Open for: Late lunch through late dinner

Price range: $

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get a really good sub-$15 burger in downtown Vancouver, but Hundy, from Michael Robbins, the chef of Michelin-starred AnnaLena’s, allows you to do exactly that at a stripped-down location in Yaletown. Go for the burgers and stay for the hidden bar — follow the signs to the right of the cash register to dive into the fun cocktails at Stock Room. Bar snacks include ghost pepper-flavored Lay’s potato chips from Thailand, Turkish Froot Loops gummies, and, of course, Hundy burgers; aim for the 4–6 p.m. happy hour for an excellent value.

Know before you go: Hundy is closed on Mondays.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$$

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. Four-course lunch sets are also a terrific value.

Must-try dish: The grilled Thai sausage and crispy rice salad is so good you won’t want to share.

Open for: Breakfast through late lunch

Price range: $

At this Fairview neighborhood cafe, expect innovative bakes designed to melt down your socials and delight your taste buds, including a Tom and Jerry-style cheesecake (which looks like a cartoon cheese wedge and tastes like heaven), cute Nanaimo bar-inspired igloo cakes, and a blue pond-glazed creme brulee with a chocolate rubber duckie floating in it. Snacks and coffee here are excellent too — seasonally inspired latte art is on point, and the creative team drops new creations every few weeks. Wicked Cafe has a second location in West Point Grey, but this one has bags more character and is an easy stroll from the downtown core.

If you drive: Parking is tricky here, but if you do find street parking, use the app or risk a fine from the overly diligent parking enforcement team.

Open for: Dim sum and dinner

Price range: $$

Take a 20-minute trip on the Skytrain from downtown to the neighboring city of Richmond, which Eater’s former roving critic, Bill Addison, called “one of the cultural marvels of North America” for having some of the finest Asian food in the world. At this award-winning favorite, the dim sum is handmade by chef-owner May Chau, who focuses on Hong Kong classics: steamed pork and crab dumplings, pan-fried pork buns, and deep-fried wontons — all must-orders.

If you drive: There is plenty of free street parking available.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

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.

Know before you go: As the Maruhachi empire grows to several ramen-ya, check the website for details on specials only available at specific locations.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $

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.

Must-try dish: Seasonal treats such as spot prawns or locally harvested uni.

Open for: All day

Price range: $

Since Vancouver’s food trucks were legalized a decade ago, they’ve enjoyed a rollercoaster ride through fads and fortunes. Favorites have come and gone, as the ranks of dozens have slimmed to a handful; much-loved trucks such as Soho Road, the Kaboom Box, and Top Rope Birria have rolled off the road. But elder statesman Japadog abides. It’s always worth checking one of the six food truck locations (including one at the airport) and four stores, especially the original at the junction of Burrard Street and Smithe Street. Snap up one of the signature all-beef Terimayo dogs with teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, and seaweed to see why the brand has lasted the course. Anthony Bourdain loved this budget treat on the No Reservations Vancouver episode, noting wisely, “If life has taught us anything, it’s to eat meat in tube form.”

Know before you go: Gobbling down Japadog before you go through departures at YVR is the breakfast of champions.

Open for: Dim sum and dinner

Price range: $$$

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.

Know before you go: If you’re dining in a large group, check out the banquet menus, which offer a good value multicourse option.

Open for: Lunch and dinner, with brunch on weekends

Price range: $$

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.

Must-try dish: Grab so many napkins and faceplant into the gloriously messy HSCB burger.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

You’re never far from one of the five outlets of this pizza jewel, which keeps its crusts thin and crispy and its toppings generously proportioned. From the makers of the city’s favorite Neapolitan-style pizzas, Via Tevere, this American-style pizzeria offers excellent and affordable slices. If you’re in town for a concert or game at Rogers Arena or BC Place, pre-game at the Robson Street branch with a slice of the Classic with pepperoni and the pungent garlicky White Pie. If you order two slices, you also score a free house-made dip; the creamy, herbaceous pesto is so damn good with that crisp crust.

Know before you go: Although this is really best as takeout, there are always a few chairs and tables so you can devour your pie there and then.

Open for: Lunch and dinner, with brunch on weekends

Price range: $$

An offshoot from the popular Toronto-based Haifa Room, this delicious collaboration teams up long-time friends and hospitality veterans from Jewish and Palestinian backgrounds. Located in the Deloitte Summit tower, the restaurant has the vibe of an office canteen (albeit with cheerier lighting), but the superb cocktails (try the rosewater paloma), attentive staff, and thoughtful wine list will make you feel at home. Don’t skip the spectacularly crispy Nazareth hot chicken on a pink bed of sumac yogurt, the puffs of deep-fried creamy Jerusalem artichokes, and the absolute plate-licker of a house labneh studded with black olive crumble and bright tomato chermoula. Bar Haifa is open for lunch as well as dinner.

