Vancouver has quietly established itself as one of North America's most dynamic food and beverage destinations, where Pacific Northwest bounty meets global culinary innovation. Located between the ocean and mountains, this West Coast city offers a remarkable range of experiences which I highlight below.

Dining

Baan Lao(4100 Bayview St, Richmond)

Located in the picturesque village of Steveston, Baan Lao provides guests with an authentic exploration of Thai culinary artistry through the expert hands of Chef Nutcha Phanthoupheng. The establishment's name translates to "Lao's house," capturing the essence of Thai hospitality, which Chef Nutcha brings to life through her distinctive cooking philosophy. Her signature "From Thailand With Love" tasting experience reflects decades of skill development, blending ancestral recipes with contemporary technique and artistic expression.

The culinary experience unfolds with deliberate pacing, opening with an amuse-bouche that immediately showcases Chef Nutcha's meticulous approach to taste and presentation. This elaborate starter—as beautiful as it is delicious and requiring extensive preparation—features a Thai dumpling with organic chicken, a rice cracker with yellow curry, a wild pepper leaf wrap in a carved carrot, a golden pastry with catfish and sour mango, and grass-fed water buffalo on a pineapple spoon.

A dramatic presentation follows with Miyazaki A5 BMS12 Wagyu beef—one of the world's most exceptional and sought-after varieties—arriving on a pandan leaf atop smoldering charcoal. This remarkable beef contains over 56% intramuscular marbling, producing extraordinary tenderness and profound flavor. Chef Nutcha employs a northern Thai charcoal-roasting technique that imparts subtle smoke while maintaining the Wagyu's refined qualities.

The massaman curry with braised buffalo shank exemplifies Chef Nutcha's command of long-braised preparations, featuring meat of extraordinary tenderness immersed in a massaman sauce that achieves perfect equilibrium between sweetness, savory depth, and warming spice. Accompanied by aromatic basil rice, sweet kabocha squash, and silky potato purée, this composition stands among the evening's most memorable moments.

The experience concludes with Chef Nutcha's reimagined pad thai—a surprising yet inspired choice that transforms Thailand's most globally recognized dish into something befitting the refined meal that came before. While pad thai typically appears in more casual settings, Chef Nutcha recasts it as an elegant finale, achieving the essential tamarind brightness, gentle sweetness, and textural complexity the dish requires while incorporating sophisticated refinements. This labor-intensive preparation includes Chef Nutcha's hand-woven egg strands enveloping the noodle base.

Chef Nutcha's Smoked Ice Cream with Sticky Rice ranks among the finest desserts I've encountered. Made with organic rice harvested from her family's Thai fields, the careful smoking technique introduces subtle dimensions that enhance the rice's inherent sweetness while maintaining delicate balance.

Baan Lao represents more than exceptional dining; it offers a window into Chef Nutcha's heritage and passion, where every dish tells a story of tradition meeting innovation. This intimate Steveston gem deserves recognition as one of the region's most compelling culinary destinations, where technical mastery and heartfelt hospitality combine to create truly unforgettable experiences.

Burdock & Co (2702 Main St)

Michelin-starred Burdock & Co has long been defined by chef-proprietor Andrea Carlson's instinct for overlooked seasons. Gathering Resins Under a Budding Moon, her latest tasting menu, makes the case — emphatically — that the Pacific Northwest forest is a pantry. Available April through May 2026, it traces the narrow gap between root cellar and first harvest through wild-foraged ingredients sourced from Powell River by forager Alexander McNaughton: Grand Fir, Pine Resin, Douglas Fir Tip, Cottonwood Bud, Spruce Tip, and Beeswax.

For me, the standout ingredient is the cottonwood bud — foraged from McNaughton's own backyard — whose sweet, resinous scent comes from salicylates, a compound with deep roots in Indigenous medicine and almost no history on the plate. Its inclusion here feels both radical and inevitable.

Carlson is candid about the challenge: "It's our most challenging menu inspiration to capture, as its components are fleeting and assertive. But the constraints help drive the creative process."

Here are some of the highlights of Gathering Resins Under a Budding Moon.

Pine Resin Smoky charcoal grilled morel mushrooms stuffed with earthy burdock and fragrant pine needle, served with silken pine nut butter, a resinous pine glaze, and crispy lichen.

Fresh Abalone Tender fresh abalone marinated in sake kasu, lifted by delicate alyssum blossoms and a scattering of foraged spring greens. Sea and season, perfectly balanced.

