An insider's guide to Victoria since 1997.

Located in a strip mall just off the busy Veteran's Memorial Parkway in Langford, Smoken Bones Cookshack is pretty unassuming from the outside. Inside is a very comfortable family steakhouse, average but for the menu. Smoken Bones features not only ribs, as expected, but also pulled pork and beef brisket -- definitely carnivore friendly.

John's Noodle Village is set in the small strip of businesses at 823 Bay St. across the Blanshard in a small and unassuming; from the looks of it, it's a Mom & Pop operation. They serve Catonese and Szcheuan fare; and their emphasis is on doing in it well: classic dishes like chow meins, sweet and sour pork, etc.-- done as they're supposed to and not with some spin or re-visioning of the recipes. What's really impressive is that they make their noodles on site daily. Bar none, the best thing on their menu is the ginger fried beef.

I used to like the dim sum at Jade Palace in Market Square, but it was long ago was replaced with office space. Don Mee's became my default choice for those great little dumplings, but I wanted to find and alternative-- just to mix it up a little.

I'm a sucker for good box of noodles. There's something about it that strikes a chord. After going to Noodle Box and getting attitude with a side of noodles, I thought I'd have to cook my noodles at home (hint: it's easy and cheap to do it at home), but then I saw a place called Boxo Noodles had opened up at 1011 Blanshard when Ali Baba had operated for years. It has nice ambiance (lots of bamboo and Asian influence).

You might miss the White Heather Tea Room if you were driving by.

From the moment I first set eyes on this restaurant inside a reclaimed shipping container, I knew it was something different. Fresh doesn't begin to describe the food here, or the attitude. Every piece of seafood sourced by Red Fish Blue Fish is Oceanwise and cooked to order. Fries are hand-cut and the slaw is crisp.

Once you are through the cheesy entryway, the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre is a great place to explore our local ocean life. The centre focuses on sea life found in "the Salish Sea" -- an area that includes the Strait of Georgia, Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.

San Remo is one of those restaurants that has been around for a while (over 25 years) and sometimes gets forgotten. The menu is Mediterranean -- Greek and Italian -- from traditional dishes like moussaka and kalamari to a variety of salads, pasta and pizza.  Both Mike and I have been eating there for decades and I can't say I recall any really disappointing meals. Our most recent visit was no exception.