15 Best Restaurants in Vancouver

Executive chef Frank Pabst heads this go-to restaurant for quality seafood in a brick-and-beamed heritage warehouse space in Vancouver’s bougie Yaletown. With a focus on locally and sustainably sourced seafood, a wide spectrum of dishes can be savored, both raw and in skillfully cooked dishes. Aside from the signature three-tier seafood tower, Blue Water Cafe is recognized for the festival Unsung Heroes, which occurs each February, an initiative Pabst has championed since 2004 to highlight undervalued species of seafood in innovative dishes, like mackerel filet with sesame carrot rice, jellyfish wonton tacos and a creamy carbonara with sea urchin.

Serving contemporary Canadian cuisine, this Main Street spot has now become a destination thanks to its string of accolades that includes earning the top spot on Canada’s list of 100 best restaurants in 2022 (and number three in 2023), as well as receiving a coveted Michelin star in the city’s first edition of the Michelin Guide Vancouver. Order à la carte or journey through their menu on a curated 10-course tasting menu across 2.5 hours.

With an emphasis on fresh and simple ingredients, this neighborhood osteria dishes up unpretentious meals in a buzzy and industrial-chic setting. The menu highlights pasta that’s made in-house each day, like tortellini with ricotta and spring greens and spaghetti with basil, pistachio, and parmesan. Savor the wonderfully complex flavors of their generously portioned veggie sides and wood-fired grilled meat dishes like pork chop with salsa verde and the dry-aged striploin with red wine jus, all of which are served family style.

Specializing in Northern Chinese and Cantonese cuisine, Kirin has remained a reliable and uber-popular choice for quality dim sum since it opened its doors in 1987. A weekly ritual for many, families and groups of friends come together to swap gossip over an Instagram-worthy spread of small plates accompanied by endless pots of tea. At Kirin, the delights are many. Steamed, fried, or baked, a wide assortment of seafood, meat, and vegetable dishes are expertly prepared, with many of them served in piping-hot bamboo baskets. Crowd favorites like their generously stuffed barbecue pork buns and shrimp dumplings uphold Kirin’s top standing in dim sum-crazed Vancouver.

Boisterous and almost always packed, Phnom Penh is a Vancouver institution that has drawn lines since its opening in 1985. Blending Cambodian and Vietnamese traditions, this restaurant in Chinatown boasts an enormous menu, and its over 100 offerings include beloved classics like green papaya salad and lemongrass chicken on rice. Join the masses in ordering the legendary deep-fried chicken wings, which come with a tangy lime dipping sauce, and the thit bò marinated butter beef—a platter of carpaccio-style beef blanketed by an aromatic bundle of cilantro, garlic, and soy sauce.

Now with three locations in Vancouver, this uber-popular ramen joint first came from Japan in 2013. Best known for its rich and silky tori paitan, this chicken broth is prepared fresh each morning. The West End location routinely sees lines out the door, but as it’s a quick-service type restaurant and not one for lingering and socializing, the line thankfully moves swiftly. Garnish your bowl of noodles with extra slices of delicately braised cha shu (pork belly), a soft-boiled egg that’s consistently jammy, crispy fried garlic, and sheets of seaweed.

Drawing long lines during peak hours, this laidback counter-serve on Commercial Drive dishes up flawlessly spiced and flavored Nashville-style fried chicken. Ranging from mild to eye-watering levels, which this spot has coined “side of milk,” these deep-fried birds, whether breast meat, wings, or boneless thighs, come in several different levels of heat. The menu also features a few varieties of their sandos—or sandwiches—which are generously stuffed with juicy chicken breast and your preferred fixings between a fluffy potato bun.

The menu at Dinesty Dumpling House is extensive, with several snack dishes like scallion pancakes, spring rolls, and fried noodles. But as its name suggests, their dumplings are where this casual spot shines. Whether pan-fried to a golden crisp, boiled, or steamed to showcase its flavors, Dinesty’s best offerings come with classic fillings like pork and shrimp. Across its four locations throughout Metro Vancouver, their xiao long bao (pork soup dumpling steamed in bamboo baskets) remains the best seller, as chicken broth and juicy ground pork seep out of the ultra-thin and expertly hand-kneaded wrapper with every bite.