Vancouver’s First Michelin Guide Is Here: These Are the Restaurants That Earned Stars
For the first time ever, Vancouver is able to say that it has Michelin-starred restaurants.
The Canadian city was awarded its inaugural stars last week, with just eight restaurants making the cut. Those restaurants were all given one star, meaning Vancouver has no dining establishments that would compete with the very best in the world.
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The Michelin one-star spots in Vancouver span four different types of cuisine: contemporary, Japanese, French and Chinese—many of the usual suspects Michelin inspectors seem to favor no matter the city. On the contemporary side, AnnaLena, Barbara, Burdock & Co and Published on Main made the cut. Kissa Tanto and Masayoshi, both serving up Japanese cuisine, followed suit. iDen & QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House, known for its Chinese dishes of duck, king crab and sea cucumber, celebrated its first star. And St. Lawrence, which the guide calls a “charming Québécois bistro,” rounds out the list.
Vancouver’s short list was perhaps expected. The city isn’t exactly known for its fine dining, as Eater explained. There are many more casual restaurants throughout the city, and even the Michelin Guide acknowledged as much when announcing that it would publish a list for the city. “Our inspectors are. . .eagerly diving into Vancouver’s wide variety of cuisines, prepared with high-quality products and served in warm, casual atmospheres,” Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides, said at the time.
Unfortunately, when high-profile chefs have tried to turn the city into a more upscale dining destination, their efforts have failed: Both Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened restaurants in Vancouver that fared poorly and eventually closed. Meanwhile, the city’s fine-dining staples were snubbed by the Michelin Guide, with restaurants like Le Crocodile and Boulevard not even making the cut, Eater noted.
Along with the eight starred restaurants, the Michelin committee awarded 12 other establishments Bib Gourmand status, which denotes great food at a great price. Still, it’s a relatively paltry list, and one that pales in comparison to the Toronto Michelin stars announced in September, which included one two-star restaurant.
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