Vancouver Eats: Northern Cafe

My brunch pancake combo with over easy eggs and avocado

Northern Cafe is a hidden gem that I've been meaning to visit for over a year, but never made it out there, partly because I didn't have anyone to go with me, and also I wasn't sure how to get there.

This morning a new friend I met took me there, which is actually upstairs from a hardware store in an industrial area of Vancouver's south side.

You have to park just outside Gate 1, where there are signs leading to the nondescript cafe.

The entrance to the Northern Cafe upstairs

In early 2023 Northern Cafe had the distinction of being named the best place to dine in Canada according to restaurant review site Yelp. I have had other friends rave about the place so it's been a place I've been wanting to visit and I was not disappointed.

Walk up the rickety stairs and open the door into a small room with a condensed-looking diner, as booth seats are crammed together with very little space in between tables that seat between two to four people.

This morning we arrived at 11am and there were one or two tables free. Phew! Otherwise we'd have to stand and wait.

Northern Cafe opened in 1949 and mostly served people working in the area. In 2008, the Mah family took over the cafe; father Jimmy retired for two or three years after running restaurants around Vancouver and was bored so he bought the cafe 16 years ago. His sons help out, Raymond is the chef, and his brother Richard quit his corporate job in Japan to work at Northern Cafe.

The family is personable, as former Hongkonger Jimmy came by to chat with us in a mixture of Cantonese and English. It's no wonder that half the clientele are Cantonese-speaking. 

Old school diner vibe and friendly service

The menu is also very price-friendly with breakfast dishes starting at around C$14. My friend says the coffee's good too. I ordered the pancake combo, with two eggs over easy, instead of sausage or bacon I got half an avocado, and two fluffy buttermilk pancakes. My friend had two eggs over easy too, sausage, hash browns and wholewheat toast.

Her only complaint was the hash browns weren't crispy enough and the staff told her to request extra crispy next time. 

There are even some Chinese items on the menu like wonton soup and potstickers, both of which are homemade. I'll have to try that next time.

It's not really a place to linger, as there was a constant stream of customers coming in, but it's definitely a dining destination for those looking for a quirky place to eat.

Northern Cafe

1640 East Kent Avenue South

Vancouver, BC

+1 778 532 6240