Black Cottonwood Buds The emotional centre of the menu. Cottonwood buds — honeyed, waxy, faintly medicinal — infuse a sweet potato and mussel flan with a resinous warmth that is unlike anything else on the table. Finished with mussel cream and cottonwood oil, this is the dish that best articulates what Carlson is reaching for.

Spruce Tip Buttery sablefish glazed in fermented spruce, served with grilled dashi broth and spruce-pickled porphyra seaweed. Bright, piney, and coastal all at once.

Birch Syrup Uni gelato on a hazelnut macaron, with braised burdock and pickled fir tips. Birch syrup — darker and more mineral than maple — runs quietly beneath it all, a smoky, contemplative close.

Beeswax Almond Cake a luminous pre-dessert — koji beeswax butterscotch gathered beneath, floral and resinous, quietly golden, and reason enough to find your way to Burdock & Co.

Five Sails(999 Canada Place)

Five Sails celebrates the diverse bounty of ingredients from the Pacific Northwest. Led by Canadian Culinary Champion Chef Alex Kim, the restaurant elevates ingredients sourced from coastal waters to alpine forests, crafting dishes that showcase Canadian culinary artistry. From perfectly seared scallops to succulent meat preparations, the kitchen demonstrates both technical mastery and a deep respect for seasonal ingredients, with every plate honoring the region's natural wealth. Located at Canada Place within the Pan Pacific Hotel, Five Sails commands stunning waterfront vistas encompassing Vancouver's harbor, the North Shore Mountains, and Stanley Park.

During the Christmas holidays, I had the pleasure of experiencing Chef Alex Kim's tasting menu, which featured several memorable creations. While Chef Kim has gained recognition for his playful West Coast oyster presentation in an artificial sea lettuce shell, the most impressive courses emerged in the latter portion of the meal.

The Pacific Scallop with tajarin, consommé, and truffle exemplifies the harmonious fusion of ocean and land. Drawing from Vancouver's pristine waters and executed with meticulous technique, this preparation embodies Five Sails' culinary vision while nodding to Italian tradition through its silky tajarin pasta. The dish paired exquisitely with the Domaine Joseph Roty Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Fontenys 2021 Pinot Noir.

Chef Kim's mastery of flavor composition shone through in his beetroot dish featuring Korean short rib, Okanagan chèvre, and parsnip—a sophisticated blend of comfort and surprise. The tender, slow-braised short rib provided richness, regional chèvre offered bright contrast, and beetroot contributed earthy sweetness. This course was accompanied by the luxurious Damilano Barolo DOCG Lecinquevigne 2004 Riserva.

Five Sails proves that exceptional fine dining thrives when a chef's technical precision meets genuine reverence for regional ingredients. Chef Kim's thoughtful compositions and the restaurant's commitment to Pacific Northwest excellence make Five Sails an essential Vancouver experience.

Chef Alex Kim (Phoot Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)

Jeju(540 E Broadway)

Jeju Restaurant Vancouver is the passion project of owners Sungeun "Sung" Kim and Yunyoung "Dylan" Kim, with Dylan serving as executive chef. The husband-and-wife team, who met and began their hospitality careers in Vancouver, are bringing their acclaimed modern Korean concept from Tofino to the city's Mount Pleasant neighborhood. What makes Jeju truly special is its family-driven approach—Dylan's mother, Myungseok "Julie" Suh, a professional chef with over 40 years of experience, works alongside him in the kitchen, while his father helps with operations. Together with Sung managing the restaurant, they've created a menu that elevates authentic Korean dishes reminiscent of childhood memories, consulting with their mothers to ensure the food remains true to its roots while embracing modern techniques.

At the heart of Jeju's menu is their signature Galbi, a dish that exemplifies the restaurant's commitment to quality and tradition. The Korean BBQ short ribs are made with CAB beef aged for 35 days, served with pickled radish, jangajji, and Mother Julie's homemade kimchi—a testament to the multigenerational knowledge flowing through the kitchen. The restaurant's dedication to authenticity extends beyond the kitchen, as they import essential ingredients like chillies and sesame seeds directly from Sung's grandmother's family farm in Haenam, Korea.

