BC Dumpling Festival

Hand-churned small-batch since 1997 in Port Moody, with banana fudge, espresso flake, and a doggie scoop for the third wheel.

A free Friday night market on the North Vancouver waterfront.

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

North America's biggest night market: a hundred-plus food stalls, carnival games and neon, Friday through Sunday nights beside Bridgeport station.

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

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

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

The legendary Chennai tiffin institution arrives in North Delta with crispy dosas, a filter coffee ritual, and an unlimited weekend thali that earns the drive.

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

French technique and Gastown cobblestones, with an atrium, award-winning cocktails, and a bar that doesn't rush you out.

A dim, jazz-soaked 1960s Tokyo cafe in Chinatown, where tajarin with uni is just how dinner starts.

Downtown's chocolaterie-patisserie on Alberni: thick drinking chocolate, a macaron case that looks like jewellery, and cheap enough to be completely spontaneous.

The Fraser St bistro that locals call FauxBo, guard jealously, and can't stop recommending despite the notoriously tough reservation.

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