Must Eat Food in Vancouver
Vancouver's legendary Asian cuisine and local seafood can look like Dim sum in Richmond (family style, the best in Canada, some say), Phnom Penh fried chicken wings and butter beef in Chinatown, Pacific salmon and fresh oysters from any serious seafood restaurant, hand-pulled noodles on Alexandra Road, Japanese ramen on Main Street, and the list goes on.
Comparatively to cities like Toronto, there isn't as much hype around Vancouver's food culture as there should be. It's quieter, more reserved, and even though there are some exceptions, the respectable, clean-cut surface of the restaurant scene makes it even more worthwhile when you discover just how special it can be.
Know Before You Go: Some of the restaurants below are in West Vancouver or Richmond, 20 minutes out of the city's downtown core. If you're headed west, give yourself extra time, it's worth it.
The Best Places to Eat in Vancouver: Must-try Local Fare
Sushi: Straight from the North American Sushi Capital
If you're going to Vancouver for the food, sushi is a can't-miss meal. From high-quality casual to exquisite premium rolls, the sushi in Vancouver is the result of high-quality Pacific seafood and a large Japanese culinary community. Go to Tom's Sushi or Naruto if you're on a budget, or Masayoshi (omakase, worth it) for a special occasion.
Dim Sum: Vancouver's Greatest Food Export
After sushi, dim sum is the most important meal in Vancouver. The city's Chinese-Canadian community has built a dim sum scene in Richmond that rivals Hong Kong for quality, variety, and technique. Steamed dumplings, crispy turnip cake, scallop har gow, rice noodle rolls: the repertoire is vast and the floor is genuinely high. If you eat one meal in the Vancouver area that you couldn't eat anywhere else in Canada, this is it.
Pacific Seafood: Salmon, Oysters, and Dungeness Crab
Vancouver's Pacific coast access gives it seafood advantages most North American cities can't replicate. Wild-caught BC salmon is the signature: order it grilled, smoked, or as sashimi. BC oysters are clean, briny, and sweet. Order them raw at any seafood bar. Dungeness crab is the seasonal splurge (peak fall through spring): messy, labour-intensive, and worth every second.
Ramen and Japanese Food
Vancouver's Japanese food scene is consistently excellent. Ramen (tonkotsu, shoyu, miso) is well-represented across the city. Go to Ramen Danbo for the negi-goma or Hokkaido Ramen Santouka for the spicy miso ramen broth. The weekday lunch specials (sashimi, a roll, miso soup, rice for $12 to $16) are the city's most underrated value meal.
Hand-Pulled Noodles and Asian Street Food in Richmond
The noodle shops on Alexandra Road in Richmond are in a different category from anything in downtown Vancouver. Hand-pulled noodles made to order, Sichuan hot pot, Hong Kong-style wonton soup: the flavour and technique here reflects communities cooking the food they grew up eating, not kitchens approximating it.
The Best Restaurants in Vancouver
A great Vancouver food guide isn't about hitting talking about all the most well-known places. It's about offering a variety of styles, tastes, and settings with must order recommendations.
Phnom Penh, Chinatown: The One Restaurant Everyone Should Go To
Chinatown's Phnom Penh is arguably Vancouver's most iconic restaurant, a family-run institution drawing lineups since the mid-1980s. The chicken wings (deep-fried, butter-basted, crispy-skinned and improbably light) are one of the best dishes in the city in any category. The butter beef, served on a sizzling plate, is the must-order alongside them. The room is old-school, the service is efficient, and the prices are genuinely low for the quality. Get there early or expect a wait.
Masayoshi, Fraserhood: For Exceptional Sushi
One of Vancouver's premier sushi restaurants, Masayoshi pairs meticulous technique with outstanding seasonal seafood. The intimate Fraser Street restaurant is best known for its omakase, which blends Japanese tradition with the bounty of the Pacific Northwest. Restraint, precision, creativity: the plates here have set the standard for restaurants throughout the city.
Kirin Restaurant, Richmond: For the Best Dim Sum
Few restaurants have shaped Vancouver's Cantonese dining scene as much as Kirin. The pork siu mai is hand-chopped (not food-processed) and arrives with proper texture. The crispy fish rice roll, the taro puffs, and the braised pork belly bao are the other dishes to order. Book a week ahead for weekend service and ask for the cart service rather than the menu.
Pink Pearl, East Hastings: For Cart-Service Dim Sum
While many dim sum restaurants have shifted to ordering from menus, Pink Pearl remains one of the few places where servers still push steaming carts through the dining room. The har gow and steamed pork buns are consistently good, and the prices are honest. It's been hiding in plain sight on East Hastings for decades.
Birds and the Beets, Gastown: For a Standout Lunch
Birds and the Beets in Gastown earns the most consistent word-of-mouth from people who live in the city. The menu is ingredient-driven and changes with what's available. Breakfast and lunch only, closing at 4pm daily. Worth it for a long, unhurried mid-morning meal.
Alexandra Road, Richmond: For the Best Asian Food Near Vancouver
Food Street is a three-block stretch of Alexandra Road in Richmond with over 200 restaurants serving every major East and Southeast Asian cuisine. Bring cash. Budget $15 to $25 for a full meal.
Vancouver's Most Beloved Fine Dining
The Michelin Guide expanded to Vancouver and confirmed what the city already knew: there are chefs operating here at a genuinely international level. These are some highly recommended restaurants every foodie should check out.
