Eritrean Plates and a Drink at Dahlak

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

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

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

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.

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.

Butter chicken poutine, paneer tacos and spiced cocktails in Surrey's slickest Indian lounge, open until 3am.

Surrey's decade-old Korean grillhouse hands you tongs, never empties the banchan, and earns a 4.6 from more than 2,000 regulars.

Robson St Korean with tabletop grills, banchan aplenty, and the universal icebreaker of shouting 'is that done yet?'

Smokeless Shinpo grills, fifteen free-refill banchan, and a Golden Plates Best Korean Restaurant win, plus you leave smelling exactly as you arrived.

Canada's first proper mezcaleria on The Drive, where house-pressed tortillas and small-batch mezcal flights have an excellent working relationship.

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.