Savouring The West Coast
Range Rover x SHARP
In Vancouver, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword — it’s a way of life, especially when it comes to cuisine. The city thrives at the intersection of natural beauty and innovation, making it a global leader in sustainable dining. With access to Pacific seafood, local farms and foraged ingredients, Vancouver’s chefs craft dishes that both celebrate the environment and protect it. Whether it’s reducing food waste, embracing seasonal ingredients or supporting local farmers and fisheries, these restaurants prove that doing good for the planet can also do great things for our taste buds.
Locavore Luxe
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The Acorn, an award-winning, vegetable-forward restaurant recognized by the Michelin Guide, is a Main Street standout committed to sustainability. Operating under a strict locavore philosophy, 99 percent of its ingredients — sometimes even including the plates — are sourced from British Columbia and Western Canada. Its zero-waste kitchen transforms scraps like melon seeds into butterscotch, squash guts into miso, and bruised tomatoes into arrabbiata sauce. Preservation techniques, such as drying, freezing, canning and syrup-packing, ensure the availability of local produce year-round, even during Vancouver’s winter months dominated by root vegetables.
The menu substitutes imports for native ingredients, using larch tips for cinnamon, rose hips for tamarind, and sorrel for citrus. Freshly foraged finds, including chanterelles and matsutakes, often feature in daily specials, alongside produce sourced from local farmers and nasturtium cultivated in the restaurant’s garden. The Acorn also educates diners on sustainability and seasonality while redefining plant-based cuisine with innovative textures, colours and flavours. Notable offerings include the barbecued king oyster mushroom steak and zucchini, complemented by a beverage program focused solely on organic and natural wines.
Veggie Vanguard
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Folke is a fully plant-based restaurant offering a seasonal menu of small plates for shared dining, featuring bright, inventive and locally sourced vegan dishes. Co-owner and chef Colin Uyeda, formerly of Kissa Tanto and Pilgrimme, leads the kitchen with a focus on plant-based innovation. Standout dishes include beet tartar made from roasted, smoked and dehydrated beets with golden gnocco fritto; roasted yellow zucchini with chili crunch, Thai herbs and fig leaf powder paired with rye flatbread; new potatoes with fava beans and yuzu; kohlrabi with kimchi and chrysanthemum; and house-made bread with kale “butter” topped with sesame seeds. Pastry chef and co-owner Priscilla Deo crafts desserts like a multi-layered chocolate cake with mousse, strawberry gelée, Earl Grey custard and fudge crunch, avoiding heavy oils or coconut creams. BC-sourced natural wines, local ciders and house-made non-alcoholic cocktails complement the menu.
Folke’s sustainability efforts include sourcing from local farms, minimizing waste and adopting a hospitality-included pricing model to provide fair wages without tipping. Deep blue walls, seaweed pressings and dried grasses create a tranquil, coastal ambiance, while an open kitchen invites diners to engage with chefs about preparation methods and ingredient origins. Bike parking reinforces Folke’s inclusive, eco-conscious ethos.
Plant-Based Playbook
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MILA combines sustainability and creativity to offer a globally inspired, plant-based dining experience that appeals to vegans and non-vegans alike. Stationed in Chinatown, MILA shares ownership with Virtuous Pie, which also developed TMRW Foods. Committed to ethical practices, MILA prioritizes locally produced, organic and minimally processed ingredients, including TMRW Foods’ ground meat alternative and select use of Beyond Meat sausage. Creative substitutes, such as celeriac for “fish” in sushi and heart of palm for seafood textures, elevate familiar dishes while promoting plant-based innovation.
The menu, initially planned for fine dining, was adapted post-pandemic to balance elevated casual flavours with practicality for dine-in and takeout. Standout dishes include Aburi Lox Oshi (carrot “lox” marinated for three days), Sushi Cones with celeriac “prawn tempura,” and Polenta Bolognese featuring TMRW ground “beef.” Brunch options, like tofu scramble and chickpea frittata, pair with generous mimosas and Bloody Marys. A robust beverage program emphasizes sustainability, featuring an all-B.C. wine list, local craft beers and ciders, and signature cocktails like the Coconut Margarita and Clover Club.
Brown Rice Revolution
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Established in 2009, Shizenya is the first natural Japanese food chain in North America to serve sushi exclusively with brown rice and salads made from organic vegetables. The menu emphasizes sustainability and health, featuring organic brown rice, organic vegetables and Ocean Wise-approved seafood. High-quality, natural ingredients, including homemade stock, genuine Japanese wasabi and carefully selected seasonings, further underscore its eco-conscious ethos. Salads and sushi highlight organic components, while vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options cater to diverse dietary needs.
Standout offerings, such as the dragon roll, exemplify the fusion of healthy and flavorful Japanese cuisine. Lunch specials balance value, convenience and sustainability, appealing to diners on the go. Grounded at the corner of Hornby and Nelson, Shizenya contributes to Vancouver’s sustainable dining scene with its commitment to eco-conscious practices and high-quality Japanese fare.
