tetote - d'best delivery du jour

I love going out to lunch - but sometimes you can't get away from work and must avail yourself to places willing to bring food to you.

And in the case of tetote lunch-box/bento-box delivery - you may be inclined to order "in" more often.

What is tetote?
- one of the freshest, fun & delicious food trucks in Victoria owned and operated by Chef Naotatsu Ito (who previously owned Daidoco in Nootka Court).

In the summers you can find them Saturdays at the Moss St. Market and Wednesday evenings at the Oaklands Sunset Market. They focus on Japanese food - including bento boxes and rice burgers - utilizing many organic, Japanese veggies from Umi Nami farms in Metchosin.

tetote food truck - Moss St. & Oaklands Sunset Markets

But in the late fall, winter & early spring - they'll bring their delicious lunches right to you ...

Charelli's & Co. - say Cheese...sandwich.

Charelli's is a great little cheese shop in Oak Bay (well, truthfully it's on the edge - across the street is Victoria) - but it's not quite in my 'hood, and I find I don't get there as often as I'd like (which could be daily, but I'd settle for once every couple of weeks). And now I really need to get to them more because they have a tiny cafe to go along with their amazing cheese shop & deli.

The original cheese shop was two doors to the left from where it is now and they've turned this spot into Charelli's & Co. It's a lovely little counter/restaurant open for breakfast and lunch (2863 Foul Bay Rd, Tue-Sun, 8am-3pm). The menu changes weekly and is posted on their facebook site, if you want to pre-plan your attack.

This was my third attempt at eating here - the first time we arrived at 3:10....the next time we got in the door, clutching our debit cards and read the "cash only" sign. So onto lucky visit number three - we're through the door, seated on stools with menu items picked from the blackboard above the "kitchen".

Breakfast items look and sound great (skillet eggs with creamed spinach on this week's menu and the granola in the giant glass jar adjacent to our bar stools is chock full of dried fruits and nuts). Today some of their offerings include five different sandwiches, pizza and a ploughman's platter for two. We begin by wetting our whistles with glasses of homemade ginger and lemonade with fresh cilantro.

Homemade Ginger Lemonade with Cilantro

We settle on two sandwiches - a Brie & Pear and a PB PB & C.

Taco Justice League - showing your hunger who's boss

Bring on another food truck! We may not have many of these mobile-kitchens in Victoria, so we're slowly trying to hit them all (or at least a good chunk of them). My last truck post was Refiner Diner, and now we're stepping into the ring with Taco Justice League.  You can find them in the Wellburn's parking lot on Cook Street, near the corner of Pandora.

Taco Justice League Food Truck

It's a small menu...but everything sounds good, so it's still a hard choice...

Refiner Diner - trucking in good food

Update (May 2014)
Unfortunately the Refiner Diner Food Truck is no more :-(
But....I saw it being reimagined as a new food truck....currently parked in the same space (beside Shatterbox Coffee on Yates St.).
I'll be waiting to visit them when they open.



Food-trucks - I love 'em.

Wish we had more of them here in Victoria - and hopefully, one day, zoning and permit requirements will allow more of these fun and interesting mobile kitchens in town.  Talk to anyone about a great food-truck scene and Portland is usually the first answer (and it's fabulous - the worst part is having to make a choice from so many when you have limited meals while in town).  We may not get to that point in Victoria - but a few more around the garden city would be awesome.

...but I'm loving the ones we have already.

We finally had a chance to try Refiner Diner.  They have recently moved to their new location at 950 Yates St, nestled up to Shatterbox coffee (across from the London Drugs complex).

Look for the diner-sign...

The truck is tucked in from the street...