Pie and Coffee at Gabi & Jules

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

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

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

Secondhand shelves, Colombian coffee from Huila, and a nonprofit backbone that makes your latte feel genuinely virtuous.

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

A Steveston gelato shop with flavours like Hong Kong milk tea and miso caramel, steps from the boardwalk.

West-side favourite churning honey-lavender, salted-caramel, and rotating seasonal flavours from local dairy, a block off the Kitsilano-Point Grey stretch of West 4th.

A pastel Parisian parlour making obscenely rich creme-anglaise ice cream, where sharing a jar counts as a whole date.

Vancouver's beloved small-batch ice cream in reusable glass jars, a short stroll from the Olympic Village seawall.

A tiny Commercial Drive room built on Italian aperitivo culture, amaro walls, and booths sized for exactly two.

An actual world-champion gelatiere turning out four-litre artisan batches a block from English Bay, ideal after a seawall stroll.

Vancouver's first natural-wine bar, a tiny bare-bulb Kitsilano room built for organic pours, premium sake, and losing track of time.

A thirty-year Dundarave corner bakery where the butter smell hits before the door, and the cinnamon buns sell out before noon.

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