Someone call Guy Fieri this B.C. diner serves Canadian and Chinese classics in a lumber yard

"Our house is your house."

That's the motto of Northern Cafe,which was recently named the top place to eat in Canada by review site Yelp.

The caf, which sits on the banks of the Fraser Rivernear the Knight Street Bridge in south Vancouver,is tucked away on top of a hardware storein the middle of a lumber yard.

A narrow staircasecan be found at1640 East Kent Ave. South that customers have been climbing for over 60 yearsso they can plop into red vinyl booths and dig into classic diner eats.

The diner opened in 1949 to feed workers in the area. Jimmy Mah and his wife Connie took over the business in 2008.

The Mahs serve diner favourites like pancakes and burgers, as well as Asian cuisine including homemade wontons and barbecue pork.

"I love what I do," Mahsays. "When I picked up this old diner ... there was no business at all."

The caf is truly a family affair.

Son Raymond Mahworked as a chef in Vancouver for nearly two decadesbefore coming over to help his parents. His brother Richard quit a digital marketing job in Japan to join the family business.

"We ain'tabout being fancy, it's all about no flair," Richard said,asa Little Richard song plays in the background. "We just want to serve good quality food, comfort food."

"It's all about giving love to the communityand to all the guests that come here."

The Mahs aren't the only family connection to the caf.

The Thomas family openedNorthern Building Supplyover 60 years ago and the caf was the brainchild of founder Bert Thomas,who wanted somewhere for his workers toeat near hislumber yard.

"He started it so they wouldn't leave all day," Bert's son John Thomas told CBC in 2019.

Nowadays, people come to the lumber yard to find food.

Raymond says it's flattering that many people, including travellers from around the world,seek out hisfamily'scaf.

"Walking down here, you're not going to try andfind a restaurant," he says.

It's even more flattering that people continue to leave positive online reviews.

"Being a family-owned, small,littlerestaurant here in the middle of nowhere, it definitely meansa lot to be rankednumber one in Canada."