Aburi Sushi at Miku

A 38-seat binchotan counter where the chef hands the roll straight across, still warm, and the nori is still crackling.

Seventeen seats, one sitting, Edo-style nigiri piece by piece, and your phone face-down all night. Michelin-recommended and books out fast.

The Broadway institution where chef Hidekazu Tojo, credited with inventing the California Roll, runs a legendary seasonal omakase counter.

Sumu grand opened in August in the old Sala Thai space, 130 seats of blackened steel and hand blown glass flowers, with binchotan yakitori mostly under $4 a skewer.

Coal Harbour, Stanley Park and the North Shore mountains through floor-to-ceiling glass, with a Canadian Culinary Champion kitchen to match.

All-you-can-eat yakiniku where you grill prime beef together on a two-hour clock, and 13,000 reviewers agree it was worth the lineup.

The Kitsilano sushi counter whose omakase regulars guard like state secrets, and whose uni and bluefin prove them right.

A restored downtown heritage atrium where soaring marble makes charred octopus feel like a civic event.

Chef Hector Laguna's plant-draped Coal Harbour room, where the world-ranked cocktails alone justify the good shirt.

Iron Chef champion Alex Chen's glamorous Burrard Street seafood room, Michelin-recommended and seriously polished.

Fukuoka-style tonkotsu you customize on a little order sheet, plus a queue that counts as your best first-date warmup.

Chef David Hawksworth's marble-and-velvet Rosewood room, for the night you want them to think you eat like this every Thursday.

Climb the Robson staircase into a golden room where a six-foot wood grill has been perfuming everything since noon.

A calm Newport Village sushi room with soft jazz and private curtained tables you can pull closed and slip your shoes off at.