Don’t worry: The queues for this West End ramen favorite move fast, and it’s always worth the wait — especially if you’re a noodle fan. Each day this small ramen shop makes 500 4.4-ounce balls of noodles, which rest for 24 hours before being cooked and slurped up. Hailing from Japan, Maruhachi favors a silky rich chicken broth over the heavier pork-based tonkotsu. Prepare to be enchanted — and don’t miss out on the egg. It’s consistently the best in the city.

Since opening in April 2017, Botanist at the Fairmont Pacific Rim has been consistently busy. The see-and-be-seen Champagne lounge bubbles over with excellent options, and the wine list features a raft of exclusive terroir-driven picks from B.C. and beyond. Stop for creative cocktails at the handsome bar before diving into the wildly photogenic food of chef Hector Laguna (formerly of Hawksworth), airy dishes with whisper-light but flavor-dense foams, made with locally sourced delights.

It would be easy to miss Bacaro, tucked away on the ground floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel behind Giovane café. But head to the back of the room and you’ll be rewarded with a thrilling menu of gloriously cheffy and surprisingly affordable aperitivo snacks. Drawing inspiration from Venice’s bacari and cicchetti bars, which serve wine and small plates, the restaurant offers several items for $4 and under, like anchovy and chive butter crostini or whipped salt cod and grilled polenta. There are also superb pastas (the flower-like sbocciare is both Instagrammable and unmissable), house-made and imported salumi, seafood, and a comprehensive vermouth menu, plus a spritz-heavy cocktail list. Plus it’s a stone’s throw from many of the city’s primo attractions and the waterfront, and open all day from 11:30 a.m.

Distilling is still something of a new art in B.C. thanks to its antiquated, post-prohibition booze laws, which only got a refresh in 2013. Odd Society joined the first wave of new distilleries, and it has remained a must-visit and one of the most consistent producers of craft spirits, including gin, vodka, vermouth, and whisky. Check out the cute cocktail lounge at their East Van distillery, located in a converted motorbike garage, and road-test a few spirits before heading out to explore the many neighboring breweries of “Yeast Van.”

By day, the Birds and the Beets operates as a serviceable snack, coffee, and sandwich spot with a tight menu and notable ricotta toast. But by night, from Tuesday to Sunday, it transforms into Juice Bar, the city’s coolest spot for natty wine warriors to gather over unfined, unfiltered, and wild-fermented wines from B.C. and beyond. Blessed with a superbly knowledgeable and friendly staff, the bar offers a small snack menu (try the aged manchego with lavender honey or the piled-high salmon rillette) to pair with the excitingly large wine selection. Bottles range from French skin-contact whites to Similkameen Valley amphora-aged reds, but if you don’t see anything you like among the options already open, the amiable crew is happy to pop the cork on something fresh.

Since opening in summer 2017 under the experienced hand of chef J.C. Poirier, an alum of Montreal’s Toqué, St Lawrence in Japantown has been one of the city’s toughest reservations to score, and it’s only become more difficult since the restaurant received a Michelin star. Stepping through the velvet curtain into the small dining room, you leave behind Vancouver and its passion for clean, fresh, lean cuisine, and dive into a delicious butter-hosed world where old-school French technique meets Québecois cuisine. The music, wine list, and staff are (mostly) French, and the $125 tasting menu (now the only option) groans with decadent treats. You’ll need to prepay in order to secure a reservation, but even with the upfront outlay, add any possible delicious extras once you’re seated and hang the consequences. Just be sure to save room for the exquisite salted caramel rice pudding.

The gritty Powell block in Railtown may not seem like the place to find some of the city’s most exciting, globally inspired food, but it has been since 2015 with the arrival of the Mackenzie Room. In a small dining room decked out with hipstery brass chandeliers, distressed walls, and an ever-changing chalkboard menu, chef Sean Reeve and team use ingredients from the Pacific Northwest to reimagine classic dishes and create bold new creations with witty names like “Corn Porn” and “A Tripe Called Quest.” Opt for “I Want It All” to eat your way around the whole menu and definitely check out the off-menu selection of natural wines. 

