This article is part of a guide to Vancouver from FT Globetrotter
“You don’t miss meat when you eat something like this,” said my longtime friend Bob — omnivore, lover of good food, husband to a vegetarian who is frequently subject to his entreaties to “come back to the dark side” of meat eating — pausing while eating his dan dan noodles.
We were at Chinatown’s Mila (see below), the second of four planned meals in Vancouver’s vegan or vegetarian restaurants. The dish in question was rich, spicy and saucy, the yakisoba wheat noodles accompanied by crisp, bright-green Chinese broccoli and crunchy peanuts. In place of the traditional minced pork was farro, the chewy, even meaty, texture of the grains adding something incredibly satisfying.
As plant-based dining evolves, the challenge facing chefs and restaurateurs around the world is not only to make creative, delicious food that serves the growing population of vegans and vegetarians, but also to satisfy their carnivorous companions, who may want to cut down their meat intake for health or environmental reasons.
Some have been meeting that challenge with notable success. Rob Rubba of plant-based restaurant Oyster Oyster in Washington, DC, for example, won the prestigious James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 2023. And in Vancouver, the Michelin Guide has generated international recognition and exposure for a number of vegan restaurants.
My challenge was to take my meat-eating, veggie-loving appetite in search of plant-based satisfaction. Did I find it? Short answer: yes.
Chickpea
4298 Main StREET, Vancouver, BC V5V 3P9
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Good for: Casual, hearty vegan eats
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Not so good for: Diners with an aversion to spices
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FYI: Owners Jordana and Itamar are also starting their own mushroom-growing business called Shroomlandia
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What to drink: There’s a limited selection of BC wines and local craft beers. The decent roster of cocktails includes Hotel Georgia – named after a venerable city establishment and featuring award-winning Sheringham Seaside Gin from Vancouver Island – and the negroni Magriv, which makes use of bittersweet vermouth from local craft distiller Odd Society Spirits
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Opening times: Monday–Thursday, 10am-10pm; Friday–Sunday, 9am–11pm
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Reservations
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Website; Directions
Funky, friendly and fulfilling, Chickpea serves vegan comfort food that is a marriage of its owners’ backgrounds. Jordana Shani hails from Vancouver, while husband and chef Itamar Shani is from Israel and brings Mediterranean spice and recipes to the kitchen. They started Chickpea first as a food truck in 2016, then opened the restaurant a year later, creating a laid-back atmosphere with bare wood tabletops, colourful murals and cosy nooks equipped with comfy cushions.
Predictably, there is baba ganoush and impossibly smooth hummus, and the chickpea fries are a staple. But the expansive menu ranges from tiny tapas bites and bulging pita wraps to something called the Cauliflower of Life. Mains can be ordered in a variety of formats: burrito, pita, salad, rice bowl, hummus plate or platter.
We selected the shawarma as a platter; this was the first time I’d tried soy curls and they were as fully seasoned, flavourful and, yes, satisfying as the classic meat-based version. We also ordered Calamachik as a salad plate, and the oyster mushrooms deep-fried in cayenne tempura batter with tzatziki were a shockingly excellent alternative to calamari in both texture and taste. Another delicious plant-based alternative was the labaneh, made with coconut cream cheese instead of the traditional dairy-based yoghurt cheese, while the Ke-bah-burg’s blend of baharat and sumac spices with plant-based ground meat packed a tonne of flavour into a thick patty.
Even my sweet-toothed spouse passed on dessert because we were too full, but we have our eyes on Safta’s Secret carrot cake or, perhaps, Lumberjack baklava for a return trip.
Nightshade
1079 Mainland Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 5P9
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Good for: Sophisticated vegan fine-dining
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Not so good for: People who like their fine dining to be stuffy and formal
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FYI: Nightshade’s parent company is Sattva, a term in Sanskrit that can refer to goodness, purity and positivity, and this is its first plant-based restaurant
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What to drink: In addition to creative cocktails, Nightshade has an excellent selection of wines from British Columbia’s Okanagan region, a small list of BC craft beers and some interesting zero-proof alternatives
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Opening times: Monday–Tuesday, 5pm–10pm; Wednesday–Thursday, 11.30am–2.30pm and 5pm–10pm; Friday, 11.30am–10pm; Saturday–Sunday, 10.30am–10pm
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Reservations
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Website; Directions
I recommend cocktails to start. My wife’s Floating Sunset daiquiri tasted like a Hawaiian passionfruit tart in a glass and my blackberry bourbon sour was a delight — not too sour, not too sweet, not too boozy, with a thick froth courtesy of aquafaba, the liquid from a can of chickpeas. I regret not having a second.
This cool restaurant in trendy Yaletown garnered a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand award in 2022, and executive chef Chanthy Yen and colleagues show an impressive attention to detail from drinks to desserts. They cook with local produce, collaborating with small producers from farms throughout southern British Columbia and even expert foragers.
Our tasting menu began with truffle gyozas filled with mushrooms, water chestnuts and earthy, rich flavour. Our tempura crunch sushi roll carried a delicate campfire whiff courtesy of the spiced, smoked tofu, combined with sweet potato and shoyu pepper. Nightshade generally doesn’t set out to mimic meat in all its dishes, but the French horn scallops — mushrooms topped with pickled saffron pearls, complemented by spring pea and asparagus purée and nori crisps — are a heck of a substitution for the actual bivalves.
