Shared Injera and a Coffee Ceremony at Gojo Café

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

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.