The Top 100 Restaurants Near Chef's Choice
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Rank 1. Chef's Choice
Cantonese Chinese
Copper and wood panels wrap a dining room where the kitchen pursues both obscurity and tradition with equal fervor. Duck tongues marinated in rice wine, soup dumplings trembling with seafood broth, and a signature chicken glazed in black truffle sauce arrive as proof that Chef's Choice operates beyond the usual repertoire of neighborhood Chinese restaurants.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Chinese
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver
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The dining room glows with gold leaf and modernist angles, a century-and-a-half heritage distilled into glass and brass. The roasted duck arrives mahogany-dark and shatteringly skin-first, but the kitchen moves with equal precision through delicate broths, sautéed greens, sea cucumber—each dish executed with the restraint of a place confident in its own name.
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Chinese Cuisine Restaurant
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #15 · Elite 30 Canada
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Rank 3. June
Bistro French
A seductive red room by Héctor Esrawe houses French bistro cooking of technical precision—the Pasta for Rachel, a sheet studded with Comté and oozing Normandy butter, epitomizes the decadent restraint. Downstairs, the listening bar Lala serves cocktails like the Noisette Manhattan, a browned-butter riff orchestrated by Keefer Bar veterans, making the pilgrimage to Cambie Village worthwhile.
- 50 Best 2026 · #17 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Canada's 100 Best 2025 · #4 · Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Canada
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Rank 4. Elisa
Steakhouse
In Yaletown, a steakhouse where the adjacent butcher shop isn't decoration but doctrine: every cut sourced from BC ranches and beyond, Japanese wagyu for the serious spender. Start with Dungeness crab spring rolls or tartare—smoked bison, vegetables, traditional—then the bone-in Vancouver cut, seared and confident, or beef Wellington if you want theater with your protein.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World's 101 Best #32 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Hanna Flodström
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Rank 5. Mount Pleasant Vintage & Provisions
Cocktail Bar
Wood-fired grill and vintage shop rolled into one, Mount Pleasant mixes retro aesthetics with cocktails that defy their nostalgic setting—the Shiso Fancy layers tequila, apricot, yogurt and shiso into something thoughtfully strange. Crisp snacks arrive in lunch boxes; the drinks are for adults, but the whole room feels like permission to play.
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- 50 Best 2026 · #91 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 7. Salmon n' Bannock
Indigenous
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Rank 8. Vij’s
Indian
Vikram Vij still works the room at his thirty-year-old temple to Indian fine dining, where wine-marinated lamb and paneer curries arrive with the precision of haute cuisine. The cocktails are inventive, the spices articulate, and the owner's belief in his cuisine's place at the table remains unshaken.
- Air Canada 2013 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
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At Kavita, Tushar Tondvalkar pursues Indian cooking with unshowy precision. Charcoal-grilled chicken arrives in a silken malai sauce; goat and lentils fold into haleem crowned with crisp alliums and heat. The kitchen operates without fanfare, letting technique and restraint speak for themselves.
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #96 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best New Restaurant
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
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Rank 11. Elio Volpe
Coastal Italian
A former mechanic shop in Cambie Village now hosts Elio Volpe, a casual-yet-refined coastal Italian osteria where wood-fired pizzas arrive with lambrusco onions and burrata, and housemade pasta like spaghetti alle vongole shares the menu with whole grilled branzino. The buzzing bar is perfect for a solo meal, while shared plates make it equally welcoming for groups.
- Air Canada 2024 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best New
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Rank 12. A.BENTO
Taiwanese
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Rank 13. Seaport City Seafood
Chinese
Seaport City Seafood's elegant dining room, anchored by live fish tanks, serves dim sum that balances tradition with contemporary flourishes like black truffle fried rice. Steamed pork ribs and stir-fried cumin lamb shank showcase the kitchen's command of umami-rich comfort.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best New
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Rank 14. Blue Water Cafe
Seafood
Frank Pabst has spent decades perfecting the fundamentals at Blue Water Cafe, where a swordfish might arrive cooked to a temperature most chefs only talk about achieving. The service reads your mind before you need anything, which is the kind of polish you'd expect from a fine-dining seafood room that somehow stays unfussy.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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Rank 15. Nook
Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 16. Gary's
Rustic French
Gary's trades formality for a kind of purposeful ease, its French country cooking—asparagus with saffron rouille, pork collar with parsley sauce—arriving without pretense on rye rolls slicked with green garlic butter. The rum baba, soaked in chamomile syrup and crowned with pistachio custard, suggests that comfort and refinement need not be at odds.
- Air Canada 2024 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best New
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Rank 17. Chang ‘An
Shaanxi Chinese
The dining room overlooks Vancouver's waterfront with the confidence of a stage set. Peking duck arrives tableside in a flourish of flambéed rum, its skin shattered into gold, the meat carved with ceremony before the bones yield a second act as peppery broth or rustic stir-fry. Hand-pulled noodles and roasted lamb anchor the Shaanxi repertoire for those who skip the drama.
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- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 20. Casa Molina
Spanish
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Editor’s Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Date Night
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best New
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Mediterranean
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Down a staircase behind June, the brasserie upstairs, lies Lala—a subterranean cocktail den with the golden warmth of a vintage rec room, vinyl spinning nightly, and a bar manager crafting precise, unexpected drinks like a mezcal-forward Gibson riff with persimmon-shallot mignonette. The room's curves and retro speakers suggest comfort; the cocktails suggest thought.
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Rank 22. Giardino
Tuscan Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Bobby Copiak
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame · Umberto Menghi
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Italian
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Rank 23. Moltaqa
Moroccan
Moltaqa tucks into a warren of intimate nooks on Mainland Street, where Moroccan hospitality unfolds through warm service and lingering conversation. A chicken pastilla arrives flaky and dome-shaped, its phyllo shell dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar, sweet against savory—a dish that justifies the pilgrimage.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best African and Diaspora
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best African and Diaspora
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 24. Tasty Indian Bistro
Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
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Rank 25. Dynasty
Cantonese Chinese
Dynasty Seafood trades in the theatrical confidence of live tanks and classical dim sum, where steamed dumplings and crab-and-fish-maw soup arrive with the precision of a well-oiled kitchen. Regulars who call ahead unlock off-menu specials that justify the pilgrimage to this elegant room.
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #1 · Elite 30 Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Restaurant of the Year
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Rank 26. Burdock & Co
Contemporary
Andrea Carlson's corner room on Main Street moves through the seasons with thematic precision—June's florals yield to October's bitter greens and Salt Spring Island citrus—each plate a study in ingredient clarity. A celeriac akimono glazed in yuzu or tuna with fermented rosehip and sudachi arrives as the culmination of that philosophy, accomplished and inventive in equal measure.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2013 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #33 · Best Restaurants
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Rank 28. Elem
Contemporary
Vish Mayekar's cooking draws from global sources—Indian bhel, Mexican grilled fish, Middle Eastern spices—with unshowy precision and zero waste. The room's three distinct zones feel designed for contemplation, matching food that rewards close attention without performing.
- Air Canada 2025 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #80 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Hassib Sarwari
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Rank 29. Ophelía
Mexican
Ophelía's dining room gleams with murals and carved color, a visual feast matching what arrives on the plate. Francisco Higareda cooks his mother's pan-regional Mexican repertoire with precision: corn-crusted octopus swimming in Oaxacan mole blanco, tacos built on locally made tortillas, tres leches cake that tastes like memory. The margaritas are worth the wait for a table.
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Rank 30. Farmer's Apprentice
Contemporary
A narrow room filled with neighborhood regulars shares Chef Alden Ong's produce-driven cooking—striped bass crusted with shrimp and finished in XO sauce, kale rapini swimmy with vadouvan butter, daily sourdough that asks no permission. Weekend lunch pivots to Basta Barbecue, where Filipino-Tausug beef cheeks arrive tender enough to surrender to buttery lettuce and sunchoke kimchi.
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Rank 31. Sumibiyaki Arashi
Yakitori Japanese
Peter Ho tends a 14-seat binchō-tan grill with the focus of a monk, rotating heritage chicken skewers inches from the coals until skin crisps and meat yields to the gentlest pressure. The omakase unfolds across impeccably butchered cuts—thigh, heart, oyster—each one glossed with a decades-old tare that tastes less like seasoning than like time itself.
- Canada's 100 Best 2025 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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Rank 32. Unchai
Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
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Rank 33. Maenam
Thai
The kitchen at Maenam treats Thai fundamentals—tom yum, panang curry—as starting points for something more exacting, building dishes around pristine local fish and seasonal produce until familiar flavors achieve an almost unbearable clarity. The room is unpretentious, the plating modest, but every plate speaks to a chef who understands that restraint and precision matter more than flourish.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Chef of the Year · Angus An
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
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Rank 35. Homer St. Cafe
Contemporary American
Homer Street's brick dining room—casual furniture doing double duty as wall art—pivots on a rotisserie chicken brined overnight in house sauce, its skin crisped and glazed with gravy or ranch alongside buttermilk biscuits. The kitchen treats comfort food as a discipline rather than an afterthought, finishing the meal with cheesecake layered in white chocolate, almonds, and quince.
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 36. Pinche Taco Shop
Mexican
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Rank 37. Landmark Hot Pot
Chinese
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #4 · Elite 30 Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
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Rank 38. Bacchus
European-inspired New American
Nestled in the Wedgewood Hotel's hushed lobby, Bacchus wraps you in marble and candlelight while chef Stefan Hartmann serves European cooking with local spine—foie gras terrine with roasted plum, prawns in lobster bisque. The wine list ranges globally; the martinis are formidable.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #67 · Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 39. Fat Mao
Thai Noodles
Fat Mao Noodles is a casual counter spot where Angus An sends out bold Thai-style broths and noodles that taste like they're made with actual conviction. The hot and sour pork noodle bowls are the thing that keeps people coming back, though the rotating signature soups suggest it's worth ordering something different each time.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
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Rank 40. Maxine's
European
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Winner · Best Brunch Experience
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Runner Up · Best Patio Experience
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Rank 42. Suyo
Modern Peruvian
A spare storefront opens onto a plant-filled dining room where Peruvian cuisine arrives refined but unhurried. Hamachi tiradito and arroz con pato with duck confit demonstrate technical restraint that lets ingredient and sauce speak.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Air Canada 2023 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
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Rank 43. Published on Main
Contemporary New American
In a bright room edged with greenery on Main Street, Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson builds dishes from fermented condiments, foraged ingredients, and West Coast precision—squash roasted and pickled, shrimp barely cooked beside apple and cucumber. The tasting menu and bar menu both deliver the same revelatory sense of timing, where seasonality isn't philosophy but practice.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- 50 Best 2025 · #28 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
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Rank 44. Dovetail
California-Inspired
- Air Canada 2024 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Winner · New Venue of the Year
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Cocktail Experience
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Rank 45. Baja Racing
Baja Mexican
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Rank 46. Boulevard
Seafood
Executive chef Roger Ma elevates pristine seafood—charcoal-grilled sablefish, blue fin tuna—with restrained modern technique and Asian inflection. An opulent room of marble and leather surrounds a versatile menu where house-made pasta and impeccable oysters command equal attention.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #59 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Chef of the Year · Roger Ma
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Rank 48. Song
Thai
On East Broadway, Song channels Thai cooking through an idiosyncratic lens: lemongrass wings arrive deep-fried and fragrant, pad Thai stakes a claim on savory perfection, and northern laab blooms with the push-pull of fish sauce and lime against tender pork. The kitchen works from regional ingredients with evident invention, turning familiar dishes into something you won't find elsewhere.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
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Rank 49. Oddfish
Seafood
Behind the scaffolding of a perpetually bustling Kitsilano corner sits an elevated-casual seafood spot where pasta vongole and ceviche draw locals and tourists alike. Staff in Hawaiian shirts work the beach-chic dining room, with a rotating catch-of-the-day sheet that keeps things constantly fresh.
