Restaurants are spread around the city - check locations carefully if you don't want to travel too far from downtown - though are naturally thinner on the ground in North and West Vancouver. Places in Gastown are generally tourist-oriented, with some notable exceptions, in marked contrast to Chinatown's bewildering plethora of genuine and reasonably priced options. Downtown also offers plenty of chains and huge choice, particularly with top-dollar places and fast-food fare: the local White Spot chain was founded in 1928 and has some thirty locations in Vancouver, and offers good and glorified fast food if time and money are tight - the branch at 1616 W Georgia St between Seymour and Granville is the most central downtown outlet. Superior chains like Earl's and Milestones are highly commendable, and a reliable choice for downtown eating right on Robson .The old warehouse district of Yaletown , part of downtown's new southeasterly spread, is also a key - and still developing - eating and nightlife area. Similar places line 4th Avenue in Kitsilano and neighbouring West Broadway, though these require something of a special journey if you're based in or around downtown. Perhaps try them for lunch if you're at the beach or visiting the nearby Vanier Park museum complex.

Countless cafes are found mainly around the beaches, in parks, along downtown streets, and especially on Granville Island. Many sell light meals as well as the coffee and snack staples. Little Italy , the area around Commercial Drive (between Venables and Broadway), is good for cheap, cheerful and downright trendy cafes and restaurants, though as new waves of immigrants fill the area Little Italy is increasingly becoming "Little Vietnam" and "Little Nicaragua". Yaletown and the heavily residential West End , notably around Denman and Davie streets - Vancouver's "gay village" - is also booming, the latter having gained a selection of interesting shops and restaurants.

The city also has a commendable assortment of bars , many a cut above the functional dives and sham pubs found elsewhere in BC. Note, however, that the definitions of bar, cafe, restaurant and nightclub can be considerably blurred: food in some form - usually substantial - is available in most places, while daytime cafes and restaurants also operate happily as night-time bars. In this section we've highlighted places whose main emphasis is food and drink; entertainment venues are listed in the next section. Note, too, that Vancouver has a handful of places that stay open all night or until the small hours.