Jamaican Jerk at The Lion's Den Café

Surrey's Caribbean lounge where jerk, oxtail and a sorrel drink become your Friday night, especially if there's a DJ.

Commercial Drive's Trinidadian counter spot, where you tear buss-up-shut roti with your hands and bond over the glorious mess.

The Drive's long-loved Jamaican kitchen, where jerk, oxtail and a sunny terrace do the date-night heavy lifting.

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

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.

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

Vikram Vij's legendary modern Indian room, where the wine-marinated lamb popsicles have been redefining romance since the '90s.

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

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

A decades-long West Broadway fixture serving Kashmiri and Mughlai recipes nobody else in the city is cooking.

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

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

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