Eat With Your Hands at Fassil Ethiopian

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

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

The Burnaby sleeper locals quietly guard: a 4.6-rated Ethiopian-Eritrean room where regulars insist the food is the best in the province.

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

Burnaby's licensed Eritrean room where you eat by hand, drink properly, and stay longer than you planned to.

Surrey's street-suya cult favourite turned proper lounge, where fire-grilled yaji spice and smoky party jollof make every date feel like a party.

A two-decade Commercial Drive institution where dinner is one shared injera platter you eat by hand, no forks, no rushing.

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

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

A Michelin-name Italian on Kingsway where spit-roasted meats, seasonal handmade pasta and wine do more romantic work than you ever had to.

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

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

A low-lit East Hastings room where Pacific Northwest cooking gets a Japanese edit and the natural wine list has its own devoted regulars.

Andrea Carlson's candle-lit Michelin star in Mount Pleasant, where the Moon tasting menus track exactly what BC is growing this week.