Injera and a Coffee Ceremony at Massawa

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

A sleek Coquitlam bistro with a 4.5 across nearly a thousand reviews, because the lamb biryani has something to say for itself.

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

Vancouver Foodie Tours runs a two hour progressive meal through the market: cheese, charcuterie, candied salmon, chocolate truffles and a honey-dip donut finish.

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

Off-Fraser corner café, 4.7-rated, with jerk chicken that falls off the bone and oxtail rich enough to end an argument.