Hip & Hidden Chinatown + Old Town Food Tour Victoria
Description
This small-group culinary experience explores Canada’s oldest Chinatown and the atmospheric streets of Old Town through the lens of Victoria’s most exciting restaurants. Designed and curated by award-winning food writer and restaurant judge Bonnie Todd, this tour blends refined tastings with expert storytelling and insider access built over 14 years in the industry. Enjoy generous, chef-driven tastings from carefully selected culinary partners — including elevated South Indian cuisine, refined farm-to-table plates, handcrafted dumplings, standout tacos, artisan pastries, craft beer, and more. Between tastings, your professionally trained guide brings the neighbourhoods to life with immersive storytelling — from the legacy of Canada’s oldest Chinatown to hidden architectural details and layered cultural history in Old Town. Yes, you’ll wander down Fan Tan Alley — but you’ll understand why it matters.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your experience begins at our central meeting location where you’ll be welcomed by your professionally trained guide and introduced to the small group - including a tasting!
The tour spends approximately 30 minutes exploring Canada’s oldest Chinatown while enjoying multiple curated tastings from respected local culinary partners. Between bites, your guide shares the cultural history, architecture, and stories that shaped this vibrant district.
Don't just walk through Fan Tan - truly experience it with a guide to bring it to life through stories. This photogenic street is ripe with history and has a ton of hidden treasures that only a local guide can reveal. We of course will also taste some delicious food here.
Next, we transition into Old Town, walking through Market Square and along heritage brick streets. Over the next 45–60 minutes, you’ll enjoy additional chef-driven tastings — from globally inspired cuisine to elevated local favorites — while learning how Victoria’s dining scene has evolved over the past century.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Minimum drinking age is 19 years. We have a non-alcohol sample for youth and for those looking for a non-alcohol experience
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking, we need to know of any dietary issues before the tour starts.
- Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
- Please triple check the date that you booked. We can not reschedule your tour if you miss the date - you will have to re-book at full cost.
Reviews(318)
Can't recommend this enough. Our guide (whose name I sadly forget-has a 6 year old son and lived in the Philippines) was full of inside and entertaining information. I got such a different view of the area than I would have done on my own. The group size -5-was ideal and I tried places I would never have walked into.
This was an amazing tour that both locals and visitors to Victoria would enjoy. It was a lovely surprise to learn so much history about my home town. The tour introduced us to seven new local eateries that had great food and drinks. Our tour guide, Helen, brought a group of 6 strangers together and shared stories about Victoria, China Town history, and each of the eateries that we visited. This was a truly wonderful experience.
This was a great tour. Would highly recommend. Erik was a great tour guide and very informative.
Lots of great food. Helen our guide was knowledgeable and provided history of Victoria and Chinatown. She made the tour fun. All of the food was excellent. Really enjoyed the tacos, buns, and Indian food.
Excellent mix of history and culinary diversity.
What a delightful experience! Eric was knowledgeable, great personality, and wonderful relationships with all of the restaurants and their owners that we attended. I would recommend this company to anyone coming to Victoria for a wonderful experience. I can assume all of the employees with your company are of as high quality as he was!
My first food tour and boy was I impressed!! Eric was a fantastic guide! He was fun, knowledgeable and obviously very well known in Chinatown. Every one of the places he took is for food are places we would definitely go back to. I would HIGHLY recommend Eric and Off the Beaten Track !!!
Delicious flavors. Entertaining. Lots of good history. Would recommend this tour.
It was a great experience. Highly recommend taking this tour… food was awesome and Brenda did a great job of sharing the history.
Brenda was the best food tour guide we’ve ever had. She was so engaging and full of wonderful information. All the stops were delicious and we left with both our bellies and minds full of good stuff.
