Natural Wine at Grapes & Soda

A 1930s Shanghai parlour hidden behind a Chinatown dumpling shop's fridge door, accessed by code, reserved in advance.

Follow the single red light behind a Main Street furniture shop down a graffiti stairwell into Vancouver's most satisfying open secret.

Dim light, a sake flight, and small plates you have to negotiate over, which is how a low-key izakaya date runs three hours.

A shag-carpeted 1970s speakeasy hidden behind a fake accounting office, where the cocktails are far better than the decor suggests.

The old Old Crow room on Front Street, now pouring cocktails named after star signs until eleven.

Off the Moda Hotel lobby on Seymour: low-lit, Italian small plates, marble bar, and a daily 2-to-5 happy hour worth knowing about.

A Cacao Barry ambassador's tiny Swiss patisserie where the pistachio-versus-blueberry macaron debate has caused real diplomatic incidents.

The one properly grown-up cocktail room in Surrey City Centre, tucked into the lobby of the Civic Hotel a block from the SkyTrain.

Dundarave's small Italian bar with the raised, flower-hedged patio, where one glass has a well-documented habit of turning into three hours.

A gloriously retro sunken circular bar a block off English Bay, where happy hour, low light, and the best free sunset in the city do all the work.

Arguably Steveston's best patio, with a rotating tap list and a flight-friendly board for finding out whose beer takes are a dealbreaker.

An upscale whisky lounge in Central City with a deep whisky wall, a long BC and imported wine list and a happy hour that runs twice a day.

All-butter pies and specialty coffee on a heritage strip in Moody Centre, where the afternoon has nowhere else to be.

The Klahanie roastery where from-scratch pastries and occasional live sets turn coffee into the plan, not just the preamble.