Candlelit North Indian at Palki

The Karma Indian Bistro team opened their 20 seat Kitsilano dosa room in August under a new name, and the fermented dosas were worth both the wait and the rebrand.

Crispy, forearm-length dosas and midnight filter coffee until 3am, for the night that isn't over yet.

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

Butter chicken that earns its fame, a tandoor running hot, and the rare gift of easy parking on date night.

House-ground spices, dum-steamed goat biryani, and a 4.7 rating that makes two thousand Googlers sound completely reasonable.

South-west Indian coastal cooking, Vancouver Foodster Curry Challenge winner, in a Surrey room where coconut and tamarind run everything.

A dum biryani lid that opens in a cloud of saffron, a mandi built for two, and the kitchen open until 2am on weekends.

South Indian dosas with a cocktail list built for spice, low lighting, and 2,300 reviewers who've already figured this out.

Davie Street's tiny Goan kitchen, steps from Sunset Beach, with a whole pan-fried pomfret and cocktails that won Vancouver Magazine over.

Satnam Singh's polished Yaletown Indian room, where the tandoor and the cocktail program are locked in a tie for the highlight.

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

Named after an epic, delivering on it: North Delta's 4.6-rated Hyderabadi dum biryani, sealed under dough and saffron-stained.

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

Newton's 4.7-rated pure-veg temple: a dosa longer than the table, six little steel bowls, and zero pressure to be elegant about it.