While in Victoria, the boyfriend and I tried a few locally loved restaurants. I mean, you’re not truly visiting a place if you don’t try their food, right? When we were looking up restaurants to eat, The Pink Bicycle rose to the top of both of our lists.
We made the decision to walk from our hotel to The Pink Bicycle to save on parking and see more of the city, but the walk was longer and more difficult than we expected. We got a bit lost, it was still really cold from the snow storm warning, and I was getting blisters from the new winter boots I had just bought in preparation.
The restaurant is dark and doesn’t really have much signage, except for a pink bicycle on the window.
As expected on a Friday night, there was a bit of a wait. The restaurant is pretty small, and the kitchen is on the top floor. I always feel a bit bad for restaurants where the kitchen is on another level, because of the servers who have to walk up and down.
If that was me, I probably would slip a few times.
Pink Bike Cheeseburger, $12.50: I ordered their standard cheeseburger, but without the cheese due to my dairy restriction =(. It came on a toasted sesame bun, naturally raised local beef, veggies, and the pink bike sauce (a combination of mustard, ketchup, and relish).
This burger was such a delight! You could really taste the quality in it. The patty was thick and juicy, and full of flavour. You know it’s a good burger when the juices are oozing out onto your plate and getting all over your fingers.
I also really enjoyed the sesame bun. It was nice and thick, and reminded me of a classic burger. Although the pink bike sauce is just a combination of mustard, ketchup, and relish, they really nailed down the ratio because it tasted really good.
For my side, I stuck with the regular fries. They were nice and crispy.
BBQ Island Bison Burger, $15.50: The boyfriend also really enjoyed the bison burger. As with my beef burger, his bison burger was thick and juicy as well. It was topped with smoky cheddar and BBQ sauce.
Since we were on vacation, he went all out and upgraded to the mac and cheese sticks. I really wish I could have tried them because he kept raving about how delicious and cheesy they are.
He also added a zesty lime mayo dip, which he said was alright. The star of the dinner was definitely the mac & cheese sticks for him!
Overall, we really enjoyed our food at The Pink Bicycle and I would highly recommend giving it a try if you’re a burger lover! Service was a bit slow since they were busy, but they were all very friendly and catered to my food restrictions nicely!
Yay!
Fat Mao Noodles is located inside Chinatown. It is easy to spot from the rest of the stores on the bloack due to it’s glass walls.
The restaurant is fairly small, but seating is still comfortable because customers do not have to squish beside each other. I was greeted instantly by the workers in the open concept kitchen. My friend and I came around 12 pm, and there was only one other table (pic taken before we left).
The menu is also worth including because it is so cute! We really enjoyed the cat themed decor in here, and I’m sure cat lovers would appreciate it as well.
Each table also has a side of sauces to go with the noodles. As you’ll soon read, these sauces played a really important part to my bowl of noodles!
Braised duck noodles, $11.99: With this dish, you could choose between either Shangnai chewy noodles or wide rice noodles. I love my doughy and chewy noodles so I went with the Shanghai noodles.
The noodles were perfect as well. They had a perfect bounce and were chewy. Since they weren’t completely flat, some of soup went in between the folds and made it more flavourful.
Boat noodles, $10.99: This was the special that day. It was a spicy pork broth with pork shoulder, beef balls, fried garlic bits and crunchy deep fried noodles. We also speculated on why it was called boat noodles.
Durian ice cream, $5.99: Although my friend was quite full, she really wanted to try the durian ice cream. She is a huge durian lover and wondered how durian ice cream tasted.
Since we had a larger group, we tried to make reservations but unfortunately, were told that they don’t take them. Hopefully this will change soon, as the space was comfortable enough to hold larger parties. We were told to come a bit earlier to secure seats.
I would describe Fable Diner as a fancier, much cleaner and hipster version of your traditional diner. It is not greasy in there, and did not smell like oil. With that said, it is also more expensive than your classic diner!
Drink: I don’t remember what the drink was called and there isn’t a drink menu online. I do recall it was some sort of blueberry soda though. It was pretty good and sweet.
Peanut butter nutella milkshake: Again, sorry I don’t have the price as the drink menu isn’t currently posted online! Everyone expect me split this milkshake, and LOVED it. It was very creamy and rich, and they couldn’t stop raving about how good it was! It also came with some salted pretzels inside the whipped cream.
Roast duck pancakes, $14: We all decided to split this and see how it tasted. For $14, it is a bit pricey but the roast duck was cooked very well. It was flavourful and very tender. It’s a good appy to split with others!
Tomato soup bowl, $10: Again, almost everyone ordered this because it is a favourite of theirs back at Fable Kitchen. Everyone was happy when they tasted it, and it was the same recipe! I wanted to try it but this dish is the epitome of food death for me because of the high amount of dairy inside!
FD Burger, $14: Finally, something I could actually eat! After checking with our amazing and friendly server that this did not have dairy in it, I decided to order this! The patty was cooked well done, and very juicy. It was served with a mayo-based sauce. The bun was also soft and fluffy, and lightly toasted.
Pulled pork sandwich with tomato soup, $10: I didn’t try this, but I was told it was really good! 
Corn on the cob, $6: I didn’t try this either, but I was told it was really good. It came with a chili lime sauce and a couple pieces of fresh cilanto.
Prawn tempura nabeyaki udon, $11.50: The price for the udon was a bit steeper than what I normally would pay, but Ebisu is a bit more upscale. I don’t like when the tempura comes inside the soup, as it makes it soggy. We quickly took the tempura out before it got super soggy.
Miso soup, free: This came with the other dish. The miso soup was pretty standard, but I liked how it came with a good amount of tofu and seaweed inside.
Ebi sunomono, free: Again, this came with the party boat that we ordered. Both of us aren’t really big fans of ebi sunomono, but this one was pretty standard.
Chicken teriyaki boat, $14.95: Don’t let the giant boat fool you, because the boat is actually only good for one person. It looks big but it isn’t really thaaaaat much food.
Chicken karaage, $8.25: Yum, this was delicious! My stomach is pretty sensitive to oily foods though, so I only ate the small piece. However, it was very crunchy and fresh! We would definitely order this again. Although, we came back to this location a year later and the chicken karaage was not as good.