Explore Gluten Free Vancouver: The Best Restaurants, Bakeries & Cafes

Vancouver is probably my favourite city, and it’s a place I’d love to live in long term. For the past few months I’ve been nagging my best friend to move out here (and I think I’m getting close to convincing here). She’s celiac, and as such, strictly gluten-free. So to entice her to come out here, I’ve been testing out all of gluten free Vancouver restaurants and bakeries. And boy oh boy, there are a lot of them.

I don’t need to eat 100% GF, yet some of these places are my favourite restaurants, period. Many of them do dishes that are indistinguishable from the real thing – like creamy mac n cheese (where the pasta noodles aren’t crunchy) and caramel brownies that don’t taste like dry bricks.

So if Vancouver’s best gluten free restaurants can keep me happy, I’m sure you’ll love them too!

Gluten Free Restaurants in Vancouver

Okay, let’s start this list off with the best gluten free Vancouver restaurants. The following restaurants are 100% gluten free, so go nuts. If I had to choose two top recommendations, I’d suggest Heirs Pears and Bluhouse Cafe.

At the bottom of the post I’ve listed restaurants that have lots of gluten free options but are not 100% gluten free.

Heirs Pears

This is my favourite lunch spot in Vancouver (it’s kitty-corner to my apartment so I go there way too often). This is a 100% gluten free restaurant and you won’t believe the menu they have. Jerk Chicken, Egg’s Benedict, hearty salads and an amazing lineup of GF baked goods.

Here are my favourite items (link to menu):

Heirs Pears Breakfast (two poached eggs with avocado on potato cakes)
Vegan Meatball Sub (which has insanely good GF ciabatta)
Jerk Chicken
Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support is much appreciated! You can learn more by reading my full disclosure.

SMAK

This is another 100% gluten free restaurant in Vancouver. SMAK offers quick, easy and tasty meals for people on the go. Although a lot of their food is excellent, I think they do breakfast best. For breakfast, there’s a great assortment of oatmeal and smoothie bowls, scrambled egg dishes and GF avocado toast and breakfast sandwiches. For lunch, they have salads and curries and boxes, which are also good.

Here are my favourite items (link to menu):

Active Bowl
Avo Bacon Breakfast Sandwich or Mushroom Feta Breakfast Sandwich
Butterless Chicken
Keto Chicken Box

Bluhouse Market & Cafe

This is an AMAZING gluten free crepe place in Deep Cove. It’s far away from downtown, but trust me, it is so worth the trip out. They have a huge variety of naturally GF buckwheat crepes – both sweet and savoury – loaded with natural and fresh ingredients (minus the optional Nutella and whipped cream).

Here are my favourite items (link to menu):

Naughty Nutella Crepe with added Banana
Forage Crepe (mushrooms, pesto, herbie cheese, cherry tomatoes, greens)
On My Greens Smoothie

Iki Japanese Bistro

In total honesty, I didn’t realize just how hard it was to find gluten free sushi until I came to Vancouver. Rice + veggies + fish – where could the gluten be? Big mistake.

So it was awesome to discover Iki Japanese Bistro because their menu is 100% gluten free. They are even accredited by the Canadian Celiac Association!

Gluten Free Bakeries in Vancouver

The Gluten Free Epicurean

This is one of the most popular gluten free bakeries in Vancouver. Delainy (founder and celiac) has created each baked treat in such a way that it comes extremely close to the gluten-filled original. There are tons of varieties of bread, chocolate donuts and chocolate cakes, muffins, scones, quiches and brownies (check full menu here).

There is one retail location (located near Mount Pleasant) where you can pick up an order placed online the previous day. Also, I believe Gluten Free Epicurean supplies the baked treats for Heirs Pears (so you can get the delicious peanut butter brownie right away).

Mountain Top Gluten & Wheat Free Bakery

Mountain Top is a little bakery tucked away inside what looks to be the entrance of an office building near Lonsdale. But once you find the bakery, you’ll be pleased to find a wide variety of gluten free sweet and savoury treats. They have a ton of pies (like pecan, apple, meat and quiches). They have pastries like brownies and muffins (that aren’t dry or crumbly). And they have plenty of bread too. I definitely recommend the pecan pie! Unlike most of the other bakeries on this list, Mountain Top doesn’t have their menu on the website so you’ll just have to find out for yourself!

Lemonade Gluten Free Bakery

When life handed a pastry chef a gluten intolerance (lemons) she turned it into one of the best gluten free bakeries in Vancouver (lemonade). Located on Cambie Street, this bakery offers more than a dozen types of gluten free bread, beautifully decorated cakes and pastries – all made in a 100% gluten free facility. Try the Italian Cheese Savoury Buns, the Chocolate Caramel Silk Torte or the collection of DF / GF cupcakes (link to menu).

Innocent Ice Cream Parlour

Innocent Ice Cream Parlour is run by Asacia, who creates the best gluten free ice cream sandwiches. The ice cream is homemade and decadent and nestled in between two soft gluten free cookies (link to menu).

Classic (Chocolate Chip Cookies & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream)
Mo-Mint (Double Chocolate Chip Cookies & Mint Chip Ice Cream)
Salty Peanut Butter (Peanut Butter Cookies & Salted Caramel Ice Cream)

Two Daughter’s Bakeshop

This gluten free bakery no longer has its own retail location, however they do still supply cafes around Vancouver with GF treats. You can find exactly which cafes on this page here.