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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Rank 51. Sushi Hil
Sushi
Natural light spills across blonde wood at Sushi Hil, where Chef Hil Nguy works the counter with unhurried precision, building each piece as if it might break. Sweet prawns arrive whole over crushed ice; aka isaki meets bright citrus; aji from Kagoshima carries ginger and scallion's sharp bite. Seasonal fish and careful technique make a modest argument for what sushi can be.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Japanese
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Moon Hu
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Rank 52. Maruhachi Ra-men
Japanese Noodles
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Elizabeth Blau - Blau + Associates
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Steakhouses
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Rank 54. El Gato Gab Gab
Mexican
A lively Main Street spot where the energy is all chatter and clinking glasses, El Gato Gab Gab serves Mexican food and cocktails that match the buzz around you. The cooking is assured enough that you can order without second-guessing, and the drinks keep pace with the kitchen's confidence.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Latin American
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 56. Hawksworth
Contemporary
Chef David Hawksworth's restaurant occupies an elegant corner of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, all shimmering chandeliers and wine-lined walls where the clientele gleams as much as the décor. His cooking traffics in restrained luxury—a mushroom consommé with matsutake and foie gras, agnolotti that balances hazelnut and umami—the kind of refinement that doesn't announce itself.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant
- Air Canada 2011 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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Rank 57. Le Crocodile
French
Rob Feenie has restored Le Crocodile with a lighter hand than expected: the dining room glows with blonde woods and natural light, the French classics—Dover sole, foie gras terrine, poulet à la crème—remain, but their sauces have thinned and their edges sharpened with subtle Asian inflection. This is Feenie's Lumière sensibility applied to an institution, rather than a repudiation of it.
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #26 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame · Michel Jacob
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best French
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Rank 58. Anh and Chi
Vietnamese
Anh and Chi occupies the bones of their parents' three-decade-old restaurant, now stripped clean with midcentury furniture and a vintage neon sign glowing behind the bar. The kitchen moves through Vietnam's classics—banana blossom salad bright with softshell crab, grilled prawn mousse with herbs—with the ease of people who know the territory intimately.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
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Rank 60. Maruhachi Ra-Men
Noodles
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 61. Fanny Bay Oyster Bar
Seafood
At Fanny Bay Oyster Bar, the raw bar gleams with oysters from the restaurant's own farms, while grilled specimens arrive hot and buttery, topped with herb gremolata. The sablefish collar—crisped and sided with peppadew and shishito—confirms a kitchen that treats seafood as something alive, not mere protein.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Ashwan Luckheenarain
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Mediterranean
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best After-Work Drinks
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Rank 66. Fable Kitchen
Contemporary
Red brick and open kitchen define this Kitsilano cafe, where farm-sourced breakfasts arrive with architectural precision—eggs Benedict, challah French toast, golden rosti—and a crowd that hasn't thinned in over a decade. Dinner pivots to short rib and polenta, sustaining the same unfussy competence that makes a side of potatoes feel essential.
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Rank 70. Botanist
Contemporary
Chef Hector Laguna's departure hasn't dulled Botanist's edge—its hand-cut tagliatelle with foraged mushrooms and sourdough chicken remain assured and bold. The adjacent bar laboratory engineers whimsical cocktails like the Raincouver, topped with an edible cloud, alongside a sophisticated gin martini built with kombu and sea asparagus.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best International Hotel Bar
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Rank 72. Per Se Social Corner
Italian
A corner room where the menu pivots easily from a quick tapa to a full meal, the service unhurried and genuinely warm. The lobster and crab ravioli arrives in a chipotle coconut broth that justifies the return visit alone.
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Rank 73. Sushi Hyun
Omakase Sushi
Chef Juhyun Lee's six-seat counter unfolds as a spare, ceremonial space where Japanese luxury meets understated Korean inflection through impeccable edomae omakase. The hinoki wood gleams; the fish speaks; service dissolves into attentiveness itself.
