Brunch Date at Café Medina

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

Ladner Village's best table since 1996: flaming saganaki, paidakia lamb chops and a room that has never once been in a hurry.

Two Kissa Tanto alumni built Fraser Street a proper Portuguese tasca: 36 seats, an all Portuguese wine list, and a menu that changes when the fish does.

The top-ranked restaurant in Coquitlam, a warm family-run taverna famous for enormous portions and a festive room.

The 1980 blue-and-white taverna locals quietly choose over its famous neighbour, with a for-two platter and the seawall a ten-minute walk out.

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

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

Chef Hawksworth's two-storey heritage hall for wood-fired pizza, buttermilk fried chicken, and the share-everything format that actually works.

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.

The only dinner where eating with your hands from the same plate is not just allowed, it's the whole point.

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

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

A tiny Queensbury Village brunch room where the eggs benedict lands on house-made savoury bread pudding instead of an English muffin.

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