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 (you can watch the machine from the dining area), which rest for 24 hours before being cooked and slurped up. Hailing from Japan, Marutama 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.

​​One of Vancouver’s original izakayas, Guu with Garlic sits in the “ramen triangle” on Robson Street, surrounded by three blocks of Asian food spots. Stop by for a set teishoku lunch (go for the superb pork cutlet), served with pickles, miso, and rice, then come back for dinner for izakaya classics such as garlic beef tongue, takoyaki (crispy octopus balls), and una-meshi, barbecued eel with rice served in a hot stone bowl. Whatever you order, wash it down with a Calpico cocktail, fresh junmai sake, or a Sapporo.

It’s been a while since Vancouver had such a pretty place to see and be seen, and since opening in April 2017, Botanist at the Fairmont Pacific Rim has been consistently busy. The Champagne lounge bubbles over with excellent options, and the wine list features a raft of exclusive terroir-driven picks from B.C. and beyond. Definitely stop for cocktails at the Lab — where drinks come with theatrical drifts of dry ice and other high-concept presentations — 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.

Few walk the sustainable walk like chef Welbert Choi and his team, who conjure up menus full of locally farmed, seasonal, and foraged ingredients paired with all-B.C. wine, beer, and cocktails. The kitchen’s energy-efficient gizmos and zero-waste practices are impressive, but so are eco-friendly, locavore treats such as duck breast smoked with foraged grand fir tree needles or the bison board (available in limited quantities from Friday to Sunday) featuring anything from cured bison to braised bison risotto and bison heart tartare. There’s also a killer weekend brunch with house-made preserves and a fantastic take on Nutella.

Old-school white linens; fresh, local, and sustainable Ocean Wise ingredients; and top-notch friendly service go hand in hand with outstanding value at Joe’s. An unpretentious choice for lunch, dinner, or weekend brunch, the restaurant treats guests to fresh-shucked B.C. oysters, piled-high bowls of crispy fried calamari, and buttery, miso-marinated sablefish. Dining on a budget? The daily blue-plate lunch special clocks in at 13 Canadian dollars, and there are great dinner deals too. Join the locals for afternoon and evening happy-hour oysters and sliders on the suntrap rooftop patio.

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 Wednesday to Saturday, it transforms into Juice Bar, the city’s coolest spot for natty wine warriors to gather over unfined, unfiltered, 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 their 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 staff is happy to pop the cork on something fresh.

Even Vancouverites, who truly wear yoga pants everywhere, dress up when they dine at chef David Hawksworth’s excellent restaurant. The decorations — from the Damien Hirst art on the wall of the outstanding cocktail bar to the gleaming oversized crystal chandelier in the main dining room — set high expectations for what’s to come. Fortunately, those expectations are effortlessly met with this pitch-perfect exploration of West Coast cuisine threaded through with Asian flavors and modern techniques. Unmissable.

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. 

There are hotel restaurants and there are restaurants in hotels, and Boulevard is definitely the latter. Pedigreed chef Alex Chen and team’s inventive take on West Coast seafood brings diners into some excitingly experimental territory, but never strays far from harmony and balance. It’s a bright, beautiful room to enjoy crowd-pleasing seafood towers or steak frites, while the service, cocktails, and wine list are all on point. There’s also a great daily happy hour from 3 to 5 p.m. with cocktails on tap, oysters, and crispy chicken wings with fish sauce caramel and sambal chili.

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 food 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 on while you wait for your order. Pro tip: Ask for the off-menu longboi (an extra-long taco), and always order your tacos with the cheese skirt. 

Anyone over 28 should suppress the gut instinct to run screaming from this shiny juice, coffee, and cocktail lounge in Chinatown, which outwardly appears to function purely as a neon backdrop for Instagram posts. Kevin & Kevin is — shock horror — thoughtfully delicious. The menu is searchable according to diets and allergies, and there are options to suit everyone from the ultra-fussy vegan to the crashingly hungover. Pick from virtuous Blue Majik spirulina smoothie bowls, plate-lickingly good cheese- and porchetta-stuffed sandwiches, or creative house cocktails. Balance is everything here, making it the ideal place to detox, retox, and repeat.

