It has been nearly a year since Michelin began its inaugural coverage of the Vancouver culinary scene. Last year, Michelin awarded eight restaurants with a one-star Michelin rating, meaning these restaurants are outstanding, have a quality menu and prepare cuisine to a consistently high standard. I have been fortunate to visit each of these restaurants in the last year and here are a few details about each each of them.
Barbara
Chef Patrick Hennessy named the restaurant after his mother, who taught him how to cook. It is on East Pender in the Chinatown area and serves contemporary North American cuisine. The fixed-price menu has three courses (you choose one of three choices for each course) for $80, not including taxes and gratuity. The entire menu changes every seven weeks, and one dish from the menu will change each week (the beef tartare and Artic char, which are perennial favourites, always stay on the menu). You sit around an L-shaped bar so every patron gets to witness Chef Hennessy prepare the dishes.
Anna Lena
Chef Mike Robbins’s restaurant is on West 1st Avenue and serves contemporary West Coast cuisine. Their 5-course fixed price menu changes on a monthly basis and costs $112 per person, not inclusive of tax and gratuity. I visited the restaurant when they first opened and seeing the progression is amazing. Chef Robbins has focused on the food where it really speaks to his personality.
Masayoshi
At this restaurant on Fraser Street at East 28th Avenue, Chef Masayoshi Baba delights sushi lovers with his 10-piece sushi meal, which includes an appetizer, miso soup and dessert for $220, not inclusive of taxes and gratuities. Other than two tables, everyone else sits at a sushi bar, where you can watch Chef Baba create his dishes.
St. Lawrence
In the Chinatown area on Powell Steet, Chef J.C. Poirier serves French Canadian cuisine in a three-course fixed-price format where you get a choice of starter, entrée and dessert. They also provide you with several complementary amuse bouches, a snack between the entrée and dessert and petit fours at the end of the night. The cost of the menu is $125 plus tax plus 20-per-cent gratuity. Their menu changes every month.
Kissa Tanto
Also in the Chinatown area on East Pender Street, Chef Joel Watanabe creates Japanese/Italian fusion cuisine where people can a la carte. Two of the restaurant’s signature dishes are their tonno mantecato (which I have never seen at any other restaurant) and their octopus salad (which again is presented in a way I have never seen anywhere else). Kissa Tanto has a regular menu but always has a lot of unique specials to keep even regulars enticed.
Burdock & Co.
Chef Andrea Carlson runs the kitchen in this restaurant found in the Mount Pleasant area on Main Street. Burdock & Co serves contemporary North American cuisine specializing in farm-to-table cooking. Their six-course menu changes monthly and costs $125, not including taxes and gratuity. One of their courses is a selection of their house-made bread and cultured butter, which is indescribably delicious
Published on Main
Found on Main and East 20th, Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson’s restaurant was rated the number one restaurant in Canada in 2022 by Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list. Chef Stieffenhofer-Brandson focuses on contemporary North American and offers the chef’s tasting menu (between $150 to $160 per person) or an a la carte menu.
iDen & QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House
Found at 12th Avenue and Cambie Street, this Chinese restaurant specializes in Beijing duck. Their Quanjude Signature Duck is $128 and takes 55 minutes to prepare. They also serve other Chinese delicacies such as abalone, bird’s nest and sea cucumber.
Michelin just recently added 10 new restaurants to their recommended list. They are Archer, Bao Bei, Farmer’s Apprentice, Folke, Hanai, Karma Indian Bistro, Motonubu Udon, Okeya Kyujiro, Sushi Hil and Sushi Jin. I hope to try these in the near future and provide you with my thoughts on these restaurants.
My wine recommendation for the month is the T & V Careme 2020 Chenin Blanc Terre Brulee Le Blanc. Tania & Vincent Careme are Chenin Blanc specialists who had a winery in Loire France but have now taken their expertise to the Swartland area in South Africa (which is also a great place to grow Chenin Blanc). Delicious with seafood and a perfect late summer drink. Reduced until September 2, 2023 from $23.99 to $17.99. Until next time, happy drinking!
