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Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2020

Dine Out Vancouver Festival has returned to celebrate Metro Vancouver’s diverse culinary scene. The festival will run from January 17th till February 2nd and will offer set menus ranging from $15-$45. Tourism Vancouver organizes the festival. It is intended to showcase Vancouver’s ever expanding culinary scene, promote local ingredients and boost sales during a relatively slow time of year for the restaurant industry.

This is the 18th year for the Dine Our Vancouver festival. The number of local establishments participating has grown from 57 in its inaugural year to over 300 in 2020. The increase of establishments has allowed for a larger diversity in dining options. As a result, this will be the first year that brunch offerings will be included.

Participating restaurants at Dine Out Vancouver Festival
The kitchen at Farmer’s Apprentice

Restaurants

Choosing a menu (establishment) is probably the hardest part for the consumer. Thankfully Dine Out Vancouver has created a helpful search tool on their website that breaks down the full list into three categories: cuisine, neighbourhood and price. Most participating restaurants offer advance bookings, so reserve your table early.

Events

Also included in the festival are a number of culinary events held at various locations around town. Two that caught our eye are the Chinatown Dumpling Master Class and the Sustainable Seafood Walking Tour. The dumpling class is 3hrs in length and includes a 1hr stroll through Chinatown and 2hrs of dumpling training. Participants will leave with a take home recipe and hopefully the basic skills needed to create the soft pockets of joy.

The Ocean Wise Partner Program runs the seafood tour. Ocean Wise is managed by the Vancouver Aquarium to help consumers make ethical choices about their seafood. The walking tour will visit four Ocean Wise partner restaurants: Fanny Bay Oyster Bar, Colette Grand Cafe, Minami and Hula Poke. Participants will be given one small dish at each restaurant. Cost for this tour is $36.57 per guest.

Post Meal

For those looking to explore the city and burn off a few extra calories between meals, we highly recommend a guided bike tour.