Gluten Friendly Options

I follow a largely gluten-free diet, although I am not 100% gluten free. However, this blog post is dedicated to my best friend, who is celiac and as a result follows a strict gluten-free diet. As such, when testing out all of these restaurants I made sure they could accommodate a strict GF diet and avoid cross contamination. That said, there is always a risk when eating at a restaurant that isn’t 100% gluten free.

So to help you out, I’ve separated this post into Gluten Fee (100% GF menu with no chance of contamination) and Gluten Friendly (both gluten and gluten free items are on menu, so chance of cross contamination).

The following restaurants and cafes are not 100% gluten free, however they do have a lot of gluten free options and are careful about cross contamination.

MeeT in Gastown

I’m not vegan, so I typically prefer my chicken to be real chicken and my cheese to be real cheese. However, I’ve been so blown away by this menu and how tasty the vegan options are. (The Mac n’ Cheez is one of the best things I’ve ever had). Likewise, the ganache tart will change your life.

There are a few items on their menu with gluten, but for the most part, it’s gluten free and they are really careful about contamination.

Here are my favourite items (link to menu):

Sweet Chili Cauliflower – holy smokes these are amazing (vegan and GF)
Butter Chikkin (vegan and GF)
Mac n’ Cheez Bowl (vegan and GF)
Chocolate Coconut Ganache Tar (vegan and GF)

Read More: 21 Best Hikes in Vancouver – Can’t Miss Vancouver Hiking Trails

Juke Fried Chicken

This is a mostly gluten free fried chicken restaurant. Now, I’m not a huge fan of fried chicken to begin with (I’m more a sweet than savoury person), but this is really good. The GF fried chicken is indistinguishable from the original and the sauce on the burgers is really good. Same with the chicken wings and chicken strips. The only qualm I have is with the gluten free burger bun – like most others I’ve tried, it’s quite dry and crumbly. That said, overall this is a big win.

Fried Chicken Sandwich with Gluten Free Bun (GF)
Sweet & Spicy Wings and Chicken Strips (GF)
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookie (GF)

Nuba

Ah, I love Nuba. This is a healthy Lebanese restaurant with a few locations in Vancouver. I go to the one at Richards and Davie (a little too often probably). Their menu is centred around savoury lamb, beef and chicken plates, plus chickpeas and lentils. The hummus and baba ghanooj is amazing – although they, unfortunately, don’t have GF pita chips.

Here are my favourite items (link to menu):

Najib’s Special (GF crispy cauliflower with tahanni)
Chicken Tawoook Mezze (GF)
Beef Sirloin Kebab Plate (GF)
Cocktails – ask for the GF options, they have some really fun ones!

Chau Veggie Express

This is an amazing Vietnamese quick service restaurant with tons of gluten free options. They have a variety of soups and bowls, all with ingredients like kale, shredded carrot, tofu and rice noodles. There’s are two locations – one in South Vancouver and one on Granville Island. I go to the one on Granville and it’s my favourite place to get food on the whole island.

Here are my favourite items (link to menu):

Golden Temple Soup (GF)
Rickety Rickshaw Bowl (GF)
Crispy Spring Rolls (GF)
Bai Sao Beach Chips (GF)

Zimt Chocolate Cafe

You may have seen the Zimt chocolate bars in grocery stores across Vancouver. These chocolate bars are manufactured right here in Vancouver, are 100% vegan and gluten free, made with ethical cocoa and wrapped in plastic free packaging.

And although it’s a bit of a trek, the Zimt Chocolate Cafe is on another level of tastiness. Adjacent to their factory is a cute cafe with baked goods and warm drinks made from their chocolate. There’s brownies, cookies, donuts, bars – really whatever the owner felt like baking that weekend. About half of the baked items are gluten free and the staff are diligent about preventing cross-contamination.

Here are my favourite items (link):

GF rosemary chocolate chip cookie
GF chocolate hazelnut square
GF double chocolate brownie

Zimt Chocolate Bar in front of Norvan Falls. Zimt has lots of gluten free options in Vancouver.

Dessert Directory

Dessert Directory is on Uber Eats and has a huge array of desserts – many of which are gluten free. There are gluten free cookie sandwiches (the Vanilla Oreo one… damn). The Keto Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake is gluten free and the best cake I’ve ever eaten in my life. They are also some GF bars – oat fudge, chocolate brownie and (my favourite) salted caramel brownie.

Here are my favourite things (link to menu):

Keto Chocolate Salted Cake (GF)
AntiDote Brownie (GF)

East is East

When I first moved to Vancouver and was asking around for restaurant recommendations, everyone was always saying East is East. Ironically, this is the only restaurant on this list that I haven’t been to. It’s an upscale Indian restaurant with two locations and has become super popular. It isn’t totally gluten free, however they do have a lot of gluten free options. Many of the rice bowls and mains are gluten free, and a lot of the starters have a gluten free option.

Tips for Eating Gluten ~Friendly~ in Vancouver

Contact the Restaurant Ahead of Time – Please use this post as a starting point for exploring all of the gluten free food in Vancouver. Send the restaurant an email or message on social media to ensure they can accommodate your needs. I’ve personally tried all of the recommended dishes (and then tested them all again to research this post – boy was that fun). They were gluten free when I ate them, however restaurant menus can change so always double-check.

When in doubt, Steak It Out – If you’re ever out in Vancouver and can’t find a GF restaurant near you, search Google Maps for The Keg Steakhouse.

Final Thoughts on Gluten Free Restaurants & Bakeries in Vancouver

I hope you’ve found this post helpful and are excited to explore Vancouver’s incredible gluten free scene! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

Additional Vancouver Guides: