Making the Longlist: Who Should We Consider for the 2027 Restaurant Awards?

Though we just finished celebrating our 2026 Restaurant Award winners, the clock never stops at Vanmag HQ. We’re already diving into prep for our 2027 awards—and this year, we need your help. 

Tell us: Which restaurants should be considered by our Restaurant Awards judges for next year’s awards?  

Every year, we put an esteemed panel of judges to work evaluating the city’s top restaurants across dozens of different categories (Best Indian, Best Informal Contemporary, Best Plant-Based and more). For 2027, we’re going to continue to rely on the expertise of acclaimed, experienced food writers for these awards, but we’d love to expand our longlist process to incorporate reader suggestions for 2027.  

In other words: to make sure beloved hidden gems and neighbourhood faves don’t slip through the cracks, we’re asking readers (that’s you!) to point us in the right direction. This is not the time to gatekeep. 

Fill out this quick survey to let us know where our Restaurant Awards should our Restaurant Award judges should go this year. Who should be on their radar as they put together the longlist for the 2027 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards? 

The judged longlist vs. the Readers’ Choice Awards 

Be warned: this won’t be the only time we’ll be turning to you through our awards process.

Later this summer, you’ll also get a chance to nominate and vote for your faves for our Readers’ Choice awards later this summer (make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter and following along on social so you don’t miss the window!).  

This is phase one of Research Mode to help make sure our judges are giving all of the best spots in the city the consideration they deserve. We’ll also be talking to our favourite foodie friends and gourmands, industry insiders, fellow restaurant critics and trend-obsessed colleagues to put together our official list of finalists, to be announced in January 2027. 

The winners will be celebrated in our May issue and at our big awards party (stay tuned for more details on that!). 

Ready to hit us with your hot tips? Good. We’re hungry. Let’s do this.  

The survey may take a moment to load—please be patient! When you fill out your first nomination, we’ll ask for your email (and give the option to sign up for the newsletters and our free print subscription), but you’ll only need to do that part once.