Where I Ate: Vancouver Edition
A guide to enjoying the city's dining scene, this is not a “must-eat” restaurant list (unless you want it to be)
The other day I was scrolling back through my photos of our Vancouver trip last year, and I realized there are many images of food — and only food.
A few shots of Stanley Park, a few of Adam posing on Kitsilano Beach, a seldom selfie.
But mostly there were just plates of food.
Upon returning from one of our many trips my mother-in-law once asked me: do we do anything else on vacation but eat?
Well of course I do — I love art galleries and architecture and shopping — but as someone who travels to eat, enjoys wading through “best of lists” and carefully plotting my Google maps with local favourites and bucket-list restaurants, eating is a big part of our trips.
So naturally, when we went on a family trip to visit my brother-in-law and his partner last May, I started amassing restaurant recommendations. And below you will find some of my favourite dining experiences.
But this is not a “must-eat” restaurant list for Vancouver. Because frankly, I was pretty flat about our experience at Hawksworth.
“Must-eat” lists are an interesting phenomenon. These days, my Instagram feed is full of reels claiming the three restaurants a vacationer filmed on their first visit to [insert city here] are the ones you “have to visit” on your next trip. For the most part, these restaurants are pretty looking, with trendy vibes and decor, but pretty much lacking in the taste department.
This isn’t to say that diners have no authority (Yelpers would set you straight if you said otherwise), but how does one discern whether the person behind the iPhone camera enjoys dining the same way you do? What is a “must-eat”?
You’ll note this isn’t a diatribe about best-of lists either — admittedly I participate in them and often refer to them when I travel as part of my research. But as I talked about in my Dining in Las Vegas newsletter, I have learned not to overbook restaurants, now opting to book one or two “bucket list” restaurants and let the rest of it just happen (with my trusty Google map of pins in my pocket).
Gail Simmons, a Top Chef US judge, talked about this phenomenon recently during an interview on the Sporkful podcast — she reminisces about crying on her honeymoon because she couldn’t get into a restaurant she had planned to (I won’t give away any spoilers, you can listen here). But I think it’s so important not to focus too much on bucket lists and must-eats.
After spending hours and hours interviewing and researching for Where We Ate (which came out June 6th, you can buy a copy here), my “must-eat” situation in Vancouver looks different.
The bucket list stuff for me was eating at a ramen spot on Ramen Row, seeing how many delicious deep-fried things someone can fit on a skewer at the Richmond Night Market or the best place to get coffee and a doughnut downtown. These are the places that showed me what Vancouver dining is all about.
The way people eat in restaurants in a certain city or the way they talk about them afterwards and the way they are represented in the media are very different. This isn’t a “best of” list nor a list of “hidden gems” because frankly, I’m sure most of these establishments can be found on the former or the latter — these restaurants are the ones I enjoyed the most, and the ones that I feel epitomize what it feels like to enjoy dining in Vancouver, plus a few food-adjacent things!
Restaurants I enjoyed
Japadog
Japadog was high on my hit list because it’s featured in my book, Where We Ate, and it did not disappoint. After chatting with the owners over email and reading about those famous hot dogs made with Japanese flavours, I delighted in downing the All Beef Terimayo hot dog with Teriyaki Sauce, Japanese mayo, fried onions and seaweed and the Okonomi topped with Bonito flakes.
49th Parallel Coffee Roasters
Coffee and a treat is my favourite vacation breakfast and 49th Parallel, the Vancouver-based coffee roaster, delivered in spades. Before biking in Stanley Park we had coffee at their Thurlow Street location downtown along with Lucky’s Doughnuts, their own doughnut chain, and had their famous Peanut Butter and Jelly doughnut and a classic Vanilla old fashioned glazed, both of which were phenomenal.
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
The western end of Robson Street is called Ramen Row because of Kintaro Ramen, which is featured in Where We Ate, but it was closed when we tried to visit. Like Gail, I lamented over not being able to try the O.G., but Ramen Santouka was so freaking good — the minute I was seated in front of the open kitchen I knew it was going to be good. Huge steaming bowls of delicious noodle soups fly around the dining room and are slurped with glee here.
Tsuki Sushi Bar
We had a few meals of sushi on our trip because there are so many places to eat amazing sushi in Vancouver (after all, the California Roll was invented there by Tojo). Tsuki Sushi Bar was just one of the dozens and dozens of great little holes-in-the-wall that offered up super tasty sushi — I was particularly dazzled by the aburi (pressed and torched sushi) and that toro (tuna belly).
L’Abattoir
On our last night in Vancouver, we splashed out. The six of us went to L’Abattoir in Gastown for their chef’s menu — the Gaoler’s Menu — and the whole meal was an experience. Course after course of French-inspired, west-coast sourced dishes came to the table and from that first bite of steak tartare and bluefin toro with fried shiso and oyster dressing to the last bite of the millionaire shortbread embossed with their logo, it was amazing.
Afghan Horsemen Restaurant
The meal at the Afghan Horsemen Restaurant was a special one. Years ago, after a visit with my brother-in-law, my in-laws raved and raved about this great Afghan restaurant they had patronized while in Vancouver. This is particularly interesting because my father-in-law Gerry was known to be a picky eater so the fact that he even went to a restaurant that wasn’t Chinese-Canadian was astounding, let alone the fact that he enjoyed it.
Gerry passed away after a battle with cancer in 2022 and so wanted to see my book come out. Somehow, we didn’t connect the dots that it was indeed the Afghan Horsemen, which is featured in my book, was the very restaurant that he had raved about all this time – so the dinner there was extra special and extra delicious. I don’t know what they do to those fried potatoes on the meat-filled Horsemen Special Platter, but they were fantastic.
Food-adjacent Fun
Granville Island Public Market
No visit to Vancouver is complete without a visit to the fantastic public market on Granville Island — there are artisans and shops, breweries and distilleries, and of course a whole lot of fantastic food. From the famous Lee’s Donuts (which you will have to line up for) to the celebrated chowder and soups of Stock Market, there is so much to try! We also had great slices of pizza from Pizza Pzazz who’ve been slinging slices in the market since 1995.
Keefer Yard
The cocktail scene in Vancouver is fantastic, with lots of hidden speakeasies like Laowai and showy waterfront spots like the Botanist, so having drinks was something I wanted to do on our visit to Vancouver. Despite my little rant about best-of lists, Keefer Bar ranked as one of the best bars in North America, and it and its adjoining patio Keefer Yard were both on my must-try list. It was a great experience. The term patio doesn’t really describe this little cocktail wonderland with its disco balls, mini golf and amazing cocktail program.
The Richmond Night Market
Another essential Vancouver eating experience. The annual Richmond Night Market, which usually runs from April to October is an eater’s wonderland filled with more than 100 booths with 600 dishes from all over the world, although the plates lean Asian. We devoured Nepalese momos, Taiwanese fried chicken, beef skewers, noodles, pork belly, cotton candy, rolled ice cream — you name it we ate it.
Yes, yes, yes. There are restos I would never return that are favourites of people I know. On one hand, a visit to any place is like a crap shoot - and yet think the "best" restos master delivering a quality experience consistently.