2023

Restaurant Awards 2023: The Best Contemporary Restaurants in Vancouver

Meet the class of 2023: the very first winners of Vanmag's Best Contemporary Restaurant award.

By the Editors /

This category is fresh in every sense of the word. It’s a brand-new addition to the Restaurant Awards, replacing the former “Best West Coast.” And Best Contemporary celebrates modern culinary excellence: chefs that respect tradition, but aren’t beholden to it.

The Best Contemporary Restaurants in Vancouver 2023

Gold: AnnaLena

Earning the first-ever gold in this category is AnnaLena, a restaurant that also nabbed one of Vancouver’s first Michelin stars in 2022. Thanks to world-class tasting menus from chef Michael Robbins—also our Chef of the Year—AnnaLena shines with imaginative, artistic, detailed dishes. (Case in point: BBQ chicken consommé with smoked cod, yam agnolotti and wakame oil.) 

1809 W 1st Ave., Vancouver
annalena.ca 

AnnaLena. Photo: Allison Kuhl.

Silver: L’Abattoir

Silver belongs to L’Abattoir; our judges loved chef Lee Cooper’s sharp French technique and incorporation of distinctive Asian flavour (think steak tartare with bluefin tuna otoro and shiso). “It represents a real Vancouver point of view,” said one judge.

217 Carrall St., Vancouver
labattoir.ca 

Photo: L’Abattoir

Bronze: Burdock and Co

And Burdock and Co (another Michelin winner) bags bronze for chef Andrea Carlson’s carefully crafted, plant-forward dishes (rosemary-smoked potato with black garlic, anyone?) that celebrate the best of local, seasonal ingredients.

2702 Main St., Vancouver 
burdockandco.com 

Photo: Burdock and Co

Honourable Mention: Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar

845 Burrard St., Vancouver
boulevardvancouver.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].