Visiting Vancouver, BC for one dinner: which Asian cuisine to choose?

I’ve been to Vancouver, BC a lot, but almost always as we’re traveling through headed up to Whistler or the Sunshine Coast. In a few weeks, a few of us are headed up and will have time for one dinner. Given the amazing large and varied Asian populations there and with, from what I’ve been told, some of the best representations of these cuisines outside of their actual countries, we’re going to go big into one of them. What do we choose? Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese (Szechuan, Cantonese…), Taiwanese…? Please don’t bash me for obviously omitting cultures and cuisines on this list, as I know I’ve left off many and/or over-generalized.

So, which Asian cuisine would you opt for and, as a second question, what restaurant representing that cuisine would you recommend? We’re staying in Gastown, but are very fine Uber-ing somewhere if needed.

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We always enjoy the Indian food at Vij’s, https://www.vijs.ca – the only caveat is have a large group so you can try lots of dishes!

The sushi restaurants in Vancouver are fantastic. However, the favorites come and go so recent information is necessary to find the best of the best that have a great sushi chef, fly their fish from Tokyo, and the whole nine yards.

In Whistler, Araxi is the standard (but pricey and a bit sterile).

Thanks, Dan. I looked at sushi spots and have a spot reserved at Kishimoto. Any experience with that spot?

Brandon. Chinese (Cantonese especially) is what Vancouver dominates vs Seattle.

No need to go Korean Japanese Thai Malaysian etc. Seattle has comparable quality in most of those.

Sure if there are places u wanna go, all good. I’m just saying when people say Vancouver is head and shoulders above. They mean Cantonese food

If you are near downtown. I recommend Dynasty on broadway and cambie

If you are in Richmond. There are several.

Unfortunately, I don’t have recent sushi experience in Vancouver. My previous visit we only had time for dinner at Vij’s as we were mostly in Whistler. My prior sushi dinners in Vancouver were over 15 years ago so I don’t have specific recommendations but I have family that live in Seattle and travel up there 2-3 times a year.

I would start with Michelin-listed sushi places (Vancouver's Best Japanese Restaurants - The MICHELIN Guide) and do the usual comparison reviews on TripAdvisor/Yelp/Google to see if there is alignment and the vibe looks right.

Sorry I don’t have more specifics.

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Mark…BAM! This is precisely what I was hoping to learn. I’m doing it…Cantonese it is. I really appreciate it.

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2 years ago we went to Kissa Tanto. A Japanese Italian restaurant in Chinatown. Hipster type vibe and it’s upstairs.

Hm…“Japanese Italian” and hipster vibe…what did you think of it?

We loved it, but we stayed in the Harbor so the hotel car took us and picked us up. It’s supposed to be reminiscent of a Japanese jazz bar from the 60s. We had a booth near the bar which I think is the way to go.

Unfortunately, we went to two Japanese restaurants that were OK, but nothing special. Your choice looks better than what we went to. Should have chose Chinese or Indian.
Abattoir was very good but not Asian, obv.

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Hope this is still timely. One of my favourite HK restaurants for roasted squab (and their live seafood was pretty good too) was Sun Sui Wah. They moved to Canada (Vancouver) years ago due to the bird flu &, I’m guessing, the handover as well. Never been to Vancouver; but, given how long they were in business in HK, I’m reasonably sure they’ve kept their food quality up to old standards.

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So yes. Ssw is good but just fyi they opened a branch in Bellevue wa. Food Also good.