Block Negroni or Sake-tini tap cocktails at a discounted happy hour price of $12, plus $4 to $6 pints of local craft beer.
They also serve a mean non-alc Caesar (the drink) with global flair, with honey gochujang-spiced Clamato and togarashi rim. Block attracts a mixed crowd, says co-owner/manager Andy Burke, who describes his downtown demographic as “27 to 72. No ageism here,” he adds. “Happy hour is super affordable and a chance to try the menu. It’s all sorts of people and it’s wonderful.”
Runners-up: