Amazing Vancouver Restaurants You Need To Try

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Each January Vancouver holds a two week festival called Dine Out Vancouver. The idea behind it is for locals to get to try different Vancouver restaurants they may not otherwise know of. It’s a chance to sample a range of plates from each restaurant that participates in way of a three course meal. Each year more and more restaurants get involved and it’s a great way for them to showcase their menu, try out new dishes and generally get locals excited about eating in their own city. I took to the streets of Vancouver to show you some of the best food the city has to offer.

Which Vancouver restaurants participate in Dine Out?

Everyone who’s anyone of course. Vancouver’s premier dining establishments vie to take part in this busy food festival. It’s a chance to get your name out there as a restaurant, entice the locals to try your food, and showcase some amazing new recipes. There were over 300 local restaurants all over the lower mainland participating in Dine Out Vancouver 2020. More seem to get added each year. There are some restaurants that have multiple locations and they all participate, but a lot of the restaurants are individual and unique.

How much is Dine Out Vancouver?

There are four different price points for Dine Out. Good enough for all budgets. There’s a $15 menu, as well as a $25, $35 and $45 menu.

The prices are based on the restaurant you choose with the smaller, budget friendly restaurants at $15 and the more fine dining restaurants going for the higher prices. You might also find that some of the restaurants that offer lunch and dinner might have a cheaper menu at lunch than dinner and a slightly lighter fare.

When is Dine Out Vancouver?

Dine Out is just over two weeks long and generally runs from mid January to early February. For 2020 it was January 17 to February 2. A lot of the restaurants have lunch and dinner options, although there are some that are dinner only. Dine Out is at the perfect time of year for the Vancouver restaurants to be able to do a festival like this. It’s quieter, and generally a time where tourism is lower so locals are the ones that really end up often taking advantage. It’s a great way to boost restaurant business in what is a quieter period right after Christmas. And for everyone who might be a little sick of the colder weather it’s a great indoor activity.

Looking for some other fun winter activities in Vancouver? Check out this post with some of my top picks.

What is included in the Dine Out festival?

Dine Out Vancouver menus usually include three courses. A starter, main plate and a dessert. Which is great, because it means you get to sample a few things from the menus.

The price points change by the restaurants you choose, but the menus are all typically three courses. There are a couple of restaurants that vary. They might only have two courses, or could be tapas menus with a more choices. Each restaurant has a set Dine Out menu that is published on the Dine Out Vancouver website in advance. You can therefore filter by restaurant, price, cuisine or location.

What types of food can I try at these Vancouver restaurants?

With Dine Out Vancouver there are so many restaurants included in the festival that you can honestly try pretty much any kind of food you want. There are cuisines from all around the world: Asian, African, North American, European and more.

When searching for somewhere you can filter by the cuisine you might be most interested in trying. You can also check out the menus in advance to see which one sounds more appealing. Each restaurant has a three course menu but there are often two or three choices for each course. Many of the Vancouver restaurants also have a vegetarian menu or vegetarian options, and gluten free options can often be catered for too. Are you a total foodie? Then you’ll probably love Vancouver’s Granville Island. Read this post to find out some of the best places to eat at the public market.

My top Vancouver restaurants of Dine Out 2020

In the past I have gone to one or two of the restaurants but this year I really took full advantage of Dine Out Vancouver. A lot of my friends were really interested in going for dinners so I got to try a lot of different places. After a lot of research (you’re welcome), here are some of my favorite places and the food I had at each.

Sula Indian Restaurant

The first place I visited for this year’s Dine Out Vancouver was Sula. Indian food is some of my favorite food. There’s not much more comforting in the cold winter months than a deliciously hearty curry with a kick and a half. That’s exactly what I got here. This $25 menu had a lot of options for each course. I chose:

• Papri Chaat (think fried bread salad with yoghurt, spices, potatoes, chickpeas and chutneys)
• Vegetale Tarkari (spiced vegetable curry with rice and naan bread)
• Lychee pistachio cardamom panna cotta

The food here was delicious, very tasty. The service was fast and friendly despite us being there on day one of the festival when I assume everyone is getting used to the craziness of it all. I ordered the first course as it was different to what my friends had (they had more like samosas which I get all the time so wanted something different), however I kind of had a little food envy. Don’t get my wrong, mine was really good, but it was a cold dish with a lot of sauces that was maybe not something I’d go for again. The next two courses were fantastic though.

