Vancouver Michelin Guide adds one-star, 5 Bib Gourmand designations

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The Michelin Guide has revealed the 2023 additions to its Vancouver restaurant list, including a one-star, five Bib Gourmand and 12 Recommended designations.

The one star goes to Okeya Kyujiro, a Yaletown restaurant where dinner, with some 20 courses, is served in a theatrical and ceremonial setting and costs $300 per person. The inspector noted: “It is a memorable show from start to finish.”

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The newly named Bib Gourmands go to Farmer’s Apprentice, the Karma Indian Bistro, Motonobu Udon, Seaport City Seafood, and Sushi Hil. The Bibs recognize great food for good value.

New Michelin Recommended restaurants are Archer, Bao Bei, Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar, Elisa, Folke, Hanai, Moltaqa, Regal Mansion Cuisine, Sushi Jin, Suyo, Tetsu Sushi Bar, and Wildlight Kitchen and Bar. Recommended restaurants are considered above average but not quite worthy of a star.

The winners were announced Thursday evening at an event in Vancouver. The total number of Michelin-designated restaurants in Vancouver is now 77, up from 60 last year. The previous year’s recipients all retained their statuses with the exception of Ubuntu Canteen, a Recommended, which sadly closed earlier this year.

Special awards were bestowed to: Max Curzon-Price of Suyo Peruvian restaurant (Michelin Exceptional Cocktails); Kelcie Jones of Burdock (Michelin Sommelier Award); Kyujiro’s front-of-house team (Michelin Outstanding Service Award); and Chef Warren Chow of Wildlight Kitchen and Bar (Michelin Young Chef Award).

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“The famously anonymous Michelin Guide inspectors, once again, were impressed with the culinary community here,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides. “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.”

According to Royce Chwin, CEO of Destination Vancouver, which partners with Michelin Guide Vancouver, the Guide’s first year in Vancouver has indeed been positive.

“The various Michelin restaurants say it’s made an unequivocable difference introducing new customers to the restaurants and increasing tourist visits, notably from California and Washington (state). It’s also helped them attract and retain staff,” he said.

“One of the goals is to amplify Vancouver’s culinary scene. If you are recognized as a Michelin destination, it can serve to retain and attract employees and that’s the general sentiment, irrespective of their ranking.”

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And Vancouver, Chwin says, has had a growing and unrecognized culinary and cocktail scene for some time.

“It’s about local, fresh, farm-to-table and Vancouver was at the start of a growing food movement, like Ocean Wise and the 100-Mile Diet.”

Michelin restaurants are judged by anonymous inspectors based on five criteria: quality of ingredients; mastery of cooking techniques; harmony of flavours; personality and emotion of the chef expressed in the dishes; and consistency throughout the menu and across visits.

Read Mia Stainsby’s review of Okeya Kyujiro here 

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