Best for: Dinner with friends, so you can eat your way around this innovative and delicious menu.

Open for: Lunch and dinner, with brunch on weekends

Price range: $

This loudly bustling spot on Cambie blends Japanese and Mexican cuisines. Chashu-style carnitas shine in gloriously messy tacos thanks to meltingly tender, just-fatty-enough pork and zippy pineapple relish. Load up the kimchi-nacho fries with birria and a fried egg, and obviously add instant ramen to your birria-dilla consomé. There’s also a daily happy hour, which offers well-priced cocktails, tacos, and an intriguing combo of shrimp crackers and guacamole.

Must try dish: It’s almost worth having a hangover just to enjoy the reviving properties of the Mexican Oyakodon at brunch.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$

Make sure you get the right door at this downtown locals’ delight; the 515 Bar is attached to both a youth hostel and the cheerful sports bar Malone’s. (You’ll have to wander through both other businesses to find the bathrooms, which can be extra challenging after a few rounds of deliciously strong cocktails.) 515 knocks it out of the park with a decidedly European vibe, pairing craft cocktails with a truly superb Indie retro playlist and the most generous cheese and charcuterie plate in the city, from legendary cheesemongers Les Amis du Fromage. It’s wildly popular, and queues are known to form for the daily happy hour (4 - 6 p.m.) on Fridays and Saturdays.

Must try drink: Top-shelf, ice cold martinis with Castelvetrano olives are a bargain during happy hour.

Open for: Dinner, with brunch on weekends

Price range: $$$

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.

Best for: Late-night happy hour.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$$

Pidgin seamlessly blends the bounty of the Pacific Northwest with French techniques and Asian influences. Although the place is perfect for bar snacks — the gochujang chicken wings are the best in the city — and genuinely thrilling for creative cocktails with ingredients such as toasted rice rum and gunpowder tea gomme, go with the prix fixe, which offers exceptional value with seven inventive mini courses for 105 Canadian dollars (about $73) per person. Whisky and sake fans will love the selection, and the wine list offers global gems too.

Best for: Book the chef’s table, which gives you a front row seat to all the action.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $

Natty wine lovers gather here to celebrate what happens when grapes meet naturally occurring yeasts. An urban winery in the heart of Mount Pleasant, la Fabrique St-George utilizes grapes from the different wine regions in B.C. and ferments them in beautiful clay qvevri. Unfined, unfiltered, and additive-free, these wines are as natural as it gets. Belly up to the tasting bar to try them by the glass, or enjoy a bottle in the airy lounge, where well-stocked chillers are piled high with tempting cheese and charcuterie options, alongside cutlery, cutting boards, and such so you can make a little picnic for yourself in the space. There’s also a full program of DJs, live music, the occasional opera to enjoy too.

Best for: Group hangs with fellow cork dorks.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$

After the much-loved Juice Bar shuttered, long-time server Lindsay Otto took over and re-opened the place as Bar Tartare. Located in the same space as the popular Birds and the Beets cafe, the bar stocks its fridges with unfined, unfiltered, natural, and low-intervention wines from B.C. and beyond. Expect knowledgeable servers to cheerily exclaim “Try this!” as they pop corks (or unscrew caps). Given the bar’s name, you’ll have to try the tartare (the bison is superb, with plenty of zingy flavor and crunchy textures), but check out nightly specials from the rotating crew of guest chefs.

Best for: Exciting pop-ups with some of the city’s most talented young chefs.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

Lila is a joyful collaboration between two of the city’s most important chef-owners, good friends Meeru Dhalwala (Vij’s) and Shira Blustein (the Acorn), known for their long-time championing of sustainability, community building, and mentorship and support of women in hospitality. Located on the “Michelin Mile” strip of Main Street and boasting one of the city’s best hidden patio gardens, Lila brings Dhalwala’s modern Indian cuisine and Blustein’s plant-based sensibility together for truly plate-licking results in a slender charcoal-grey and sage-green room festooned with leafy plants. The menu prioritizes plants, plus some dairy and sustainable seafood, and it begs to be shared, so don’t be shy in ordering one or two extra dishes — you haven’t lived till you’ve devoured cold garam masala-marinated jackfruit for breakfast. Whatever you do, always make room for the potato and cauliflower pakoras with bright mango-and-mint chutney.

