Tied for Gold: Delara and Zarak
Vancouver loves Middle Eastern dining for the same reasons it loves a long dinner with friends: warmth, abundance, spice and a room that makes you stay a little longer than planned. This year comes with a twist: two gold winners. Delara remains the benchmark for elevated Middle Eastern dining, praised as “the standard bar for the intersection of service, decor and technique” and “the first place” one of our judges would take someone to understand what high-end Middle Eastern cuisine looks like.
Zarak shares the gold for taking bigger swings, with one judge noting that it “ascends to the top” by trusting diners to follow them into more experimental territory, helped along by a “great” cocktail program and a menu that pushes past the usual falafel-and-hummus comfort zone.
2272 W 4th Ave.
delararestaurant.ca
2102 Main St.
zarakvancouver.com
Silver: Yasma
Silver winner Yasma is Denman doing Denman: lively, generous, satisfying and easy to love without turning dinner into a three-hour project.
550 Denman St.
yasma.ca
Honourable Mentions
Tamam
2616 E Hastings St.
tamam.ca
Saba
2881 Granville St.
sabafoods.ca