Timber Gastropub

One of the cheaper Vancouver restaurants on the list with the $15 menu, Timber was no less impressive though. The restaurant is more like a bar but they have some amazing craft beer selections and I’ve always enjoyed going there to see what their latest rotating taps are. This time I enjoyed a dark blackberry sour by Wildeye Brewing. If you’re looking for casual dining with hearty pub food this is the place. I went for:

• Mixed green salad – with crispy chickpeas, golden beets and a cider vinaigrette
• Vegetarian shepherd’s pie – with winter vegetables and lentils
• Pudding chômeur – a French Canadian maple cream cake with maple walnut ice cream

Now this menu, since it was cheaper, also had some add on options. I chose to add a snack size mac and cheese with sriracha ketchup since I was eyeing it on the regular menu. Worth the extra $5, it was baked with breadcrumbs on the top and was just so yummy. The salad was a little small but tasty enough. The other two courses were delicious though. I was kind of stuffed by the time dessert arrived but I made it through. It was very sweet but my British taste handled it well.

Afghan Horsemen Restaurant

I’d never had Afghan food before Dine Out Vancouver. But I’m game for something different, and this certainly was. It was tasty and original. Think of a cross between Indian and Middle Eastern/Turkish. This was s $25 menu. The restaurant is next to Granville Island and while there are some proper tables and chairs, they also have some low tables with cushions on the floor for the authentic feel. Shoes off included! Their regular menu was quite vegetarian friendly so I knew this would be an easy pick for me. I chose:

• hummus and pita bread
• vegetable kofta – mixed vegetables and lentil dumplings in a tomato sauce
• baklava pastry

The food was fabulous, the setting was cozy and unique, and overall a great experience. The main was the right amount of spice and a generous portion of food. I struggled to choose between the four options though so I can’t wait to go back and try the others. And then there’s the baklava. I mean, can you ever get enough of that deliciously sweet honey and nut pastry?!

Cardero’s Restaurant

I’ve wanted to go to Cardero’s ever since I moved to Vancouver. But I never had. It’s one of the top Vancouver restaurants and to me it always seemed intimidatingly high end. But I loved it when I finally got there. Set right on the water (like on supports in the harbor) in downtown Vancouver, you can’t beat the view on a nice day. We got there on the wettest day of the year so far, but still the inside of it was very nice. More of a kitschy nautical theme than I expected but warm and inviting on a crappy winter day. This was a $35 menu and I chose:

• Four cheese arancini (crispy risotto balls on a fresh marinara sauce)
• Mushroom ravioli – with a pistachio pesto and tomato relish
• Passionfruit panna cotta with fresh berries

Worth. The. Wait! Such a great dinner. We started with house crafted cocktails, because if you’re going to splash out you might as well do it right! We also got fresh bread (still warm) with olive oil and balsamic to dip it in. I loved my arancini probably the most. They were amazing. The perfect balance of creamy, crispy and well seasoned. The ravioli was good but there was a lot of pesto. I ended up getting full after all the bread and rice before that, so the struggle was real. The panna cotta helped though. It was light and fresh and fruity. Passionfruit is my favorite fruit so that course was always a no-brainer.

Gurkha Himalayan Kitchen

Another one of the Vancouver restaurants I’ve always wanted to try was the Himalayan Kitchen. I didn’t really know too much about Nepali food, but it was a refreshing change. Spicy, but good. This little restaurant is kind of hidden in the bustle of Davie Street in Vancouver’s West End. Up a few stairs at the side of a building next to a parking lot, it’s not an obvious restaurant location. But since I live in the area I have passed it enough to be curious to try the menu. This Dine Out menu was $25 and I chose:

• Vegetable Momo – Tibetan style vegetable dumplings with a variety of sauces (watch out for the red one)
• Cauliflower curry – with potatoes and rice
• Coconut pudding – with rice, coconut milk, cardamom, fruit and nuts

This dining experience was a little bit of a mix of Chinese and Indian food. The dumplings were similar to the boiled dumplings I’ve had in China and the main dish was reminiscent of an Aloo Gobi Indian curry. The dumplings were tasty and a nice light way to start the meal. I chose hot as my spice level for the curry and instantly regretted my choice. It was really good I had to eat it all, but I lost feeling in my mouth for a while. The pudding was less rice pudding like than I expected. There wasn’t much rice so it was more a liquid pudding, and not really that sweet. Flavorful enough but I was the only one who seemed to like it more than the other dessert (a cheesy pistachio milk dessert).

