2024 MICHELIN Guide Vancouver; Photo: Tara Lee
In a highly anticipated gala ceremony, the 2024 MICHELIN Guide Vancouver was announced tonight at the Commodore Ballroom.
The ceremony marked Vancouver’s third version of its MICHELIN Guide since it launched to much fanfare and excitement in 2022.
2024 MICHELIN Guide Vancouver; Photo: Tara Lee
The MICHELIN Guide has a long and prestigious history that began with modest roots. After André and Édouard Michelin launched their tire company in 1889, they began producing a guidebook with tips and recommendations for road trips. In 1920, the guidebook became a volume for purchase and expanded to encompass hotels and restaurants that were independently and anonymously reviewed.
Since then, the MICHELIN Guide has become iconic and international, covering over 40,000 establishments and over 24 territories. The Guide continues to carry such weight as an arbiter of quality due to its longevity, as well as the stringency and objectivity of its reviewing process. Its team of Inspectors conduct their reviews anonymously, pay for their meals to ensure independence, and are experts and enthusiasts in the field. As well, numerous inspectors visit a single place many times to eliminate personal bias. Together, they then evaluate a restaurant’s “quality” based on “quality of products,” “mastery of flavour and cooking techniques,” “the personality of the chef represented in the dining experience,” “harmony of flavours,” and “consistency between inspectors’ visits.”
MICHELIN recognition can come in many forms. The most coveted are the stars, with the possibility of receiving from one to three stars, with one being high quality, two excellent, and three exceptional.
Photo: Tara Lee
In addition, Bib Gourmands, referring to the MICHELIN mascot Bibendum, are given to restaurants that offer value for reasonable prices. And finally, MICHELIN Guides also include recommended restaurants, which are given to places that serve superior cuisine. It should be noted that every year, restaurants are reassessed, with some, for example, potentially receiving an additional star, or others being moved from recommended to starred. Other establishments could be added to the guide, depending on inspectors’ reviews.
Besides these three distinctions, the MICHELIN Guide includes other awards. Green Stars are awarded to restaurants that are leaders in sustainability. Other special individual awards include Young Chef, Outstanding Service, Sommelier, and Exceptional Cocktails.
In the 2023 MICHELIN Guide Vancouver, the city moved from 8 starred restaurants to 9, as well as had 17 Bib Gourmands, and dozens of recommended restaurants (some have closed since). Over the course of the past year, establishments around the city and their front and back-of-house staff have been working hard to maintain and in other cases, earn for the first time a prized MICHELIN distinction. And it all was revealed at the awards ceremony.
Team members from Lunch Lady, a Bib Gourmand for the 2024 MICHELIN Guide Vancouver; Photo: Tara Lee
Without further ado, on to the awards!
Tonight, industry folk gathered at the Commodore Ballroom to hear collectively who would be receiving recognitions. Top Chef Canada Judge Mijune Pak returned as the gracious emcee for the night. The city’s most talented chefs, restaurateurs, bartenders, and front-of-house staff were in attendance, as well as food media. Before the ceremony began, guests mingled, catching up while enjoying bites from AnnaLena, Published on Main, Edge Catering, and many more food and drink establishments/companies.
Published on Main‘s crispy daikon, smoky fish—topped with Petrossian Caviar; Photo: Tara Lee
The ceremony began with the announcing and receiving of special awards. These recognize the individual achievements of outstanding individuals in the industry. This year’s special awards went to Fraser Crawford (Kissa Tanto) for the Exceptional Cocktails Award, Reverie Beall (AnnaLena) for the Sommelier Award, Bailey Hayward (Gary’s) for the Service Award, and Yoji Masuda (Sushi Masuda) for the Young Chef Award. Given the recency of Gary’s and Sushi Masuda, these awards are particularly impressive.
Fraser Crawford (Kissa Tanto) receiving the MICHELIN Exceptional Cocktails Award; Photo: Tara Lee
From there, the ceremony moved on to the recommendations, Bibs, and stars. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the room before and as each recipient was announced.
The recommended list featured two new additions: Fraser Street’s Bravo, which has become a neighbourhood and city favourite very quickly for its fresh take on sustainable seafood and outstanding cocktails and wine list. Its neighbour Zab Bite also garnered a recommendation due to the liveliness and quality of its northeastern Thai cuisine. Returning to the recommended list were a host of restaurants that span a wide range of cuisines, including the Persian Delara, plant-based Folke, Japanese Yuwa, and Italian Osteria Savio Volpe. A full list of the recommended restaurants can be found here.
Meanwhile, a South Granville darling, Gary’s, was a new Bib Gourmand restaurant. This cozy spot, just around the corner from the iconic Stanley Theatre, not only won an Outstanding Service Award, but also offers flavourful local-forward plates, from kanpachi crudo with strawberry, sumac vinaigrette, and shoyu; to lingcod with shrimp, tomatoes, and calabrian chile butter sauce.
Vancouver’s nine 2023 MICHELIN-starred restaurants—AnnaLena, Barbara, Burdock & Co, iDen & QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House, Kissa Tanto, Masayoshi, Okeya Kyujiro, Published on Main, and St. Lawrence—kept their coveted stars. These restaurants are unique because of the diversity of their food, the refinement and imagination of their cuisine, their impeccable service, and their contributions to the neighbourhoods in which they are situated.
AnnaLena in Kitsilano specializes in tasting menus that shift fluidly with the seasons, availability of ingredients, and the kitchen’s whimsy; Chinatown‘s Barbara also transforms local ingredients into tightly executed, gorgeous dishes; Mount Pleasant‘s Burdock & Co is one of the city’s foremost farm-to-table establishments; iDen & QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House on Cambie Street is known for its duck but also the refined execution of its bringing together of premium products.
Photo: Burdock & Co
Meanwhile, Kissa Tanto, also in Chinatown, is playful Japanese-meets-Italian dining in a lushly nostalgic setting; Masayoshi on Fraser Street is a master at the omakase experience; Okeya Kyujiro in Yaletown incorporate memorable theatricality into its omakase; Published on Main seduces with local, foraged creations; and finally, at St. Lawrence in Gastown, you can’t help falling in love with its ode to Quebecois and French cuisine. Together, these establishments represent the best of Vancouver’s multicultural dining scene, married with the abundance and calibre of its local ingredients.
The biggest unveiling was, of course, Vancouver’s newest MICHELIN-starred restaurant. It was a big night for Yoji Masuda, who not only won the Young Chef Award but also received a star for his restaurant, Sushi Masuda. This downtown restaurant in Coal Harbour impressed the Inspectors with its omakase experience, highlighting high quality ingredients and well-honed craft. The restaurant only has 5 seats at its counter so reservations are a must for this one—especially with these latest accolades.
Sushi Masuda receives a MICHELIN star; Photo: Tara Lee
Overall, the 2024 MICHELIN Guide really reflects Vancouver dining landscape, one that showcases a diversity of neighbourhoods and cuisines and a shared commitment to sustainable, locally-rooted cooking.
See the 2024 MICHELIN Guide Vancouver as well as the app for a full list of stars, Bib Gourmands, and Recommendations.