- Air Canada 2025 · Best Design · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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Rank 74. Zarak
Afghan Middle Eastern
Zarak takes Afghan comfort food seriously—think buttermilk fried chicken with a cumin crust and Afghan barbecue sauce, all plated with the care of a special-occasion kitchen on Main Street. The cocktail program is equally inventive, whether you're ordering a fig-and-cardamom negroni or a zero-proof Bamyan that comes with a submerged mango popsicle.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
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Rank 75. Sushi Jin
Sushi
A six-seat counter in an unmarked storefront serves omakase with distinctive refinement: live lobster sashimi with caviar, ankimo in ponzu, nigiri balanced between sweet and salty. The chef's restraint elevates each course without flourish.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Japanese
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Rank 78. Straight Brooklyn Pizza
Neapolitan Pizza
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Rank 79. Dante Italian Sandwich
Italian
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Rank 80. Chambar
Belgian
- VineRoutes 2025 · Award of Distinction · Restaurant Awards
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Date Night Restaurant
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Brunch Experience
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Rank 82. Thai Basil
Thai
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Rank 83. Lila
Plant-Based Indian
Lila turns plant-based Indian cooking into something genuinely playful, with vibrant curries and breads that don't read as an afterthought to meat dishes. The Main Street spot has the warmth of a neighborhood favorite that happens to take its vegetables seriously.
- Air Canada 2024 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Plant-Based
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Rank 85. The Acorn
Vegetarian
A vegetarian kitchen sourcing directly from BC suppliers transforms unfamiliar ingredients like sunchoke and salal berry into dishes that balance texture and taste with equal care. The tasting menu best reveals the restaurant's resourcefulness, served in a room warmed by attentive staff.
- Air Canada 2013 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Sustainability Award
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 87. Café Medina
Mediterranean
Café Medina hums with the clatter of espresso cups and the shuffle of locals queuing for Belgian waffles, their kitchen exhaling steam and the smell of saffron all morning long. The paella—orzo studded with chorizo, vegetables, avocado, and a perfect fried egg—arrives as a small argument for staying put.
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Rank 88. L’Abattoir
West Coast French
L'Abattoir pairs French technique with BC ingredients in a warmly lit Gastown mezzanine that feels more convivial than formal. Baked oysters and Fraser Valley duck anchor a menu where even dessert—a buttery mille-feuille with salted honey—shows restrained elegance.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Air Canada 2011 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Restaurant Awards: Chef of the Year · Lee Cooper of L’Abattoir
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best After-Work Hang
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Rank 92. Haifa
Jewish/Palestinian
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Patios
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Patio Experience
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 94. Delara
Modern Persian
Chef Bardia Ilbeiggi's Persian cooking balances tartness, freshness, and warmth—a bowl of aush with barley and legumes could stand alone, yet the beef short rib's tangy depth demands attention. The dining room, suffused with natural light and local Iranian art, feels both calm and alive.
- Air Canada 2022 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
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Rank 95. Kissa Tanto
Fusion
In a Chinatown walkup outfitted like a 1960s Tokyo jazz café—rose banquettes, soft light, steely walls—chef Joël Watanabe executes Japanese-Italian fusion with the precision of fine dining. Charcoal udon with Dungeness crab, hand-cut tajarin with miso egg, tiramisu inflected with plum wine: each dish suggests a kitchen fluent in both traditions and committed to seasonal restraint.
- Air Canada 2016 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #15 · Best Restaurants
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Rank 97. Chinatown BBQ
Barbecue
A neighbourhood spot with vintage art on the walls and a steady crowd of regulars, Chinatown BBQ does unfussy Chinese barbecue that's equally good eaten straight from a takeout box or shared family-style around a lazy Susan. The barbecued pork is the everyday star, but if you're after something special, order the Chef's Secret barbecued goose a couple of days ahead.
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #28 · Elite 30 Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Jason Ye
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
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Rank 98. Octopus' Garden
Japanese
Octopus tentacles colonize every wall of this long-running sushi shop on Cornwall Avenue, where kitsch dissolves into genuine hospitality. The fish arrives supremely fresh—moist saba, snappy spot prawn—and the kitchen toys with tradition: tempura lobster nestled in avocado, jellyfish in garlic ponzu. A place that turns curious diners into regulars.
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Rank 99. St. Lawrence
Québécois French
Chef J-C Poirier rotates themed menus at this intimate Vancouver room, reframing French-Canadian classics through seasonal lenses—sugar shack fare in winter, bourgeois bistro cooking in spring. The cooking is refined and ingredient-driven, the wine list focused on small organic producers, the kitchen visible and its aromas inescapable.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best French Cuisine Restaurant
- Air Canada 2018 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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