2023

Restaurant Awards 2023: The Best Casual Restaurants in Vancouver

For a casual date, an awesome lunch, a counter-service gem: these are the best restaurants in the city.

By the Editors /

The Best Casual Restaurants in Vancouver 2023

Gold: Chancho Tortilleria

The gold winner of our Best Casual category, Chancho Tortilleria, offers proof that gourmet flavours can be served up on a paper-lined tin tray. Tortillas are often merely the vessel for delivering some attention-grabbing filling—but at Chancho, the made-from-scratch, heirloom-corn wrappers are as beautiful as the hearty carnitas they’re designed to hold. We love the per-pound ordering system; sides as simple as guac and chips are dynamite.

2096 Commercial Dr., Vancouver
chancho.ca

Silver: Fat Mao Noodles

Silver winner Fat Mao Noodles recently opened a downtown room to join its Chinatown outpost, doubling chef Angus An’s service of bowl after bowl of crave-worthy Thai noodle soups (Khao Soi chicken curry noodles are a fave).

Multiple locations
fatmaonoodles.com

food at the bar at fat mao
Photo: Alaina Michelle Photography.

Bronze: HK BBQ Master

Richmond’s HK BBQ Master takes bronze this year with always reliable, always delicious Hong Kong-style barbecued meats that are worth the trip to the ’burbs—said one judge, “It beats the pants off anything in Chinatown.”

4651 No. 3 Rd., Richmond
instagram.com/hkbbqmaster

Photo: HK BBQ Master

Honourable Mentions: Douce Diner and Potluck Hawker Eatery

Honourable mentions go to North Van’s Douce Diner (case in point: challah French toast topped with lemon curd and mascarpone cream) and the cheery Potluck Hawker Eatery for its nostalgia-inspired Southeast Asian street food.

Douce Diner: 1490 Pemberton Ave., North Vancouver
doucediner.com

Potluck Hawker Eatery: 3424 Cambie St., Vancouver
potluckyvr.ca

Looking for more of the best restaurants in Vancouver? See all 70+ restaurants on the list.

the Editors

the Editors

The editorial team at Vancouver magazine is obsessed with tracking down great food and good times in our favourite city on earth. Email us pitches at [email protected].