Jamaican Oxtail at Riddim & Spice

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of Vancouver's highest-rated Indian spots on The Drive, where street-food snacks flow into proper cocktails and a room that hums.

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

A thirty-year-old Richmond warehouse hung with classic records and old instruments, serving crab cake bennies and waffles from 8am, seven days.

A Top Chef alum runs the griddle at this pastel 1950s room on Pemberton, where the coin-tiled floor was laid by hand and the milkshakes are still spun to order.

The cult Belgian brewery on Thunderbird Crescent where national-medal sours and golden tripels await anyone clever enough to find it.

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

A 38-seat binchotan counter where the chef hands the roll straight across, still warm, and the nori is still crackling.

Brewers Row's biggest patio, where free arcade games, a Dreamboat Hazy IPA, and a food truck conspire against whatever you had planned next.