Our final savoury dish, rotolo del sole, was solidly up my street; I come from an Italian family, and I was impressed at how tender the house-made pasta was, even without egg as a binding agent. The filling of whipped potato and vegan cheese was creamy and comfort-food satisfying.
Dessert was rhubarb tres leches, featuring jasmine and cardamom pound cake, Madagascar vanilla whip, rhubarb and strawberries cooked in warm spices and Campari, and sorbet made with calamansi and foraged elderflowers: a burst of bright, fruity flavour.
The Acorn
995 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V5V 3P3
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Good for: Cool fine vegetarian dining in an eclectic neighbourhood
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Not so good for: Someone who just wants a burger, no matter what it’s made of
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FYI: The Acorn team also owns The Arbor, a more casual spot just a few doors north
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What to drink: The eclectic wine menu features bottles from BC and Europe, plus there’s a varied selection of local craft beers
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Opening times: Monday–Friday, 5.30pm–10pm; Saturday–Sunday, 10am–2pm and 5.30pm–10pm
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Reservations
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Website; Directions
The Acorn is unapologetically vegetarian. You won’t find veggies masquerading as meat or traditionally meat-based meals rendered in plants. What you will find is a menu of flavourful and sometimes surprising dishes, most of which also have vegan options, from a kitchen dedicated to delicious dining while also being zero waste.
The restaurant was opened in 2012 by former punk musician Shira Blustein, whose team, including head chef Matt Gostelow (who hails from London), focuses on local farmers, foragers and wineries with great success — its plaudits include a 2022 recommendation in the Michelin Guide.
Amid the eatery’s dark wood and mirrors, our tasting menu started with an amazing cold strawberry broth topped with peach leaf oil, which cranked up our taste buds for what was to come. Every offering was carefully rendered, expertly cooked and warmly explained by the server – from a potato salad with beetroot, daikon pickles and a dill and horseradish emulsion, to the house sourdough served with cultured butter topped with Vancouver Island sea salt and strawberry-top vinegar.
The cucumber salad was boosted by the herbaceous flavour of lovage oil and vinaigrette, while the bok choi featured mint, crispy shallots and hazelnuts from BC’s Fraser Valley. We also enjoyed an unusual dish of maple-glazed German potatoes with mushroom jus, redcurrants, turnips and a hint of smoke.
The showstopper for me was the pre-dessert palate cleanser: ice cream of carrot and muskrat root (a perennial found in marshes that is favoured by the eponymous rodent), which was astonishingly good. I’d have taken a carton of it home.
Mila
185 Keefer Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1X3
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Good for: Elevated and creative vegan dishes
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Not so good for: Diners averse to plant-based alternatives in usually meat-based dishes (eg, celeriac “cod” in fish tacos)
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FYI: Mila is owned by the company behind Virtuous Pie, a vegan pizza chain
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What to drink: Mila has short but well-curated lists of wines and Vancouver-area craft beers (a crisp La Piazza Italian Pilsner from east Vancouver’s Luppolo Brewing Company hit the spot), and a fun roster of cocktails, including Crimson & Clover, Her Name Was Lola and the appropriately-named-for-the-city After the Rain
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Opening times: Monday–Thursday, 11.30am–10pm; Friday, 11.30am–11pm; Saturday, 10.30am–11pm; Sunday, 10:30am–10pm
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Reservations
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Website; Directions
Flavour is everything everywhere all at once at Mila. Opened in September 2020 in Chinatown (next to the modern and Michelin-noted Chinese brasserie Bao Bei, and within steps of numerous traditional Chinese markets and eateries), this vegan restaurant holds its own with creativity and flair.
Sporting a light, bright and airy decor, Mila is headed by chef Breanne Smart, whose menu focuses on plant-based takes on usually meat- or fish-forward dishes. The aburi lox oshi, for example, subs thinly sliced, poached and marinated carrot for salmon lox, which sounded intriguing. “But there’s no way I’m ordering tuna crispy rice,” I thought of the dish that replaces rich tuna with chopped watermelon. However, our tasting menu included both, and I was surprised by how much I loved the former even without smokey, oily BC salmon — and humbled by the ridiculous deliciousness of the latter. Lesson learned: don’t judge a sushi by its melon.
A Caprese salad was identical in composition to many other Caprese, with the exception of a fresh “mozzarella” made in house using cashews and coconut cream-based yoghurt from Vancouver’s Yoggu! — and honestly more richly flavoured than the dairy-based real thing.
We tore through the aforementioned dan dan noodles and finished with tofu karaage bao: a meaty dish even sans fried chicken, featuring a delicate combination of yuzu slaw, lime kewpie mayo and pickled cucumber wrapped in airy buns from Vancouver institution Hon’s.
We wrapped up our lunch with bite-sized s’mores, a dish that wouldn’t normally make my top 20 desserts list even if I were drunk, but these were elite: house-made chocolate ganache, Graham cracker, raspberry gel and a toasted marshmallow created with aquafaba. Before we’d finished, however, my meat-loving friend Bob concluded: “If I were a billionaire, I’d hire somebody to cook for me like this every day.”
Extra courses Here are two additional restaurants I haven’t yet visited but are on my list based on recommendations from friends and acquaintances:
Tell us about your favourite plant-based eateries in Vancouver in the comments. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter
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