Moxie’s Grill & Bar

Moxie’s is a chain restaurant here in Vancouver. There are a number of locations, so while it’s good food, you know it’s not that unique. That didn’t mean the food wasn’t worth trying though. There’s a Moxie’s right near our house so we went for dinner there one evening and had a great meal. It’s located at the Sandman Hotel on Davie Street in Vancouver’s West End. This was a $35 menu as it’s not one of the cheapest of restaurants, but I’m not sure I would be able to compare it to Cardero’s which had the same menu cost. The options I chose:

• Fresh smashed guacamole with corn chips and salsa
• Stir fried vegetable Red Thai curry
• White chocolate brownie – with ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce

My favorite part of this was the guacamole. Why? Well because it was brought over as a full avocado with all the elements of guacamole, but was mixed with a mortar and pestle table side. I wrestled the heavy stoneware away from the server because it just looked so darned fun. It was also one of the best guacamoles I’ve had. At least you know it’s not out of a jar. The brownie was also simply divine. And rather large for one person.

Arike Restaurant and Cocktail bar

Africa is so high on my travel list, so I was incredibly excited when my friend booked us into Arike for dinner. That said, I didn’t really know too much about West African/Nigerian food, so wasn’t sure what to expect. Or how vegetarian friendly it would be. The restaurant is in Vancouver’s West End, on Davie Street, close to English Bay. This menu was $25 and here’s what I had:

• Seasonal salad – with romaine, fennel, pumpkin seeds and tomato garlic dressing
• Vegan mini burgers – 3 mini mushroom glazed burgers with avocado, marinated tomatoes and crispy onions
• Pof Pofs – described by the restaurant as “if churros and donuts had a baby”

I also had a fourth dish, I ordered the corn and habanero fritters which were little deep fried balls of deliciously light corn mash. They were amazing. The star of the show for me despite not being on the Dine Out menu. The Pof Pofs were also just out of this world. Cinnamon and honey coated little bites of heaven. I really liked the vegan burgers, they had a lot of flavor and weren’t your typical standard boring tofu burgers. The food was all very flavorful, although the salad was heavily dressed, a bit more than my liking. Still it was all wonderful food. I would love to go back. This might be one of my new favorite Vancouver restaurants.

The best Vancouver restaurants to try

While there are hundreds of restaurants in each year’s Dine Out festival, these are definitely some of my top picks for the year. After combing through dozens upon dozens of menus I settled on these ones that looked original, exciting and tasty.

The thing with a set menu is that you won’t always find you like everything to choose from. Or perhaps you will, but your friend or partner won’t. Or vice versa. So narrowing it down was a process. With Dine Out, you don’t all have to order from the Dine Out menu. In most places I tried, at least one in our party ordered from the regular menu. But for me I chose places where the food on the Dine Out menu looked and sounded really good, and where I could sample all the courses.

Looking for a unique Vancouver activity? Check out this secret food tour on Viator.

Dine Out Vancouver is a chance to go a little out of your comfort zone. Try something new, somewhere you haven’t been before, and maybe you’ll find a new favorite restaurant. I’m a big fan of tasting menus, especially in somewhere that has such an impressive menu that I can’t choose just one item from. So this is perfect for me. If you’re in Vancouver around January/early February then definitely check this out. Or if you live in Vancouver, then you have no excuse to try somewhere new during Dine Out.

If you’ve enjoyed this post leave a comment or share using the social media buttons below. What unique Vancouver restaurants have you tried? Does your city do a similar dining festival? Or have you been to Dine Out Vancouver?