Top Rope serves the gooiest, meatiest, cheesiest Jalisco-style quesabirria tacos in town, with a consomé that speaks of hours and hours of low and slow braising. Hunt down the taco truck (or check Instagram for the latest location) for handmade corn tortillas, beef cooked to melting perfection, and Oaxaca cheese that’s stringy beyond belief. Pick up a pack of the spicy house-made candy to chew while you wait for your order, ask for the off-menu longboi (an extra-long taco), and always order your tacos with the cheese skirt. Following a fire in its commissary kitchen, Top Rope is currently doing pop-ups while looking for a new base of operations; check social media for the latest developments.

Grab a cab to Hastings-Sunrise to find joyful hospitality, fun low-intervention wines, and sake at Dachi, along with thoughtful, seasonal small plates featuring ingredients ranging from fresh (kale buds) to luxurious (tonkatsu-fried pork cutlets). In the summertime, the restaurant shifts operations out to the buzzing patio on East Hastings Street, which is perfect for people watching with endless glasses of whatever the team pops open. Dachi is a true neighborhood spot, and the door is always swinging open to locals dropping in to buy something from the ever-changing bottle shop. The team also operates Mucker Next Door — literally next door — which sells covetable homewares, artsy wine magazines and books, aromatic beef fat from sister-restaurant Elephant, and rose gold cake servers.  

Kissa Tanto scored a Michelin star in Vancouver’s inaugural awards. The pitch-perfect pairing of Japanese and Italian cuisines comes together in a funky, second-storey space in Chinatown, a few steps away from the restaurant’s sister crowd-pleaser, Bao Bei. The menu is small enough to make you want to order everything: the exquisite pasta made in-house; the showstopping whole fish served fins and all, which arrives puffed, hot, and crisp from the fryer along with a daikon-soy dipping sauce; a deceptively simple salad seamlessly fusing kombu dashi and pecorino. Reservations are essential.

Chambar alumna Tannis Ling combined forces with chef Joël Watanabe, who brings his Corsican-Japanese heritage to this popular Chinatown restaurant. It may look like a hipster take on a Chinese brasserie, but the sound of woks crashing in the kitchen speaks to its traditional techniques. Sharing plates are pleasingly well-sized and the cocktails thoughtfully crafted, and — because it’s Vancouver — all meat is local and ethically raised, hormone- and chemical-free. Don’t miss local legend Helen’s delicate hand-made potstickers and dumplings — she makes hundreds of perfect dumplings each day — and the appropriately named Kick Ass House-Fried Rice.

It was already a Vancouver tradition to join the queues outside this well-priced Vietnamese Cambodian spot in Chinatown — but then the restaurant scored a Michelin Bib Gourmand and the demand has only intensified. The menu is enormous, so save yourself from the agonies of choice and order the deep-fried crunchy chicken wings (with an amazing dipping sauce), the Instagram-ready platter of thit bò butter beef, and the beef lúc lắc with egg and rice. And yeah, okay, maybe some garlic squid too. Pro-tip: Wear comfy shoes for the line.

Thankfully, the Covid-era patio remains at this ever-popular Yaletown neighborhood rotisserie cafe and bar, offering the chance to bask in the sun as you consider decent European wine picks, some of the city’s most consistently excellent roast chicken, and tasty sides. Inside, watch the handsome red Rotisol Grande Flamme Olympia rotisserie spit-roast perfect, free-range chickens and other proteins, and briefly ponder whether you should give in to the Full Monty (a waistband-tightening set menu that carves through some of Homer Street’s favorites). Ponder no more — of course you should.

This slender restaurant on the edge of Chinatown is home to some of the city’s most interesting by-the-glass wine options, including low-intervention and terroir-focussed pours from around the world and around the province. Whether it’s an amber wine from Georgia or crisp pinot noir from a local Vancouver Island producer, Gobo’s Peter Van de Reep, winner of the 2020 Best Sommelier of BC competition, will help you find the right wine to pair with the attractively priced, prix fixe three-course menu. If they’re available, add the creamy Kewpie-spiked deviled eggs, served with a gloriously salty-crispy anchovy topping.

Sashimiya opened in 2020, tucked away on the bottom of Hornby Street. The ultra-casual, entirely sustainable, grab-and-go sushi and sashimi shop is sushi master chef Taka Omi’s first solo spot after leaving the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s RawBar. Fish can be sliced to order for sashimi from the chillers, and a host of Japanese grocery goodies are on offer too. There are no seats, so take your exquisitely made party trays, platters, and bentos down to the waterfront to enjoy picnic-style, or order for delivery.

Raw from the sushi bar or cooked from the open kitchen, seafood is the star at this Yaletown institution. Widely acknowledged as one of Canada’s leaders in responsible seafood, chef Frank Pabst and team push the culinary envelope a little each February with their Unsung Heroes festival, which celebrates lesser-loved species with dishes such as poached periwinkles and red sea urchin trifle. Year-round, the service is superb, the wine list dizzying, and the signature three-tier seafood tower worth a splurge.

Sure the aisles are packed with wide-eyed Instagrammers at this popular tourist destination, but there are some jewels to be found here to assemble a superb picnic for watching the boats and paddle boarders on False Creek. Take your pick from delights such as pickled headcheese, succulent mortadella, and punchy salami at the Oyama Sausage Co, then head to Terra Bread to pick up some focaccia or baguettes before stocking up on local Salt Spring Island cheeses at Benton Brothers and fresh doughnuts at Lee’s.

Don’t be intimidated by the dramatic entryway with dripping wax candelabras. Ophelia is a very welcoming modern Mexican spot with notably great service in the often-overlooked Olympic Village part of the city. Come for the solid margarita program (especially for Margarita Monday deals) and on-point creative cocktails in a busy room decorated with folk art. Stay for the excellent skirt steak tacos with roasted bone marrow and deliciously complex burned salsa, or the popular weekend brunch with punchy chilaquiles. Don’t skip the tres leches with pistachio crumble and lime-infused whipped cream.

One of the city’s hardest working chefs, Angus An has five other spots dotted across the city, including Fat Mao, which serves blissful noodles in Chinatown and Downtown, as well as Longtail Kitchen and Sen Pad Thai. But if you only have time to visit one of his restaurants, go for Maenam, where you can drool over An’s deft balancing act of sweet, aromatic, citrusy, hot, and spicy flavors in great Thai dishes with B.C. twists. Walk-ins are welcome in the lounge for an a la carte dinner, but it’s worth it to book the chef’s menu, a bargain at $88 ($65 USD) per person for 11 dishes served family style. Lunch sets are also a terrific value, with a choice of main, soup, salad, and rice for $24-28 ($18-21 USD).

This popular Commercial Drive ice cream cafe specializes in pan-Asian flavors such as Hong Kong milk tea, Vietnamese coffee, and matcha honeycomb nugget. The most popular is the mango coconut sticky rice, which is fragrant with pandan, rippled with a sweet mango sauce, and creamy as hell. Sadly, no samples are offered, so order a flight of four to make a dent in the menu. If you’re seeking an extra sugar rush, there’s a weekend special consisting of salted cheese foam and brown sugar boba on toasted shokupan with whipped cream, black tea butter cookie crumbles, condensed milk, and brown sugar drizzle; it’ll rattle your teeth in a wonderful way. 

Bar Susu began as a pop-up, then became permanent, and is now back to popping up again, after a fire tore through the restaurant space. Fortunately, as part of the Boxset Collective family (which includes Published on Main), Susu has taken over the evening slot at the team’s Novella Coffee Bar. The gorgeous room plays host to chef Marc Marayag, who serves a menu that wanders from French to pan-Asian to Italian (vadouvan spices, yuzu mayo, and puttanesca all feature). Alongside are an ever-changing array of low-intervention wines, amari, cocktails, and vermouth for the city’s cork dorks, all procured by dialed-in wine director Brittany Hoorne.

