The Best Places in Kitsilano & Fairview

Lego figurines and Star Wars memorabilia crowd the shelves of this moody navy-walled Kitsilano tasting menu restaurant, which is exactly the right amount of strange given what comes out of the kitchen. Chef Mike Robbins writes his courses in crayon on the menu, holds a Michelin star, and lands at number 35 on North America's 50 Best. The food draws on B.C. seasons and global technique in equal measure, and the wine program runs deep on small producers.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide 1 Star
3. The 50 #35 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants

Rye rolls arrive warm with green garlic butter before you've even settled in, which tells you most of what you need to know about Gary's. It's a snug neighborhood restaurant in the Cambie corridor doing rustic French cooking, the kind that leans on parsley sauces and saffron rouilles rather than anything fussy. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, and the room tends to fill with locals who seem to know each other.

1. Air Canada 2024 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
2. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
3. Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best New

Seaweed pressings on deep blue walls and dried grasses set the coastal mood at this small, plant-forward restaurant in Kitsilano. The menu rotates around whatever vegetables the kitchen is currently obsessing over, and the cooking is the kind that makes omnivores forget to keep score. A no-tipping policy made headlines when it opened, but the food is what keeps people coming back. It holds a Michelin Guide selection.

1. Air Canada 2023 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Informal Contemporary

The fish tanks near the entrance set the tone: this is a grand Cantonese seafood restaurant where the crab you're eyeing is still very much alive. The dining room runs to white tablecloths and banquet-scale celebrations, but the kitchen handles a casual dim sum lunch with equal care. Vancouver Magazine named it Restaurant of the Year, and it holds a Michelin Guide selection. Regulars know to call ahead for off-menu specials that never quite make it onto paper.

1. Chinese Restaurant Awards #1 · Elite 30 Canada
2. Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Restaurant of the Year
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

Fresh sourdough baked daily sets the tone at this tiny, rustic neighborhood restaurant on Vancouver's west side, where the menu rotates around whatever local produce is worth celebrating that week. The cooking is inventive without being showy, and a Michelin Bib Gourmand confirms the kitchen punches above its modest room. On weekends, the chef pivots to Tausug-Filipino barbecue at lunch, which keeps regulars coming back on a schedule.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Air Canada 2014 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
3. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Natural light pours through lattice screens and past paintings by local Iranian artists at this modern Persian restaurant on West 4th. The kitchen leans into the architecture of Persian flavors: tart dried limes, fragrant spices, richness from nuts and seeds. A judge once said the food has "a mother's touch," which is either the nicest thing you can say about a restaurant or the nicest thing you can say about anything.

1. Air Canada 2022 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern

Angus An runs a small empire of Thai concepts across Vancouver, but this Kitsilano original is where it all started and still where the cooking cuts deepest. Maenam is a sit-down Thai restaurant where the kitchen balances bold aromatics with serious precision, and rustic-looking plates consistently surprise you. The wine list is genuinely thought-through, not an afterthought. It holds a Michelin Guide selection and has taken Vancouver Magazine's gold for Best Thai more times than anyone's counting.

1. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Chef of the Year · Angus An
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver

Copper and wood panels give the dining room an easy elegance, but the room is really just a warm place to sit while the kitchen does its work. This is an upscale Cantonese restaurant where the menu runs deeper than most, with a "kitchen specialties" section that includes wine-marinated crispy duck tongues and kidneys alongside the kind of congee that makes you want to cancel your afternoon. The Michelin Guide has it listed among its Vancouver selections.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver
3. Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Chinese

1. AAA Approved
2. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver

Exposed brick, two wood counters facing an open kitchen, and a menu that takes brunch seriously enough that dinner feels like a bonus. This Kitsilano cafe runs farm-to-table without making a production of it, turning out eggs Benedict, Johnny cakes, and challah French toast to a room that fills fast on weekends. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Order the rösti.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Wood planks, plush banquettes, and dim warm lighting give this Kitsilano Indian restaurant a polish that earns a Michelin Bib Gourmand without anyone needing to say so. The menu moves between South Indian classics and bolder, more inventive plates, and the kitchen handles both with the same seriousness. The kind of neighborhood spot where you order more than you planned and feel only mildly guilty about it.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Octopus figurines colonize every surface of this cozy, been-around-forever sushi shop on Cornwall, which either charms you immediately or makes you wonder if you've wandered into a marine biology gift store. Luckily the fish is the real draw: supremely fresh nigiri that rotates with the seasons, maki that wanders happily off-script, and specials worth paying attention to. Reservations are famously hard to come by, which tells you something about the neighborhood's loyalty.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame

Baristas here share tasting notes from their own in-house brewing, not whatever the bag says, before your cup even arrives. This sleek coffee shop sits below grade in Arthur Erickson's Waterfall Building, just outside Granville Island, with concrete floors, light-wood benches, and a single pop of royal blue holding the room together. The featured beans rotate through roasters from Edmonton to Amsterdam, and the Tokyo loose-leaf teas are worth your attention too.

1. Sprudge The Sprudge Guide To Coffee Shops In Vancouver, BC

Spun copper pendant lights hang above the coffee bar, and behind it sits the roastery with its Portuguese-built drum roaster, which does a lot to explain the smell when you walk in. This is a bright, airy coffee shop with high ceilings, exposed wood trusses, and enough varied seating that you can have a real conversation or quietly work through your afternoon. Fresh pastries round things out when you need something to eat.

1. Sprudge The Sprudge Guide To Coffee Shops In Vancouver, BC

1. Sprudge The Sprudge Guide To Coffee Shops In Vancouver, BC

1. The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver

1. Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
2. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
3. Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese

A blue pond-glazed crème brûlée with a chocolate rubber duck floating in it tells you everything about this Fairview cafe. The pastry team drops new creations every few weeks, leaning hard into theatrical presentation, and the coffee keeps pace with seasonally inspired latte art. The kind of place where the dessert case stops people mid-stride, and the igloo cakes shaped after Nanaimo bars are not even the weirdest thing on offer.

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver

1. Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
2. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood

1. Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern

1. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
2. Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai

1. Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame · Cactus Club Cafe

1. Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best French

1. Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain