Best Japanese restaurants in Vancouver

Joël Watanabe's Japanese-Italian plates up in Chinatown; charcoal udon with Dungeness crab.

• MICHELIN 1 MICHELIN StarSource ↗

  A moody, jazz-café-inspired room and a bold kitchen that fuses Japanese and Italian cooking. The omakase draws from the à la carte menu and adds off-menu dishes.

  Standout dishes: roasted and fried celeriac with mushroom dashi, tajarin with miso-cured egg yolk, tiramisu with plum wine tofu filling

• Canada's 100 Best #15Source ↗

  A decade-old spot fusing Japanese and Italian comfort food into fine dining, in a room evoking 1960s Tokyo jazz cafes.

  Standout dishes: charcoal udon, deep-fried whole rockfish, burrata with beets

• La Liste 76/100

Peter Ho grills heritage chicken on binchō-tan: 16 courses, 14 seats.

• MICHELIN 1 MICHELIN StarSource ↗

  A 14-seat Mount Pleasant counter where chef Pete Ho sets a high bar for yakitori in Vancouver. Heritage-breed birds, skilled butchery, a long-kept sauce and expert grilling give simple food real depth.

  Standout dishes: red crab chawanmushi with yuzu, crispy fried tofu with sweet soy, chicken skewers over binchotan, chicken oysters and heart

• Canada's 100 Best #17Source ↗

  A 14-seat yakitori counter where chef Peter Ho serves a 16-course omakase on a binchotan grill, with heritage chicken used nose to tail.

  Standout dishes: chawanmushi with red crab and yuzu, chicken thigh skewer, tsukune, stuffed dry-aged chicken wing

• Canada's Best New #1Source ↗

  Chef Peter Ho grills at high heat and close range over custom charcoal, brushing each skewer with a 60-year-old tare, with expertly butchered chicken at the centre.

  Standout dishes: chicken thigh skewer, chicken oyster skewer, zucchini skewer brushed with chicken fat

• enRoute Best New #8Source ↗

  The reviewer valued a lively room and chef Peter Ho's yakitori omakase, which blends Japanese technique with Taiwanese roots at the pace of his grilling.

  Standout dishes: shima aji, chicken skewers, chicken knee

Masayoshi Baba turns B.C. seafood into edomae nigiri at his counter.

• MICHELIN 1 MICHELIN StarSource ↗

  Chef Masayoshi Baba recreates a Japanese jewel-box sushi counter in Vancouver, and the counter seats give the closest view of his craft. The omakase puts British Columbia seafood into Edomae-style nigiri.

  Standout dishes: chilled uni with junsai and tomato dashi gel, sea bass folded over wakame, steamed monkfish, abalone

• Canada's 100 Best #59Source ↗

  A 24-seat omakase counter led by Masayoshi Baba, with Japan-sourced fish, careful local sourcing and praised knifework.

Plain outside, refined within: Juhyun Lee's omakase.

• MICHELIN 1 MICHELIN StarSource ↗

  An unassuming exterior hides a lavish omakase with Japanese seafood, handmade ceramics and a hinoki counter. The cooking is restrained and lets ingredient quality lead, with low-key service and a chef-chosen wine and sake list.

  Standout dishes: Edomae-style nigiri, fried karei flounder rice dish

• enRoute Best New #4Source ↗

  The reviewer found omakase here both exacting and joyful, with chef Ju Hyun Lee's pride in his craft and Japanese suppliers coming through in a relaxed, warm room.

  Standout dishes: chawanmushi, red sea bream sashimi, kinmedai, uni

Candlelit omakase: seasonal fish and bamboo-leaf carving.

• MICHELIN 1 MICHELIN StarSource ↗

  A theatrical omakase with costumed hosts, candlelight and a curtain raised on the seating time. Seasonal premium fish and a bamboo-leaf carving demonstration make the meal feel like a performance.

  Standout dishes: crab chawanmushi, lobster tempura, pressed mackerel nigiri, grilled unagi skewer