Michelin Guide Vancouver 2023: 1 new star awarded brings city’s total to 9, while Chinese-Canadian bags Young Chef Award
- Japanese omakase restaurant Okeya Kyujiro was awarded a Michelin star in the newly unveiled Michelin Guide Vancouver 2023
- Chinese-Canadian chef Warren Chow of Wildlight Kitchen + Bar won the Young Chef Award, and the Bib Gourmand and Recommended Restaurants lists got new additions
A Japanese omakase restaurant in Vancouver became the latest venue in the city to be awarded a Michelin star following the release of the second edition of the Michelin Guide in Vancouver.
The award brings the total for the city in Canada’s British Columbia province to nine stars.
Yuki Anai, executive chef at Okeya Kyujiro, was thrilled to receive the star. “We are so excited. We can’t believe it,” he said while clutching the award.
The restaurant’s founding chef, Takuya Matsuda, launched his first branch in Canada in Montreal three years ago. The Vancouver location opened in September 2022.
According to the restaurant’s website, it not only sources seafood from Japan, but from around the world, and focuses on seasonality.
Okeya Kyujiro also aims to help diners experience Japanese hospitality and culture, which is probably why the restaurant was also recognised with the Michelin Outstanding Service Award.
Michelin’s Young Chef Award was presented to Chinese-Canadian chef Warren Chow, the executive chef of Wildlight Kitchen + Bar, located near the University of British Columbia campus.
“This was all a surprise to me. So when they announced my name, I was literally shaking. I thought I was going to pass out walking on stage,” he said.
“But this is so special to me – having the Michelin Guide in Vancouver, my hometown where I was born and raised.”
Chow, 31, worked at various places in British Columbia including Pear Tree Restaurant, Terrace Restaurant (at the Mission Hill winery), Juniper and German restaurant Bauhaus before opening Wildlight Kitchen + Bar in February 2022.
The restaurant, which Chow describes as “approachable”, showcases ingredients from British Columbia. Its varied menu features dishes from hamburgers and chicken wings to miso sablefish, gin-steamed mussels and duck breast.
“I wanted to create a menu and a restaurant that appealed to everybody, where everybody was welcome,” he said. “So me, and my … team, we all want to provide a premium level of service, but in an unpretentious space.”
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Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, was notably absent for this year’s Vancouver unveiling, with a Michelin spokesman saying he is prioritising first-year guide ceremonies and was not in Toronto either, which held its awards last week.
He did, though, record a video message for the audience made up of restaurant and hospitality industry members.
“This sort of steady growth is what we often see in second-year selections, and it is definitely a harbinger of great things to come. We are very proud of the passionate chefs and restaurant teams here in Vancouver, and they make their city very proud.”
Vancouver restaurant Burdock & Co not only retained its Michelin star, but its sommelier Kelcie Jones was recognised in this year’s edition of the Vancouver guide.
The restaurant’s chef/owner Andrea Carlson said before the awards were announced that in the past year she has seen business increase and interest grow in her style of cooking, which focuses on locally sourced ingredients.
Another 12 were included in the Recommended Restaurants, such as Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, Elisa, Hanai, Cantonese restaurant Regal Mansion Cuisine, Suyo, and Tetsu Sushi Bar.
