Food

While Victoria [1] doesn’t have a reputation as a culinary hot spot, for the past decade things have improved greatly with the opening of numerous restaurants serving top-notch cuisine with influences from around the world. Local chefs are big on produce that’s organically grown and sourced from island farms. Seafood—halibut, shrimp, mussels, crab, and salmon—also features prominently on many menus.

With a thriving tourist trade centered on the Inner Harbour [2], chances are you will find something to suit your tastes and budget close at hand—Italian, Mexican, Californian, and even vegan cuisine. Mixed in with a few tourist traps (that advertise everywhere) are a number of excellent harbor-front choices that are as popular with the locals as with visitors. Unlike many cities and aside from a small Chinatown, ethnic restaurants are not confined to particular streets. On the other hand, Fort Street east of Douglas has a proliferation of restaurants that are as trendy as it gets on the island.

You still find great interest in traditional English fare, including afternoon tea, which is served everywhere from motherly corner cafés to the grand Fairmont Empress [3]. English cooking in general is much maligned, but worth trying. For the full experience, choose kippers and poached eggs for breakfast, a ploughman’s lunch (crusty bread, a chunk of cheese, pickled onions), and then roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (a crispy pastry made with drippings and doused with gravy) in the evening.