We love a good Mexican, but the surroundings at the Tacofino Commissary in Vancouver elevates this to a great Mexican, and that’s before we’ve even tasted the tacos.

Beginning in 2009 in Tofino, British Columbia, as a food truck, the rapid growth of its reputation for quality food has led to the creation of a first permanent bricks and mortar base, and what a way to start. The restaurant features traditional communal bench seating of weathered wood, echoing the original picnic table set-up at the food truck, but the undoubted star of the show is the lighting by internationally-renowned, fellow Vancouverite Omer Arbel of Bocci. Each piece of the installation is hand (or mouth) blown, and is filled with live cactus plants from the Olla Urban Flower Project – all banded together with a meandering copper vine.

There’s loads of other nice little touches that make Tacofino stand out from the crowd, from the irregularly-shaped wooden number blocks on the tables to the vintage glassware dotted about. Why do I always end up writing these things at lunchtime? I could murder a bocadillo…