Prime restaurant in Canada is quirky diner in South Vancouver

Just what does it consider to be named the absolute best have to-try out restaurant in all of Canada?

If you are the family members behind a humble South Vancouver diner that’s been all around due to the fact the newborn increase, it definitely takes a good deal of coronary heart. And you will come across this beloved breakfast and lunch spot in a most strange spot, to boot.

In January, veteran no-frills diner Northern Café & Grill, operate by the Mah family members, took the range a person place in Yelp’s yearly ranking of the Prime 100 Areas to Take in in Canada. 

Courting again to 1949, Northern is one particular of the city’s oldest dining places nonetheless in operation, and judging by its enduring acceptance, it truly is quick to see how it has sustained its standing as a staple for “greasy spoon” eats (and a bit of Chinese fare, as well).

Diner found off the crushed path in South Vancouver

Northern Café is situated on what might appear to numerous a no man’s land – that space south of the railroad tracks and on the financial institutions of the Fraser River at the southern edge of the city around the Knight Avenue bridge. This is a main industrial location, and the pretty definition of “off the overwhelmed path” as much as city eateries go which is since the modest diner is perched on a next amount in an old constructing tucked within a lumber property.

After you choose your way gingerly through the grime and puddles, the scent of contemporary-minimize lumber offers way to the unique aroma of breakfast food items on the grill. Immediately after hanging a appropriate and pushing open up a basic doorway, the grunts and beeps of lumberyard motor vehicles fade as Beatles and Sintatra tunes fill the place. Your eyes will not deceive you the flooring are sagging and crooked. 

The walls are coated in handwritten notes from guests from all over the planet from Iowa to South Korea, patrons gush about the terrific food items and congenial services.

Jimmy and Connie Mah took about procedure of the diner in 2008, and their two sons are portion of the crew, far too. Raymond, a Purple Seal-trained chef, is at the stove, while brother Richard is effective the flooring. 

Café serves all-working day breakfast, classic diner lunch plates, and Chinese staples

As the restaurant fills up early a single modern Friday early morning, the Mahs greet quite a few of the visitors with a heat familiarity it really is obvious that for a lot of this is a repeat visit. Continue to, as initially-timers, my nine-yr-old son and I are built to really feel right at property. We settle in and buy up some common diner grub: French toast with scrambled eggs and bacon for the kiddo, and a veggie omelette with hash browns and toast for me.

“We will have to appear back again at lunch to check out the other things,” indicates my son, and I agree. In addition to the all-working day breakfast, Northern is serving up burgers and sandwiches and Chinese staples, like wonton soup, chow mein, and combo plates featuring sweet and bitter or dry garlic pork. 

Our breakfast buy will come out rapid and hot, and with a smile – particularly what you want as you fuel up on a Friday early morning. The foods is straightforward, hearty, and unfussy. 

Northern Cafe is a particular position that appears actually irreplaceable. It truly is not so substantially that you leave imagining you’ve just had the finest breakfast you have at any time eaten, but that you go away pondering that was conveniently a person of the greatest eating out ordeals you’ve most likely had in a though. They are not kidding when they say “our household is your household,” on their web page – it just feels like a cozy dwelling. The crooked flooring, the old diner design, and the common tunes all add up to a vibe that won’t be able to be produced – not with this sort of pure authenticity. Out of the blue all these favourable Yelp reviews that pushed Northern to the leading of the nationwide heap make sense. 

As we near out our invoice at the counter, Jimmy Mah calls out to my son from the kitchen area. “No university currently?” he asks. No, we confess, we are actively playing a minor hooky. The elder Mr. Mah grins. “We’ll see you once more before long?”

Absolutely. 

Northern Cafe & Grill is found at 1640 E. Kent Ave in Vancouver and is open up Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Be sure to note the cafe will be shut for spouse and children vacations from Feb. 26 to March 15, 2023.

Observe: Breakfast at the amount one particular-ranked Canadian restaurant 

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@forkingawesomevia How did this quirky place conclude up amount just one? We found out. 🎙️ @LindsayWR #forkingawesome #vancouverbc #hiddengems #diner ♬ you are lovely – <3

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