Top Restaurants in Vancouver by Cuisine

Vancouver is one of the most diverse places to eat in North America, and this guide maps 69 cuisines across eight world regions so you can jump straight to the best restaurants for whatever you are craving.

The city sits on the Pacific Rim, and generations of newcomers from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America have shaped how it eats. You can have dim sum in Richmond for breakfast, Persian kabobs in North Vancouver for lunch and Ethiopian injera on Commercial Drive for dinner. The Michelin Guide has covered Vancouver since 2022, but many of the city's best meals still come from family-run spots in strip malls and side streets.

How to use this guide: each cuisine below links to its own page with our top restaurant picks, what to order and where to find them. Regions are listed roughly by how big their dining scene is in Metro Vancouver. Where a cuisine is mostly found outside the City of Vancouver, such as in Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey or the North Shore, we say so.

Jump to a region: East Asian · Southeast Asian · South Asian · Middle Eastern and Central Asian · African · European · Latin American and Caribbean · North American and Pacific

East Asian Restaurants

East Asian food is the backbone of Vancouver dining, and Richmond is widely considered one of the best places outside Asia for Chinese food. Downtown's Robson Street adds a dense cluster of Japanese and Korean spots.

Vancouver is also widely credited as the birthplace of the California roll, created by a local Japanese chef in the 1970s.

Southeast Asian Restaurants

Vietnamese pho shops are on almost every major street, while Filipino, Malaysian and Cambodian kitchens reward a short trip into East Vancouver, Richmond or Surrey. Some smaller cuisines, like Laotian and Burmese, often appear as pop-ups or on shared menus.

Chinatown's long-running Cambodian-Vietnamese kitchens are a local institution, and their chicken wings have a cult following.

South Asian Restaurants

The Punjabi Market on Main Street near 49th Avenue is the historic heart of South Asian food in Vancouver, and Surrey now has one of the largest South Asian dining scenes in Canada. Expect everything from sweet shops and dhabas to modern fine dining.

Middle Eastern and Central Asian Restaurants

North Vancouver's Lonsdale Avenue is the centre of Persian food in the region, with kabob houses, bakeries and grocery stores side by side. Lebanese and Turkish spots are found citywide, while Uzbek and Uyghur kitchens cluster in Richmond and Burnaby.

African Restaurants

Commercial Drive and Main Street are the go-to streets for Ethiopian and Eritrean food, best shared family-style over injera. West African and Somali kitchens are smaller in number but growing, especially in Surrey and East Vancouver.

European Restaurants

Commercial Drive, known locally as Little Italy, and West Broadway in Kitsilano, home of the city's historic Greek community, anchor Vancouver's European dining. Gastown and Yaletown add French bistros, Spanish tapas bars and pubs, while Eastern European comfort food often shows up at community halls and family delis.

Latin American and Caribbean Restaurants

Taquerias have spread across nearly every Vancouver neighbourhood, and Main Street, Commercial Drive and Kingsway hold many of the city's Salvadoran, Colombian and Venezuelan kitchens. Peruvian and Brazilian spots lean toward sit-down dinners, while Caribbean food is easiest to find as takeout.

North American and Pacific Restaurants

Vancouver's own cooking leans on what the West Coast does best: wild salmon, spot prawns, Dungeness crab and BC wine. Indigenous restaurants share the food traditions of the land the city stands on, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Best Food Neighbourhoods at a Glance

Tips for Eating Out in Vancouver

• Book ahead for weekends. Popular dinner spots, omakase counters and dim sum halls fill up fast, especially Friday to Sunday.
• Tip 15 to 20 percent. Tipping is customary at sit-down restaurants in British Columbia.
• Go early for dim sum. Many Richmond dim sum restaurants are busiest from late morning on weekends.
• Watch for Dine Out Vancouver. The city's annual restaurant festival runs in winter with set-price menus.
• Plan for transit. The Canada Line reaches Richmond's food hubs, and the Expo and Millennium Lines run to Burnaby, Surrey and Coquitlam.

Frequently Asked Questions

What food is Vancouver known for? Vancouver is known for Pacific seafood like wild salmon and spot prawns, world-class sushi, Cantonese dim sum and the BC roll. Its multicultural food scene is often ranked among the best in North America.

Where is the best Chinese food in Vancouver? Most locals point to Richmond, just south of Vancouver, for the widest range and quality of Chinese restaurants. Chinatown and the Kingsway corridor are good options within the city.

Which neighbourhood has the most variety? Main Street and Commercial Drive offer the widest mix of cuisines within walking distance, from Mexican and Ethiopian to Indian and Italian.

Are there good vegetarian options? Yes. Indian, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Israeli and Taiwanese restaurants are especially strong for vegetarian and vegan diners.