After a stint at the Savoy in London, cooking for Mick Jagger, Prince, and a host of other glitzy celebs, Belgian chef Nico Schuermans has created the archetypal casual fine dining restaurant in Vancouver. Chambar offers an elegant room, faultless service, and a no-nonsense menu of French-/Belgian-influenced classics made with Pacific Northwest ingredients, which you’d be more than welcome to enjoy coming straight from yoga class still in your Lululemons.

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.

Part of legendary local chef Angus An’s innovative empire of superb eateries (including Thai standard Maenam), this casual pan-Asian spot takes inspiration from chef An’s travels and childhood. There are five different kinds of noodles (including gluten-free and vegan options), sourced from Tak Fung on nearby Victoria Drive, to mix and match with soups, broths, and curries, plus bright, aromatic salads and small plates. The $5 roti with curry sauce is the best deal in the city, especially if you lick your plate when you’re through.

Take part in a Vancouver tradition and join the queues outside this well-priced Vietnamese-Cambodian spot in Chinatown. The menu is enormous, so save yourself from the agonies of choice and order up the deep-fried crunchy chicken wings (with their 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. 

Acclaimed chef Andrea Carlson (Burdock & Co.) and Gabriella Meyer’s community-based eatery/grocery in Chinatown is one of the best spots in the city to slurp down noodles, including the sake chicken ramen, a bowl that will banish any hangover. You can also pick up pantry essentials, such as frozen packs of Carlson’s superb pork and burdock dumplings, heirloom apple and vanilla bean sauce that makes an ideal ice cream topping, and picnic-ready local cheeses, dips, spreads, and vegan puddings.

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.

Chancho’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it carnitas shop is the Mexican dining experience that will likely ruin you for any other tacos in town, thanks to their house-made tortillas and marvelous, melting pork sold by the pound. Have the campechano, a mix of shoulder, leg, and belly hand-chopped to order and spangled with shards of crisp skin. Orders come with pickled red cabbage, pinto beans, salsas, and those incredible tortillas, kissed with a whisper of char. Take your food away to the nearby Seawall for the perfect porky picnic, or stay to enjoy the blaring Mexican pop.

Some of the best Italian food in the world can be found in Vancouver (no hyperbole intended). The shelves of Cioppino’s positively groan with honors and awards such as the prestigious Order of the Star of Italy (a knighthood conferred by the Italian president for representing Italian culture abroad), a “three forks” rating from Gambero Rosso, and a place on the 50 Top Italy list. Take the hint and book a table at chef Pino Posteraro’s exceptional restaurant to discover his modernist Pacific Northwest take on Italian cuisine. Dishes include juicy and tender Pacific octopus with Tuscan white beans, delicate gnocchi cacio e pepe, and decadent Atlantic lobster-stuffed linguine all’aragosta. For the full experience, splurge for the chef’s menu and let the wonder of it all wash over you.

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.

The eternal Vancouver conundrum: Do you want great views and mediocre beers, or great beers and mediocre views? For the latter, head to the ever-popular R&B Brewing in the heart of “Yeast” Van’s Brewery Creek district. Celebrating 25 years, R&B is one of the city’s original microbreweries known for their cool can art, witty beer names, and reliably delicious brews. Come for the Stolen Bike Lager and Dude Chilling Pale Ale, then stay for the roadside patio and excellent music. Weekend brunch features sourdough made using spent grains from the brewing process, while the weekday menu brings chewy sourdough pizza, burgers, pretzels, and more.

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.

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 open first come, first served. Enjoy a brief trip to Spain at the handsome bar before heading back out to Vancouver.

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.

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.

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.

Innovative chef Dave Gunawan’s CV includes many of Vancouver’s big hitters, such as the now-shuttered West and Wildebeest, and the critically acclaimed ultra-locavore Farmer’s Apprentice. This small cafe in the Fraserhood community seemed a puzzling fit at first, but it’s actually oh-so very Gunawan. Behold Ubuntu Canteen, with its in-house heirloom grain bakery and bread subscription program, the city’s best bone broth, and thoughtfully cheffy sandwiches, such as open-faced beef tongue sandwich with sauce gribiche and salad on grilled sourdough. Evening service (Wed-Sat) brings a chance for the team to flex with an ever-changing menu of superb local and seasonal ingredients.