Born in French Guiana and raised in a Chinese family, chef Remi Ho’s business began as a pop-up in 2019 and has blossomed through enthusiastic industry word-of-mouth to a sleekly stylish tiny Asian-French patisserie just a few steps from the bustle of Cambie Street. Make sure you arrive early or order online for pick-up to ensure you secure popular treats, such as the to-die-for, buttery, crispy salted egg yolk financier and the pillow-soft black sesame-stuffed mochi.

Dynasty boasts twinkling chandeliers, views over the city from its first-floor perch on West Broadway, and, thanks to chef Sam Leung, some of the city’s best modern Chinese food. Open daily from 10 a.m. for dim sum, its standouts are the buttery barbecue pork cha siu bao with baked lemon, and the silky, wafer-thin dumplings stuffed with fresh shrimp, scallops, and black truffles. Dinner features a “24-hours notice” menu, with Cantonese delights such as mushroom-braised duck. Service skews more efficient than hospitable, but the food easily makes up for it.

Andrea Carlson’s resume reads like a rundown of every restaurant that helped shape Vancouver’s fresh, local, and sustainable style: C, Raincity Grill, Sooke Harbour House, Bishop’s — she’s worked at them all. You’ll find a shining example of British Columbia-based, casual fine dining at her Michelin-starred restaurant, Burdock & Co, which offers a tasting menu of locavore, ultra-seasonal dishes that pair perfectly with the tight, natural-leaning wine list. Favorites come and go on the five-course menu, but add on an order of the fan-favorite buttermilk fried chicken with dill pickle powder, or go big with sustainably sourced Northern Divine sturgeon caviar with tater tots and a shot of aquavit.

Chef Vikram Vij is a huge star, with a stint as an investor on the reality show for aspiring entrepreneurs Dragon’s Den and a national range of prepackaged gourmet frozen curries to his name. In partnership with chef Meeru Dhalwala, Vij has created a fine dining Indian restaurant where you can feast on ambrosial curries utilizing local ingredients and hand-ground spices, paired with B.C. wines and funky cocktails. Pre-pandemic, the queue for a table might have included luminaries such as ex-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau or Harrison Ford, but now you can make a reservation and skip the wait. Don’t miss the lamb popsicles.

Suyo gathers the talents of Peruvian ex-Ancora chef Ricardo Valverde, award-winning ex-Botanist bartender Max Curzon-Price, and front of house veteran James Reynolds. The Main Street restaurant’s menu is a lot like its crack team: Exceptionally good ingredients add up to an even greater whole. Hotly anticipated — and immediately packed since opening in summer 2022 — Suyo’s modern take on Peruvian cuisine looks, tastes, and smells radically different from anything else in the city right now. That all comes at a cost, with mains around the $50-60 mark. Splurge if you can, or stop by the small bar to enjoy imaginative cocktails inspired by the peoples and landscapes of Peru, accompanied by sublime charred octopus and zingingly fresh ceviche.

Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson and team are unstoppable juggernauts, scooping up every prize last year from a Michelin star in the city’s inaugural awards to the No. 1 spot in Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants. You’ll need to plan far in advance (reservations open 60 days ahead and sell out in a few hours) or eat at 5 p.m. to discover what alchemy is afoot here, but it would be churlish to leave Published off the list just because it’s challenging to get a seat. You can dive into the playfully experimental multi-course, ever-changing tasting menu, go a la carte, or try a snack at the bar. Just try not to fall in love with any menu items, as dishes switch up rapidly.

The sister restaurant to Acorn, which has won awards for its vegetarian and vegan fine dining, Arbor has neatly swooped in to cover another side of the market: vegetable-focused comfort food. Pretty much every item on the menu can be made gluten-free if it isn’t already, and there’s plenty for vegans to feast upon too. Check out the hidden patio garden at the back or drop by for a battered, Southern-fried artichoke sandwich with eggplant “bacon” for take-out. They’re open late every day and have a very cool wine list heavy on small B.C. producers.