The Summer 2017 Scout 25 has just been released. It’s what you should feel confident giving to anyone who asks “Where should I eat in Vancouver?” It’s our list of Vancouver’s best, most consistent, most essential, and most representative restaurants. It is decided four times a year by an esteemed panel of local restaurant industry veterans and food experts who each submit a list. No politics. No bullshit.

If you don’t see your favourite restaurant here, check the honourable mentions at the bottom and note that many of the establishments therein have cracked the list in previous seasons. Either before or after ranking the results (by picking your favourite three), explore each restaurant in detail via the image gallery below…

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IN

Farmer’s Apprentice, West, Cinara

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OUT

Mission Kits, Mackenzie Room, La Mezcaleria

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS

(Multiple votes) Au Comptoir, Birds & The Beets, Bishop’s, Bistro Wagon Rouge, Blue Water Cafe, Boulevard, Campagnolo, Cinara, CinCin, Dock Lunch, Espana, Fable, Gotham, Homer St. Cafe, Hy’s, La Mezcaleria, Les Faux Bourgeois, Juniper, Kirin, Le Crocodile, Mackenzie Room, Masayoshi, Minami, Miku, Mission Kits, Motomachi Shokudo, Nicli Antica Pizzeria, Nook, Pizzeria Farina, Royal Dinette, Tableau, Tacofino.

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ABOUT THE SCOUT 25

The Scout 25 was inspired by the website Eater, which offers widely respected lists that detail the top 38 restaurants in every city it operates in. The “Eater 38” is an invaluable tool for food-loving travellers wary of online review sites. When the website closed its Vancouver outlet in 2014, we decided to develop our own version.

The Scout 25 is, of course, very different. Our list is developed in consultation with over a dozen people of prominence working in the restaurant industry – the idea being that no one is a better judge of restaurants than the people who toil in them. Our panelists are free to disclose their involvement at their leisure, but we don’t publicize or promote their identities so as to keep the focus on the restaurants rather than the individuals who judge them.

The list of restaurants – and the group that decides it – changes four times a year, on the first day of each season. How much it changes, of course, is up to the panelists. For the Summer 2017 edition, only three restaurants changed and twenty-two remained the same. The panel included three writers, two restaurateurs, two executive chefs, one sous chefs, one line cook, two servers, one sommelier,. one GM, one bartender, and one citizen-gourmand.

Only establishments that have been open for more than 6 months are considered (new locations notwithstanding)

THE NEXT SCOUT 25 WILL BE RELEASED AT THE START OF FALL: SEPTEMBER 22, 2017