Another quiet closure has hit Downtown Vancouver.
Chammani, a small mom-and-pop Korean spot that served affordable homestyle dishes for over a decade, appears to have permanently shut down.
For months, we noticed the lights were off during regular lunch hours.
Now the spot is tagged as permanently closed on Google, confirming the end of the road for this cozy neighbourhood staple.
The closure seems to have happened sometime in late 2025.
If you never made it to Chammani, you missed out on one of the few truly affordable Korean lunch options in the downtown core.
The spot was what Koreans call a bunshik jip, a type of casual eatery that specializes in street food style dishes at cheaper prices than typical Korean restaurants.
Think kimbap, bibimbap, rabokgi, naengmyun, and various ramyun.
Nothing fancy.
Just the kind of simple, filling food you would grab on a busy afternoon in Seoul.
These bunshik spots are everywhere in Korea.
They are the kind of places where students stop in between classes for a quick bite, or where workers grab a cheap lunch without breaking the bank.
The spot first opened around 2012, giving it a solid run of over a decade in a neighbourhood where turnover is brutal.
A new owner did take over in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit.
It is unclear what ultimately led to the closure, but keeping a small independent restaurant alive in downtown Vancouver has only gotten harder over the past few years.
Rising rents, labour costs, and shifting foot traffic have made it nearly impossible for these kinds of mom-and-pop spots to survive.
Chammani now joins a growing list of Vancouver food spots that have recently closed, including Kos Waffles, Famoso Pizzeria on Commercial Drive, and Grandjoy Hot Pot.
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Address: 529 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1V5