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Where we return, again & again

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Listed here are our top restaurant choices. Each were dining experiences that either stood out after just one visit, or became rooms we often frequent.

These choices extend from our Editorials page, where all additional café and restaurant reviews can be found. As more continue to impress and dazzle, they will be added here to our favourites. You can also use our Concierge page to browse through more of our reviews we've sorted by categories such as neighbourhood or cuisine type.

Ubuntu Canteen

After its first year, Ubuntu Canteen successfully established itself—with intention—as a neighbourhood hub. “We work hard to carry this ethos through everything we do at Ubuntu, working towards a sustainable, healthy business model based around community-building and engagement,” General Manager Bradley Moore told me. Propped up against its mission of conscious eating and supporting ancient—often indigenous—agricultural knowledge to secure the future of our environment, part of Ubuntu Canteen’s mandate is offering a bread subscription. And about that food. Yes, Ubuntu is a place with warm, deeply-grounded, and genuine staff; a place that treats each individual as though they’re a guest of the staff’s own inviting, but it’s also a place that stuns the palate and transcends expectations.

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Dachi

What is the decree behind Dachi? A strong focus on locality, both in sourcing and in terms of place. Their commitment lies in large part to the community they've moved into. The word ‘dachi’ is a Japanese colloquialism for buddy or pal derived from the word Tomodachi meaning friend. Thus, Dachi is meant to be a place for neighbours; they strive to be a local haunt where one can stop by regularly to learn about the trend-leading, hyper-seasonal menu, distinct sake program, and unique selection of low-intervention, natural wines.

L'Abattoir

Featuring an incredulously-priced happy hour and an unrivalled weekend brunch menu, L'Abattoir deploys traditional French cuisine while utilizing modern techniques with Cascadian harvests 7 days a week. Embodying farm-to-table ideology, the kitchen focuses on local, sustainably-raised meats, but also offers chicly-plated herbivore share plates. Themed in honour of the neighbourhood's meat-packing and rowdy-natured, mid-1800's history, carnivore entrées replenish tired bodies, and craft cocktails remain rumour-worthy. A remarkably redeveloped, brick-encased dominion, the restaurant ties together four unique dining rooms including a consistently booked, exclusive dinner series' hall that sits adjacent to Vancouver's electrifying Blood Alley. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.

Bauhaus

A blend of classical German fare with contemporary European cuisine, Bauhaus' menu is one of the only delectably old-world dining experiences Vancouver has to offer. The menu at Bauhaus sits among those golden rarities where the fare placed in front of you will send a tingle up your spine. Pupils dilated and mouth watering, you're left in awe of both the presentation on the plate and the pop of colour coming not from paint or sculpture, but from the manipulation of earth's own gifts. It's easy to think there is no rarer beauty than what can be seen growing in nature, but Bauhaus has challenged that with the artworks they create solely from our natural environment.

Farmer's Apprentice

A seasonally-inspired, ecologically-focused masterpiece of the culinary arts, Farmer's Apprentice offers set menus for both herbivore and omnivore palates. Dishes change routinely to reflect the ebb and flow of local agriculture cycles, as well as to illustrate what daily inspiration the award-winning kitchen has drawn from. Sourcing entirely from "artisan growers" and local agronomists, Farmer's Apprentice is a leader in sustainability. Supporting tens of avant-garde, family-owned farms within the Lower Mainland, this fairytale of a room showcases the art of locavore cuisine like no other. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.

AnnaLena

Executive Chef Michael Robbins is absolutely one of the greatest masters in the Canadian culinary arts. His humility behind the kitchen counter is remarkable for the tour de force created under his direction. Service is a ballet as each plate is arranged in front of you, choreographed with elegance and ease. Each course intoxicates. Every bite delivers retreat from all stimuli around you as you take in the earth's most exquisite pickings with little notice of anything else in the room: there's nothing more salient than the vision and taste before you. AnnaLena is Modern Canadian in its finest hour. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.

Botanist

Finally a hotel restaurant that understands good food. Botanist replaces the outdated and bleak ORU restaurant, bring vitality to the second floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel's publicly accessible area. Sourcing from "backyard" farms and producers with thoughtful agriculture methodologies, Executive Chef Hector Laguna was brought in as someone who understands that a great dish largely depends on understanding soil ecology. Drawing inspiration from the mountainous, oceanside region responsible for bringing a global clientele to its lodging, both Botanist's menu and its cocktail list are exceptional Pacific Northwestern Cuisine. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.

Osteria Savio Volpe

In genuine Italian style, at Savio Volpe you’re greeted with warmth and vivacity. Owners Craig Stanghetta, Paul Grunberg, and Chef Mark Perrier are hands-on and proud to work alongside their sophisticated (and dapper) staff. Styled as an Osteria—an Italian tavern known for its simplicity in menu with offerings of regional wines—Savio brings dinner back to a rustic ritual of nightly unwind. Large, scaling windows help deliver the sentiment of countryside grazing under the sinking sun. A wood-fire oven roasts your meat and poultry, and each pasta is handmade in-house with an emphasis on traditional flavours and seasonings from the region. Dishes are kept classic, yet burst with taste and freshness. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.

Burdock & Co.

Proprietor and head chef Andrea Carlson opened Burdock & Co in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant area with a philosophy of observing the restaurant's locale: the Pacific Northwest of Canada. Deeply in tune with the conscientious growing methodologies of local, small-batch farmers and foragers, Carlson and her sous chefs source from BC's top islands, fields, valleys, and even urban gardens. A cuisine made to emphasize community and a professionally curated wine list that focuses on biodynamic practises, Burdock humbly contends that the raw materials are what direct the divine flavour of each dish. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.

Nightingale

Nightingale has championed mass-service Modern Canadian cuisine with award-winning excellence. The rousing, new, and much larger sister establishment to Vancouver's long-celebrated Hawksworth Restaurant, Nightingale does Farm-to-Table, seasonal, and local without losing the pace. As founding Chef David Hawksworth's second Vancouver venture, the establishment brands itself as a more "fun" and "social" take on what Hawksworth is known for: fine dining.

The Acorn

The Acorn is an award-winning restaurant with a reputation that speaks for itself. With an all-vegetarian menu and a seasonal "Harvest" dish featuring the region's most flavourful veggies, you never feel like anything could be missing from the menu, even if you're a meat devotee. An intimate space, innovative cocktail list, and penchant for detail round off why we love this impressive, plant-based envoy. Stay tuned for more of our review coming soon.