Get Your Fresh Seafood Fix at Red Fish Blue Fish: Victoria BC

SCRIMP ON TAKE-OUT SEAFOOD BY THE SEA

Friends and acquaintances had been raving to me about Red Fish Blue Fish for months before I got around to trying it. It wasn’t exactly easy to find the little take-out restaurant, which operates from a retrofitted shipping container on Victoria’s downtown waterfront.

The best landmark is the striking pink Custom House heritage building on Wharf Street, at the bottom of Broughton. Once you find that, just walk downhill from Wharf toward the ocean, following the driveway just south of Custom House, and you’ll see a queue of customers on the waterfront walkway. Bingo!

You KNOW the food and prices have to be great for this hidden treasure to attract lunch-hour lineups every day—especially given the lack of any sheltered seating, and the average 20-minute wait for your food (though you can pre-order by phone).

Honey and I sampled three items from the extensive menu—all certified sustainable under the Ocean Wise program. The restaurant also emphasizes recycled and recyclable meal containers and cutlery.

As part of my ongoing research into Victoria’s best dish of poutine (the French Canadian traditional concoction of French fries, white cheddar curds, and gravy), I chose a small Spicy Pacific Fish Poutine ($6) we could share for our main entree.

Honey ordered the Chipotle Shrimp Tacones (single $6) for an appetizer, and I opted for the Qualicum Bay Scallop Tacones (single $7). By the prices you’d think we’d ordered light, but it was more food than the two of us could eat. (And costs actually drop if you order more. E.g. Two scallop tacones are just $12).

The chefs had cooked our small (!) Kennebec fries perfectly, heaped them with a mildly spiced, panko-crusted white fish, and topped it all with a Thousand Island-like seafood sauce. It’s a very filling dish with good flavour, though the texture of the mulched fish didn’t completely win me over.

Red Fish Blue Fish makes their tacones—hand-rolled stuffed grilled tortillas—with eight different seafood fillings. Honey’s tacone was sweet and fresh, the shrimp served cold in the tortilla with a light dressing and crunchy slaw. Yum! And my scallop version was outstanding: large, plump scallops perfectly seared, adorned with “golden shallot aioli” (translation: yummy gourmet onion mayo), fresh pea shoots, lemon-picked onions, and slaw.

There is so much more to sample, from tempura-style fish and chips (cod, halibut, or salmon) to chowder to assorted seafood sandwiches. Click here to see the full Red Fish Blue Fish menu. I’ll definitely be back to try the barbequed wild salmon ($5) and vegetarian edamame-bean tacones with sweet-smoked chili adobo ($5).

Red Fish Blue Fish (250-298-6877; www.redfish-bluefish.com), 1006 Wharf, Victoria, BC. Note: The business closes seasonally between November 1 and February 1.