Masayoshi, Fraserhood: For Exceptional Omakase
Masayoshi is the reference point for serious sushi in Vancouver. Chef Masayoshi Baba's 24-seat Fraserhood room runs a hyper-seasonal omakase through appetizers and nigiri calibrated to each guest. The best seat is at the counter. Reservations are essential and released monthly. Two sittings nightly, Tuesday through Saturday.
Botanist at the Fairmont Pacific Rim: For Hotel Fine Dining Done Properly
Botanist is the most celebrated hotel fine dining room in Vancouver. The bar program alone has drawn international recognition. The tasting menu format makes the most of Pacific Northwest ingredients at their peak. Book ahead.
Ask for Luigi, Gastown: For Handmade Pasta
Ask for Luigi is not fine dining in the white-tablecloth sense. It's the other kind of Italian restaurant: A trattoria-inspired eatery that more than earns its accolades.
The pasta is handmade, the menu is short, and the quality is exceptional by any standard. It's casual and intimate with the energy of an Italian home kitchen that happens to be run very well. Order whatever pasta is on the menu that day.
Omakase Lunch in Mount Pleasant or Kitsilano
An omakase lunch at one of the Japanese restaurants in Mount Pleasant or Kitsilano runs $60 to $90 and is one of the most memorable meals the city offers at that price point. The format changes by season and chef. Book at least a week ahead.
Vancouver's Best Food Neighbourhoods
Richmond: The Best Place for Chinese and Asian Food
Richmond is 20 minutes on the Canada Line and has the best Chinese food in Canada. This is where you eat Chinese food, not downtown Vancouver.
Chinatown: Old Vancouver and New Vancouver on the Same Block
Vancouver's Chinatown has two food identities: the traditional Cantonese scene (BBQ duck hanging in windows, congee spots) and the newer wave of cocktail bars and contemporary Asian restaurants. Phnom Penh anchors the old guard. The Sunday Night Market in summer is one of the best street food experiences in the city.
Main Street: The Best Neighbourhood for Independent Restaurants
Main Street from about 10th to 30th Avenue is Vancouver's most food-dense neighbourhood for independent dining. Vietnamese food, Korean BBQ, Japanese ramen, Thai restaurants, Indian cuisine, vegan spots, brunch cafes, and natural wine bars all coexist on the same fifteen blocks.
Kingsway: Vietnamese Food, Thai, and the Best Pho in the City
The Kingsway corridor east of Boundary Road is the Vietnamese food and Thai food strip that most tourists never reach. The pho here is better than anything in downtown Vancouver. The 19 bus from downtown gets you there.
New Restaurants Worth Trying
Blue Coast Japanese Seafood Cuisine: A new seafood and raw bar with two-tiered seafood towers ($75), blue-fin tuna sashimi, and aburi wagyu oshi served dramatically among clouds of dry ice smoke. A creative new spot on the border of Vancouver and Burnaby worth the try.
Pinche Taco Shop: The highly anticipated offshoot of La Taqueria, open on Seymour Street. Six specialty tacos, one dessert, cocktails on tap. Choose anything on the menu.
Honourable Mentions
La Belle Patate, Davie Street: For Quebecois Poutine Done Right
This is a proper casse-croute, both because of the menu and the absolutely spot on vibe. La Belle Patate's simple, greasy spoon decor is a perfect nod to Quebec's poutine aesthetic. If you're new to the food, the perfect launching pad is a small, classic poutine and a couple of all dressed steamies. 1215 Davie Street, Davie Village.
FAQ
What is Vancouver's most famous food?
Dim sum is Vancouver's most celebrated culinary export. Pacific salmon is the second signature food. Phnom Penh's butter beef and chicken wings are the most famous single-restaurant dishes in the city.
Is Vancouver good for foodies?
Yes. The combination of Pacific seafood access, a large Chinese-Canadian community in Richmond, a strong Japanese food culture, and an independent restaurant scene on Main Street produces a range of exceptional eating that few cities of comparable size can match.
Does Vancouver have Michelin star restaurants?
Yes. The Michelin Guide has expanded to Vancouver and awarded recognition to several restaurants. The highest-profile are largely tasting-menu format with Pacific and Asian-influenced cuisine. Advance reservations are essential.
What is the best seafood in Vancouver?
Wild Pacific salmon, BC oysters, Dungeness crab, and spot prawns in season. Order salmon as sashimi or grilled, oysters raw, Dungeness crab steamed or salt-and-pepper. Any Cantonese seafood restaurant in Richmond is a reliable venue for all three.
What should I eat in Vancouver for the first time?
Dim sum in Richmond (take the Canada Line), Phnom Penh chicken wings in Chinatown, ramen on Main Street, and a pho lunch on Kingsway. These four experiences cover the breadth of Vancouver's food identity and none of them will cost more than $25 per person.
Is Vancouver food expensive?
The range is wide. A dim sum lunch in Richmond for two costs $25 to $40. Ramen on Main Street runs $15 to $18. A Michelin-level tasting menu runs $180 to $250 per person. The value in the $15 to $40 range is exceptional by any major city standard.
Where do locals eat in Vancouver?
Richmond for dim sum and Asian food, Main Street for independent restaurants, Chinatown for Phnom Penh and late-night eating, Commercial Drive for Italian food, Kingsway for Vietnamese and Thai. Robson Street and downtown Gastown are tourist dining circuits.
What food is Vancouver known for?
Dim sum, Pacific seafood, ramen, and sushi are the four categories where Vancouver food consistently outperforms comparable North American cities.