Farm-to-Tortilla
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Chancho sources ancient, non-GMO corn directly from 32 Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, supporting small-scale farmers and preserving traditional agricultural practices. By focusing on ancient corn varieties — some of which have nourished communities for millennia and are unavailable elsewhere — the restaurant plays a vital role in their preservation. The corn is prepared through the nixtamalization process, which involves soaking, cooking in limewater and grinding to create nixtamal masa, ensuring tortillas are free of flour or additives and made with integrity. Fresh tortillas are baked daily on-site using a traditional Mexican tortilla machine, with rotating varieties such as yellow and blue corn offering unique flavours and textures.
Chancho fosters transparency by listing detailed sourcing information, including the region, community, elevation and family responsible for growing the corn, highlighting its connection to Indigenous farming traditions. Partnering with local farmers for pork and other ingredients, the restaurant emphasizes sustainability and ethical practices while embodying the warmth and authenticity of a Mexican small-town tortilleria on Commercial Drive.
Foraged & Fermented
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Published on Main, led by chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson — trained at Copenhagen’s renowned three-Michelin-star Noma — offers contemporary, locally driven cuisine guided by a commitment to sustainability. With over 90 percent of ingredients sourced locally, the menu features fish such as salmon, sablefish and lingcod; shellfish like prawns, oysters and clams; Fraser Valley duck, Cache Creek beef, Alberta lamb and a wide range of seasonal produce. Weekly menu updates reflect microclimates and microseasons, incorporating foraged items like chanterelles and matsutake mushrooms. Seasonal ingredients are preserved through fermentation, enabling year-round use while doubling as décor. A zero-waste ethos drives creative uses of byproducts, such as juicing trimmings for prawn dressings and fermenting squash seeds into miso glazes.
Signature dishes include side-striped prawns with cucumber and horseradish broth, roasted halibut with a buttery broth and sweet potato roti. The beverage program emphasizes low-intervention, biodynamic and natural wines from ethical producers, earning recognition as a finalist for Best International Sustainable Wine List. Interiors reflect the restaurant’s sustainable philosophy, featuring a plant-canopied solarium with natural cane seating and a dark-panelled rear dining room, designed with timeless materials to age gracefully and align with the evolving, seasonal menu.
Greenhouse Glamour
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Botanist, perched within downtown’s Fairmont Pacific Rim, combines “greenhouse chic” with opulence, offering a serene retreat in the urban environment. Designed by Ste Marie and Glasfurd & Walker, the space reflects botany’s principles and regional natural beauty, with a bar, dining room, lounge, outdoor terrace garden and The Garden — a glass-walled space featuring over 50 plant species, including edible plants like green tea camellia, cardamom and ginger.
Drawing on the Pacific Northwest’s year-round agricultural abundance, the restaurant showcases a deep commitment to sustainability through its design, cuisine and beverages. Executive chef Hector Laguna’s menu highlights sustainably sourced seafood, organic ingredients from local suppliers and produce rooted in the region’s soil. Complementing the menu, a terroir-driven wine program focuses on responsibly sourced biodynamic and organic selections. The award-winning bar program, led by Grant Sceney, integrates sustainability with creativity, featuring a zero-waste cocktail program exemplified by the eco-conscious Deep Cove.
Michelin Meets Mindful Dining
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Michelin-starred AnnaLena, situated steps from Kitsilano Beach and a short walk from downtown, offers a multi-course tasting menu inspired by seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms, producers and suppliers. Sustainability drives every aspect of its operations, from partnerships with farms like Hannah Brook, North Arm, and Hazelmere to adapting menus based on product availability. Co-founded in 2015 by chef Mike Robbins and operations manager Jeff Parr, the restaurant has earned numerous accolades. The tasting menu, which evolves every six weeks in “Chapters,” features dishes such as turnip and radish crudité with burrata and lamb saddle with fried lamb belly, asparagus and romesco jus, alongside a signature torn bread charred at high heat after soaking in oil. Wine pairings, curated by award-winning wine director Reverie Beall, spotlight small-batch and organic producers from British Columbia and beyond.
Chef Robbins, whose culinary approach blends his multicultural East Vancouver upbringing with global influences, emphasizes adaptability and continual learning. The interior design reflects Robbins’ personal touches, including exposed brick, a Jordan sneaker collection, and Gameboys, with the space undergoing eight redesigns since opening.
Gallery of Green Cuisine
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1931 Gallery Bistro, housed within the Vancouver Art Gallery, honours the institution’s founding year by blending cultural and culinary elements rooted in the city’s history and diverse communities. Its recently renovated 120-seat outdoor patio overlooks Robson Square, paired with a minimalist interior design that reflects the Gallery’s artistic ethos and nine-decade legacy. The west coast fusion menu prioritizes modern dishes crafted with locally sourced, organic and seasonal ingredients to reduce food transportation emissions, minimize its carbon footprint and support local farmers. Operating as a not-for-profit, all proceeds fund the Gallery’s exhibition and education programs, reinforcing a commitment to sustainability through eco-conscious practices and cultural contributions.
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