Touk (1152 Alberni St)

Chef Chanthy Yen's Cambodian-Canadian heritage comes alive at Touk, where ancestral flavors are reimagined through cutting-edge technique and deeply personal storytelling. Yen's impressive credentials—training under Ferran Adrià, launching celebrated restaurants across Montreal and Vancouver, and serving as Personal Chef to Canada's Prime Minister—culminate in what may be Vancouver's most exciting new opening. My winter's finest meal unfolded here.

Yen's culinary artistry reveals itself in creations like the Fraser Valley Tomahawk: a pristine frenched pork chop draped in Cambodian mole, where indigenous spices, chocolate, and chilies meld into something profound, then elevated by nutty browned butter and a refreshing watercress salad that balances the dish's opulence.

Another standout is the butter-rich sablefish pan-roasted in a fragrant broth of green curry, coconut and white wine — aromatic and gently spiced, with a clean, bright finish.

Dessert takes an audacious turn with the Mochi Crueller, where silky foie gras meets molasses anglaise and tender confit apples, lifted by vibrant pandan basil oil and finished with the delicate spice of a Kampot peppercorn gelato. Kralan reinterprets the traditional Cambodian bamboo-steamed rice cake through silky rice pudding, caramelized banana, and a tonka bean pea flour gelée. A burnt banana leaf milk sorbet echoes the dish's smoky origins, finished with puffed forbidden rice for crunch and color.

Beverage director Tara Davies crafts a cocktail program that rivals the kitchen's inventiveness. The Kampot exemplifies this ambition: rye whiskey and Averna's bitter-sweet notes form the foundation, while banana skin adds earthy intrigue and brown butter brings velvety richness, all awakened by the distinctive floral spice of Kampot pepper.

Cocktails

Laowai(251 E Georgia St)

After years of planning, Laowai opened in July 2021 as a hidden cocktail bar in Chinatown. Conceived by Lewis Hart, access is gained through the popular Blnd Tger dumplings—simply ask for the off-menu dumpling to unlock the speakeasy entrance. Inspired by the booming economy and wild nightlife of 1920s Shanghai, Laowai aims to capture that era’s chaotic mix of visionaries and misfits, free from societal restrictions. The name Laowai (Mandarin for 'foreigner') nods to this atmosphere, encouraging guests to explore and indulge. The stylish, dark interior was designed by London's Bergman Interiors, offering seating near the bar and in a secluded back area, plus a private event room. The drinks menu is a beautiful, book-like pleasure to read, featuring original illustrations and stories for each signature cocktail. It includes a strong focus on baijiu, which appears in several signature drinks and is also available by the shot.

The Keefer Bar(135 Keefer St)

The Keefer Bar, alongside Gastown's Pourhouse, pioneered Vancouver's modern craft cocktail scene, launching the city's mixology boom around 2010. Over a decade later, both venues remain essential reference points for sophisticated drinking. What sets The Keefer apart is its creative use of local resources: it sources ingredients, many possessing medicinal properties, directly from Chinatown's traditional apothecaries to craft truly innovative cocktails. Overseen by GM Keenan Hood and Bar Manager Amber Bruce, this legendary spot draws a diverse crowd of locals and visitors into its space. The bar embodies the classic cocktail aesthetic—long, narrow, and dimly lit—while distinctive ornaments, bottles, and art serve as a quirky reminder of its Chinatown setting as you enjoy the team’s expertly prepared "prescriptions."

Bagheera (518 Main St)

Bagheera isn't just a bar—it's an exclusive Indian-inspired speakeasy hidden right behind the Happy Valley Turf Club. The challenge? You need to bet on owner Lewis's horse just to get in! Once inside, you'll be transported to a gorgeous vintage train car traveling across India, where you can enjoy perfectly balanced cocktails and irresistible Indian snacks.

Meo (265 E Pender St)

Located in Chinatown, this stunning 70-seat cocktail lounge is drenched in '70s vibes. Think sensual pink hues, rich dark wood, plush carpeting, and an awesome jukebox. The rounded L-shaped bar, complete with angled mirrors, is the perfect spot to soak up the atmosphere. Bar Manager Denis Bykov leads the drink program, offering eight revamped classics and eight signature cocktails (six on tap!). And don't skip the food—it's from the geniuses behind Kissa Tanto and Bao Bei. The Beef Bourguignon Burger is the best in Vancouver.

