Your first visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, should include some big-ticket items: Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown and watching seaplanes glide over the majestic North Shore mountains.
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seaplanes → include → mountains
However, locals will insist that the most interesting restaurants, art studios and social scenes dwell beyond the city’s downtown core and its immediate surroundings, in bustling, tree-lined neighbourhoods like Mount Pleasant and pockets of East Vancouver.
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restaurants → insist → Vancouver
Trendy new dining spots reflect a recent wave of immigration from Latin America, adding to a cultural mix already rich with Chinese, Indian and Filipino representation.
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spots → reflect → representation
Complementing these developments is the opening this year of the Time Out Market, anchored by acclaimed Vancouver restaurants; streamlined rail travel to Seattle, and a new suite of Amtrak trains; and the city’s role this summer as a World Cup host, which restored its entertainment district to its exuberant, pre-pandemic glory.
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which → complement → glory
Until the introduction of e-scooters two years ago, Vancouver’s glorious seawall, a 17-mile uninterrupted waterfront path, was used mostly by cyclists, runners and athleisure-clad locals.
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seawall → use → cyclists
There are now more than 5,000 available Lime e-scooter rentals (booked through their app, rates vary) around Vancouver, offering a more efficient way to enjoy unmatched views of the glassy cityscape and the North Shore mountains.
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rates → be → cityscape
Pick up your e-scooter around Kitsilano Beach and ride through the neighbourhoods of Granville Island, Olympic Village, Yaletown and the West End, pausing for a pint at Batch, a year-round bar that’s just steps off the path.
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that → pick → path
Ditch your scooter in the West End, before golden hour (the nearest docking station is at Beach Avenue and Hornby Street) — they’re prohibited at Sunset Beach, your scenic last stop.
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they → ditch → Beach
Stop for top sushi
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Stop → stop → sushi
A 10-minute uphill walk from Sunset Beach leads to Davie Village, a vibrant LGBTQ+ district on the fringes of the West End.
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walk → lead → End
Stroll around, and you’ll find a mix of gay bars and highly rated restaurants, including a local favourite, Tom Sushi.
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you → stroll → favourite
Vancouver is widely considered a top North American sushi destination — and even among its more than 450 sushi spots, Tom Sushi ranks among the elite.
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Sushi → consider → elite
The nigiri are especially good, with the tobiko and quail egg meriting special mention.
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egg → merit → mention
If you’re splurging, the bluefin sashimi trio topped with gold leaf flakes practically melts in your mouth ($48 for six pieces).
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trio → splurge → pieces
A tequila speakeasy
Latin restaurants are gaining momentum here, a result of both an increase in Latino immigrants and a surge in local tourism to Mexico City as Canadians choose to avoid the United States.
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Canadians → gain → States
Pantitlán, a new taco and tequila bar in East Vancouver, requires something of a quest.
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Pantitlán → require → quest
The 20-seat bar is intimate, the adobo-marinated tacos al pastor ($4.75 per taco) are full of flavour and the pisco sour margaritas ($16.25) justify the inevitable hangover.
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margaritas → marinate → hangover
Saturday
Go on a coffee crawl
Accessible on Vancouver’s SkyTrain line, Cedar Cottage is an East Vancouver neighbourhood with historic character, hip young families and the thrum of constant redevelopment.
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Cottage → go → redevelopment
On the south end of Commercial Drive, Flourist is a laid-back bakery perfect for grabbing a coffee and a pastry — the cardamom bun ($7) is the right amount of sweet, and the chocolate chip cookies are among the city’s best.
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cookies → lay → city
Take them to go and walk five minutes toward John Hendry (Trout Lake) Park, a 70-acre green space that hosts a popular farmers market on Saturday mornings until the end of October.
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that → take → October
The first Chinese immigrants arrived in Vancouver in the mid-19th century, and today, Chinese Canadians make up nearly a fifth of the city’s population.
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Canadians → arrive → population
The 141-year-old Chinatown sits on the eastern edge of downtown, and dated mom-and-pop storefronts nod to the Chinese community’s deep roots in the city.
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storefronts → sit → city
The Chinatown Storytelling Center ($18) describes that history through immersive exhibits like a recreation of 1950s Chinatown.
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Center → describe → Chinatown
The centre’s gift shop, Foo Hung Curios, isn’t your standard-issue souvenir store; there are designer mah-jong sets, pork bun plushies and miniature rice cookers.
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shop → be → ?
Weather permitting, turn the corner to visit the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Chinese Garden, a tranquil outdoor space behind the Chinese Cultural Center.
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Weather → permit → Center
Locals will happily point you to Phnom Penh, in Chinatown, a no-frills spot that happens to have exceptionally good wings.
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that → point → wings
Run by the same family for generations, this Cambodian and Vietnamese fusion restaurant has developed a cult following for its perfectly fried and salted garlic chicken wings (large order, $17) and marinated butter beef ($17.50), which are tangy slices of raw beef.
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which → Run → beef
It doesn’t take reservations for fewer than six guests, so expect a line, even at lunch.
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It → take → lunch
If you need a snack, New Town Bakery & Restaurant is a 5-minute walk down West Pender Street, and its pineapple buns ($2.50 each) and Chinese-and-Filipino-influenced pork asado steamed buns, known as siopaos ($4.50 each), are renowned around town.
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buns → need → town
Shop, sip and saunter
Vancouver’s epicenter of cool lies not in its downtown core, but in Mount Pleasant, about a 10-minute taxi ride away.
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epicenter → shop → Pleasant
Start at Main Street and East 22nd Avenue, where Front and Company has a well-curated selection of vintage clothing and accessories, from Dior handbags to streetwear by designer Heron Preston, a one-time collaborator of Virgil Abloh’s.
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Front → start → Abloh
Down the block, the Vancouver Special design store, whose name nods to a local architectural style, offers colourful Scandinavian furniture, funky clocks and a collection of rare coffee table books.
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name → nod → books
Between stops, grab a good cup of joe at Coco & Olive, a ceramics boutique and cafe, or at Foglifter, which serves the greatest carrot cake this author has ever had.
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author → grab → cake
Visit art studios
In a revitalized formerly industrial area of Mount Pleasant, the Beaumont Studios is a two-building community of art studios (more than 100 local artists in total), a cafe, a hair salon, a vintage store, a tattoo parlour and a community radio station, all connected by an artificial turfed courtyard.
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all → visit → courtyard
It’s free to wander around, though there’s no guarantee that any of the artists — including the Instagram-famous Sneaky Artist — will be there when you visit.
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you → ’ → Artist
But you can peer at their studios and artwork through windows, and the decorated halls and stairwells inside the building are exhibits in themselves.
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halls → peer → themselves
On most evenings, a local DJ spins in the street-facing radio studio to an audience of dog walkers and dinner crowds on the move.
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DJ → spin → move
Try farm-to-table fare
The dining experience at AnnaLena, a farm-to-table restaurant in Kitsilano, feels perfectly choreographed without cramping its West Coast cool.
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experience → try → cool
The hand-torn bread soaked in beef fat, served first, sets the tone — and the high expectations — for the other dishes on the six-course tasting menu ($178 per person), which includes aged Peking duck and a charcoal-roasted asparagus pasta.
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which → tear → duck
What unites them all is superior presentation, local ingredients and savory flavours.
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unites → unite → them
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
