Aushak and Kabuli Palaw at Afghan Kitchen

Lantern-lit West End izakaya where the sake list rewards bravery and stone-grilled beef keeps arriving until you've forgotten your plans.

One of Vancouver's highest-rated Indian spots on The Drive, where street-food snacks flow into proper cocktails and a room that hums.

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

Six or eight tables, Ethiopian art, and a tradition called gursha where you hand-feed each other, which is romantic on purpose.

A dim, jazz-soaked 1960s Tokyo cafe in Chinatown, where tajarin with uni is just how dinner starts.

Downtown's chocolaterie-patisserie on Alberni: thick drinking chocolate, a macaron case that looks like jewellery, and cheap enough to be completely spontaneous.

The Fraser St bistro that locals call FauxBo, guard jealously, and can't stop recommending despite the notoriously tough reservation.

The Vietnamese street food that made Anthony Bourdain misty on television now has a permanent home on The Drive.

Butter chicken tacos, red-leather booths and craft cocktails, in a South Surrey taproom with half a rickshaw by the door.

Michelin-listed Main Street kitchen where Peru meets Tokyo and Canton: alpaca tartare, arroz con pato, and a pisco bar that hums until close.

New West's Ethiopian-Eritrean spot where dinner is a shared platter you eat by hand and ends with a traditional coffee ceremony.

Ethiopian stews by hand, a live Friday band, and the kind of injera-sharing that requires getting very comfortable very quickly.

The sunny tiled downtown room with legendary Belgian waffles, a lavender dark chocolate situation, and a line that is genuinely worth it.

Vancouver Foodie Tours runs a two hour progressive meal through the market: cheese, charcuterie, candied salmon, chocolate truffles and a honey-dip donut finish.