Prophecy (801 W Georgia St)

Prophecy stands as one of Canada's most breathtaking cocktail bars, a true source of pride for Vancouver. The atmosphere is immediately intimate and warm, created by dim lighting and complemented by constantly rotating digital art that captures the eye. Overseeing this exceptional experience is Jeff Savage, who has assembled an impressive staff, ensuring both the service and the drinks are flawless.

The Fairmont Pacific Rim (1038 Canada Place)

The Lobby Lounge is the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s original cocktail bar, found on the hotel’s main level. It offers a glamorous, warm atmosphere complete with live music and high-quality sushi, donburi bowls, and bento boxes from RawBar. Guests leave the typical Vancouver laid-back attitude at the door, stepping into a vibrant, high-energy mood reminiscent of a South Beach crowd. Whether seated at the communal, Bob Dylan-inspired tables or at the white Italian marble bar, guests are guaranteed a great time, thanks to the upbeat vibe and expertly mixed drinks by Beverage Director Grant Sceney and his team.

Botanist is the hotel's flagship bar and restaurant, located upstairs from the Lobby Lounge. Its most striking feature is the visible cocktail laboratory, which uses modern equipment like a rotary evaporator and centrifuge. This lab empowers bartenders with a culinary approach to cocktail design and production.

The latest menu, The Water of Life (Eau de Vie), was a collaboration between former Chef Hector Laguna and Grant Sceney's bar team, launched in March 2025. This concept explores the impact of water on botany across its many forms, from oceans to evaporation. The menu’s most stunning drink is The Ring of Fire, which expresses the influence of water vapor on tropical botany around the Pacific Rim. The cocktail—a clarified, yogurt-washed blend of 12-year-old rum, rye whiskey, and melon liqueur—is complemented by passionfruit distillate, vanilla, and lemon cordial. Served in a custom glass with ignited steel wool and dry ice, it is an exciting and delicious showpiece.

Botanist with Olivia of Fairmont Pac Rim

Mount Pleasant Vintage & Provisions (67 W 6th Ave)

Imagine a bar designed by the kids from Stranger Things, and you get Mount Pleasant Vintage & Provisions. Opened in 2022, this spot perfectly captures "retro, vintage, and early Winnipeg" style, filled with fun '70s and '80s furnishings. Housed in an early 1900s heritage building, it boasts a massive 2000-square-foot warehouse and a seasonal patio. The menu is a modern spin on the classic bar and grill, featuring delicious dishes like signature short ribs and steak from the wood-fired grill. Drinks are playfully unpretentious, including a frozen Vietnamese slushy and the nostalgic Five Alive-inspired beverage—a nod to everyone's favorite '80s juice.

Good Thief (3336 Main St)

Opened in summer 2024 next to the popular Anh and Chi in Mount Pleasant, Good Thief is inspired by the Vietnamese communal eating and drinking tradition of nhậu. Founders Vincent and Amelie Thuy Nguyễn created a lively, 40-seat space designed as a luxurious, East-meets-West homage to 1970s Vietnamese bars, featuring brass and colorful drapery. The menu offers complex yet approachable, creatively designed cocktails. The Old Secret cocktail is a standout, featuring their mother’s custom Chilli Fish Sauce recipe alongside Michter’s Rye and House Amaro, which is aged via a traditional Spanish wineskin (bota).

My “Posts to Pours” seminar at Good Thief

June on Cambie (3305 Cambie St)

Located in Cambie Village near F&B giants Vij's and Elio Volpe, June on Cambie was the highly anticipated 2025 opening from the Keefer Bar team. Co-founder Keenan Hood defines it as a neighborhood brasserie where guests are encouraged to "settle in, stay a while." With food by (ex Published on Main) and drinks by Amber Bruce (Keefer Bar), the expertise is clear, supported by familiar faces like Satoshi Yonemori, Leticia Castro, and Riley Maggs. Don't miss the Pasta for Rachel or the Steak Frites. After your upstairs meal, be sure to explore LaLa, the sexy drinking spot located downstairs.

Coffee

Revolver (325 Cambie Street)

Located in Vancouver's hip Gastown district, Revolver sets the standard for specialty coffee in Western Canada. They excel at preparing excellent espresso and offer a wide range of brewing methods, including cold press, siphon, and pour over. While they do not roast their own beans, Revolver curates a top-tier selection of roasters, featuring the best local names (Phil and Sebastian from Calgary) alongside international superstars like Tim Wendelboe (Oslo) and Rubens Gardelli (Rimini).

Vancouver

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