Best for: Vegetarian or vegan tasting menu dining.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$$$

Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson and team are unstoppable juggernauts, scooping up every prize, from a Michelin star in the city’s inaugural awards to the No. 1 spot in Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants in 2022. 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. At $165 ($123 USD) plus tax and tip, the superb tasting menu is one of the most expensive in the city. If you’re on a budget, you can still dive into the playfully experimental dishes by going a la carte or picking up a snack at the bar. Just try not to fall in love with any menu items, as dishes switch up often.

Vibe check: In an ultra-casual city like Vancouver, Published offers a chance to get ever-so-slightly formal, although yoga pants are still welcome.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$

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.

Must-try dish: Beef tartare. It’s absolutely incredible with crisp taro chips and punchy mustard root.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$$

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.

Know before you go: Burdock & Co is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Open for: Dinner, with brunch on weekends

Price range: $$

Local produce shines brightly in this softly lit vegetarian/vegan restaurant, which strums along happily to hipster beats in the heart of the city’s funky Main Street neighborhood. The menu switches up frequently (save for the show-stopping halloumi in a whisper-thin beer batter) as the region’s seasonal bounty rolls through. The wine list has plenty of lesser known biodynamic varieties to try, and impressively, the non-alcoholic drinks are given as much consideration as the excellent cocktails. If you can’t score a seat for dinner, try the weekend brunch, which offers eggs and granola alongside more complex options such as bok choy with Espelette pepper, nam jim, plum hoisin, and puffed wild rice.

Best for: The multicourse chef’s tasting menu, which is served family-style and showcases ultra-seasonal, local ingredients.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

For years, if you wanted to eat at this stylish, locals’ Vietnamese spot on Main, you’d have to queue. In a pandemic pivot, Anh and Chi began accepting reservations, bookable with a $10 charity donation. Everything on the menu is bursting with fresh flavors and perfectly balanced in terms of spice and heat. Portions are wildly generous, so order everything for the table. Must-orders include custardy bánh khot prawn cakes wrapped in crispy rice and the fun, finger-licking DIY platter of khay bánh hỏi lụi nướng. It’s worth considering takeout, which gives you access to the very good wine list at 50 percent off.

Know before you go: Pop in to sister-bar Good Thief next door for creative cocktails and maybe a few binchotan-grilled skewers.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$

Industry veterans opened this much-anticipated, neighborhood tapas bar to rave reviews in late 2018, bagging the coveted No. 2 spot on Air Canada enRoute’s Best New Restaurant of the Year list in 2019, along with every local award going. It’s no wonder, given Cómo delivers a truly delicious experience including on-tap vermouth and bone-dry fino sherry, free tapas at the bar during happy hour with a drink purchase (4-5 p.m.), superb hard cheeses, and crisp patatas bravas striped with mayo and spicy tomato sauce. The room is loud and friendly, with efficient cheery service, and although you can make reservations for the rest of the room, the patio is first come, first served. Enjoy a brief trip to Spain at the handsome bar before heading back out to Vancouver.

Know before you go: If you go with a big group, try to score the back booth and share your way through the tapas menu.

Open for: Dinner

Price range: $$

The casual wine-bar sibling to the multi-award-winning Published on Main began as a pop-up but is now firmly one of the city’s favorite spots, complete with a summery patio, on East 6th. The gorgeous room plays host to chef de cuisine Justin Golangco’s menu, which wanders from pan-European to pan-Asian; aonori, caperberries, and bruschetta all feature at various points. Alongside is an ever-changing array of low-intervention wines, amari, cocktails, and vermouth, all procured by wine lead Stephanie Alishan (formerly of London’s Super 8 Restaurant group).

Know before you go: Ask the excellent servers what bottle they’re most excited about right now.

Open for: Lunch and dinner

Price range: $$

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.

Know before you go: It’s closed on Tuesdays.

Open for: All day

Price range: $$

You’ll find some of the city’s very best pasta at this wildly tempting wine bar/cafe/grocery on Commercial Drive, in a neighborhood that’s enjoying something of a renaissance, partly thanks to a strong pandemic-era patio culture. There are a trio of menus to take you from brunch through aperitivo hour and dinner. The overstuffed muffuletta sandwich is a must-order, as is the superb agnolotti stuffed with chicken and pork in glossy, buttery roasting juices, topped with crispy sage. Italian wines, spritzes, and amari (try a flight) round out the full experience. Pick up house-made sauces, breads, sauces, and pastas to prepare at home from the grocery section, where you can also browse imported olive oils, bottled cocktails, amarena cherries, and other enticing pantry items.

If you drive: You can use the little car park in the alley behind sister-restaurant Pepino’s.

Open for: Late lunch and dinner

Price range: $

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.”

Know before you go: The affordable bar snacks here include locally made Jamaican hand pies and Dicky’s Dumps dumplings.