Curtained Tables at Murasaki

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

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.

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

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

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

West Broadway's papier-mache-and-neon sushi institution since 1983, with 50-plus rolls that have never once cared about tradition.

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

Flame-kissed aburi sushi by Burrard Inlet, where the salmon oshi arrives, gets photographed, and makes the table go silent.

Twelve seats. Chef Satoshi Makise. Edomae nigiri shaped right in front of you, delivered with the quiet instruction to eat now.

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

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

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

The plant-filled Main Street room that makes a first date feel like it's going well before a word is spoken.