Capital cuisine at three of Victoria’s small but serious kitchens

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For a city its size, Victoria's culinary scene hits higher than most. B.C.'s capital city excels at small yet serious restaurants with distinctive personalities and affordable prices. Herewith: a few relatively new establishments that I strongly recommend.

Bodega Bar

1210 Broad St., Victoria, B.C., 778-406-1210, bodegarbar.ca

Spanish tapas restaurants are so often mangled in translation. But Bodega Bar, The Tapa Bar's new casual sibling in Trounce Alley, nails it pitch-perfect. Dark and cozy, with soft lighting, big picture windows, wood and wrought-iron accents, it's a civilized spot for whiling away an afternoon – or early evening or late night – while sipping sherry and nibbling pintxos.

If dining solo, go for the Mixed Pintxo Plate ($8.50), a daily changing selection of three bite-sized snacks served on a rustic wooden paddle. The day I went, the trio included a small chorizo-and-arugula open face sandwich on a soft round of bread showered under a snowdrift of finely grated manchego; a warm sandwich with nutty pesto, slivered apples and melted cheese; and a tiny bowl of deeply delicious mushroom-beef stew infused with earthy green peppers. It went splendidly with a mini cut-crystal glass of crisp, light, slightly salty manzanilla.

For larger groups, the Bodega Board ($25) offers a more robust selection of charcuterie, cheeses, salads and pickles. There is also an extensive menu of cold and hot tapas dishes, many made with local ingredients, yet steeped in authentic flavours. Cured albacore tuna – sliced thin and silken on the tongue – is drizzled with excellent olive oil, sprinkled with smoked paprika and served with a luscious bean salad tossed in briny anchovy dressing. Papas Supremas, crispy rosemary-roasted potatoes piled high with Serrano ham, a soft-boiled egg, garlicky aioli and melted manchego, might very well be the best hangover cure in the world.

Whatever you order, don't miss out on the sherry. The list is long and runs the gamut from bone-dry fino to sweet, velvety ximenez. Order a flight or ask for a sample. The servers, who do a very fine job all around, are on a mission to give grandma's holiday tipple the respect it deserves.

Part and Parcel

2656 Quadra St., Victoria, B.C., 778-406-0888, partandparcel.ca

Part and Parcel calls itself a "casual, counter-service restaurant", but it's so much more than that. This is finessed, handcrafted cooking with a conscience, and what appears to be a real sense of community.

The laidback restaurant is located outside the downtown core, in the residential community of Quadra Village. On a sleepy Saturday afternoon, the cushioned benches and booths were filled with groups of teenage girls tossing back yam doughnuts, a father-and-daughter duo sharing an aromatic bushel of Moroccan fries, and young couples swooning over thick, creamy roasted-pear and fried-chicken sandwiches.

The frequently changing menu offers some really great salads that look far to pretty to be healthy. Roasted beets, for example, are a textural delight that are tossed with little cubes of tangy feta and shaved almonds, exquisitely arranged with swirls of quinoa, bright ribbons of candy cane beets and a dusting of charred leek powder. The daily gnocchi is soft and pillowy (for me, it was served with a tart kohlrabi-apple puree). And the menu always includes some sort of odd bit – beef tongue and celeriac fricassee, for example, or a little bowl of chewy chicken hearts and smoked peanuts.

This is a neighbourhood destination well worth going out of your way to explore.

Fishhook

805 Fort St., Victoria, B.C., 250-477-0470, fishhookvic.com

Everyone loves Red Fish Blue Fish, the outdoor waterfront eatery in an up-cycled cargo container in Victoria's Inner Harbour. But there are times – when the wind is howling and the rain is pelting – when you'd really rather enjoy that hearty bowl of chowder somewhere indoors, perhaps with pint of craft beer or glass of wine.

Kunal Ghose's second restaurant is a collaboration with Hook Fine Foods, a local seafood delicatessen. And it's really quite extraordinary. While it looks like a simple counter restaurant, the food packs full-bodied flavour and exotic mash-ups.

The house specialty is French tartine, an open-faced sandwich. Here it's piled high on a toasted sourdough baguette with smoked fish, melted cheese, caramelized broccoli, spicy sauerkraut and herbed mustards. The ingredients are all local and the combinations are divine. Be sure to order anything that features smoked salmon belly "bacon".

While the tartines aren't obviously Indian, almost everything else on the menu is infused with a sub-continent twist. There are daily curries, potato chowders rich with coconut-smoked fish broth, daily pickles and wonderfully clean, crisply battered deep-fried pakoras.

An Indian fish shack? Only in Victoria. Pity.