The best restaurants in Vancouver right now

Opened just before the start of the pandemic, the Michelin-starred Published on Main has beat the odds to emerge as one of the city’s best restaurants. Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson and his team prepare dishes using locally farmed and foraged foods. The selection changes with the seasons but options have included wild nettle gomae, roasted halibut in a buttery broth, fresh cheese agnolotti, and merguez-wrapped lamb saddle. Guests can try the 11-course tasting menu or order a la carte and dine in a plant-filled solarium or the intimate rear room. Published on Main’s wine and cocktail program are curated with just as much care and attention as the food—wine director Jayton Paul was the Vancouver Michelin Guide’s 2022 Sommelier of the Year.

The toys and collectibles decorating this Michelin-starred restaurant in bustling Kitsilano belie the expertise and sophistication on the menu and wine list. A tasting menu features oysters with shaved foie gras, hickory-smoked tuna, dry-aged duck breast, and caramelized pear. In 2024, Vancouver Magazine named AnnaLena Restaurant of the Year for the second year in a row.

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Seasonal produce is given royal treatment at this cozy restaurant on South Main. The veggie-forward menu caters to vegans and vegetarians, but dishes will satisfy even the most die-hard meat-eaters. Driven by the freshest ingredients, the menu changes frequently: the beer-battered halloumi is a regular star, while other offerings have included morels with a mushroom velouté and zucchini with kelp and stinging nettle glaze. Cocktails include fresh ingredients, and the wine list features lesser-known biodynamic options.

Rustic decor sets the stage for French-Canadian cuisine in this cozy Japantown spot. The ever-changing menu might include a lamb trio, grilled cod with spring vegetables, or a pork chop with potato purée. Pair with a glass of French wine, then finish with Calvados and rice pudding with salted caramel.

The combination of Japanese and Italian cuisine in this sophisticated 1960s-era Japanese jazz bar makes for a surprisingly exciting meal. Dishes include charcoal udon with Dungeness crab, prawns and squid and spaghettoni with ragu of Wagyu, nut-fed pork, Japanese curry and spiced pangrattato (crispy breadcrumbs to you peasants).

When a local farmer couldn’t sell his chicory root, Chef Justin Song-Ell made ice cream. That’s the kind of approach you’ll find at Elephant, a 525-square-foot, 18-seat East Vancouver restaurant and wine bar that delivers an omakase experience over five courses that “changes weekly to reflect the seasonality of our local farms,” according to the website. Raves one frequent visitor, “You’ll never eat the same thing twice.” Examples of previous dishes include daikon soup and aged rice with Taleggio cheese, turnip and peanuts. Dishes can also be ordered a la carte.

This Michelin-recommended wine bar serves inventive Korean-style fusion dinners and snacks while sommelier Peter Van de Reep focuses on natural wines and smaller producers. Chef Jiwon Seo’s menu rotates every six weeks, but a recent prix fixe menu featured terrine of pork and perilla leaves, soy-braised beef shank with ricotta gnudi, and elderflower pavlova.

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Chef-owner Andrea Carlson works with a vegetable-heavy menu that shows off the bounty of British Columbia’s farmers, foragers and fishers. Her Mount Pleasant restaurant is all about ethical ingredients and artisanal techniques. The Moon Menu Series revolves around distinct seasonal botanical themes that change every month. A spring menu titled Gathering RESINS Under a Budding Moon included braised burdock stuffed with more mushrooms, nettle and ricotta ravioli, and fermented spruce tip syrup BBQ glazed black cod.

West Coast seafood is the star at this casually elegant restaurant in the Sutton Place Hotel, a popular spot for actors filming in the city known as Hollywood North. Chef Alex Chen (2019 Iron Chef Champion) and Chef Roger Ma (Canadian Culinary Champion 2020) offer dishes like charcoal-grilled sablefish and housemade rigatoni with herb pesto and burrata from Puglia as well as classics like steak frites while Chef Kenta Takahashi (2023 Best Pastry Chef according to Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants) tempts diners with salted sesame praline bar and rhubarb crumble. A daily cocktail hour features chorizo stuffed peppers and lemongrass chicken wings to go with your vesper glacé (gin, vodka, cocchi americano, lemon) or espresso martini.

This classic neighbourhood osteria features a simple, traditional, rustic Italian cuisine menu. House-made pasta, wood-grilled meats and veggies, fresh fish, and artisanal baked goods use seasonal, local ingredients. Dishes are served family-style. Pair with a glass from the extensive, all-Italian wine list—the 2024 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards named Kristi Linneboe its 2024 Sommelier of the Year—and save room for gelato.

Vancouver has a wealth of excellent, traditional Chinese restaurants, but this popular brasserie in Chinatown is anything but old-school. Well-crafted cocktails and sizeable sharing plates encourage a lively atmosphere. Hand-made potstickers are legendary, and small plates like chickpea tofu with roasted walnut sauce are inventive and tasty. Don’t miss the Kick-Ass House-Fried Rice with turmeric and yogurt-marinated rockfish and a salted egg yolk-dusted fish chicharrón.