Vancouver is known for its natural beauty but little did I realize the other wonderful surprise in store: this is a foodie town.

I’ve already posted about my life-changing experience trying the hideous-yet-amazingly-delicious poutine. As it turns out, everything I ingested was just as tasty. If you know how much I adore good food, you know this means I was doing tiny little happy dances all around the city.

I visited Vancouver for eight days, with four of those being covered by work, and twice I went to Flying Pig in Yaletown. Although I typically try to switch it up and try as many new places as I can, I do not regret one second because that place is fantastic. The second night I even had to walk half a mile each way in the pouring rain, so you can imagine just how delicious the food is. Here’s the perfectly crispy, tangy brussels sprouts side dish with the happy hour salmon cakes. As delicious as the cakes are, the must-try dish is the house salmon sampler with all local salmon. You get one cake, a generous pile of smoked lox-style salmon and the crown jewel, cold smoked salmon. So much yum.
Being a harbor-centric city with a large Asian population means Vancouver has endless sushi options. I tried out a couple, but by far my favorite is Shizen-Ya. I think this is truly the best sashimi I’ve had in my life. The restaurant boasts its organic ingredients, locally-caught seafood and brown-rice-only menu. It is so. Darn. Good. They serve the most delicious brown rice I’ve ever tasted, and the fish melts in your mouth. This place is a must try if you like sushi. As an added bonus, every person gets complimentary tea with their meal.

Although I am not the biggest sweets lover, I do enjoy a good macaron on occasion. Boy, am I glad I stopped at Faubourg! The Parisian pastry and coffee shop has inventive flavors like strawberry-black pepper, kiwi-mint-chocolate and cantaloupe-orange blossom. I went with grapefruit-rosemary and my old standby, lavender. Bliss.

When in Vancouver, I highly recommend doing what I did… walk your butt off all day so you can justify gorging on all the tasty food! Good luck, and may you not end up in a debilitating food coma.