Global dining evaluator Michelin plans to announce Oct. 27 at the Vancouver Convention Centre which Vancouver restaurants have cuisine good enough to be inducted into the company's Michelin Guide.
Vancouver is set to be the seventh North American city with a Michelin Guide, and the second in Canada, after Toronto. The launch date for the unveiling of which restaurants will be in the guide was announced today.
Michelin Guides contain lists of restaurants that have met the company's famous one-, two- and three-star criteria. The guides also include what it dubs as bib gourmands, or restaurants that offer good food for a good value.
The Vancouver guide is also set to have a "green star" section, which honours restaurants that operate in particularly environmentally sustainable ways.
Michelin first published its guides in France in the early 1900s to encourage tire sales by giving practical advice to French motorists.
Michelin announced this summer that it was going to create a Vancouver guide, and many have made since speculated on which restaurants will be included.
Vancouver's Published on Main stands a good shot, given that in May it was named the best restaurant in Canada in the 2022 edition of the foodie guide Canada's Best 100 Restaurants.
The owner and editor of that guide, Jacob Richler, told BIV at the time that his annual guide involves 100 judges who are based across Canada in rough proportion to the country's population.
Each of the judges provide lists of their 10 top restaurants based on their own criteria. A point system then takes over, and an algorithm determines the restaurants' spots on the list.
Toronto and Montreal each had 21 restaurants on Richler's list, while Vancouver was the city with the third highest number of restaurants: 18.
Two other Vancouver restaurants ranked in the list's top 10: St. Lawrence at No. 3, and Boulevard at No. 9.
Other Vancouver restaurants on the list were:
• Oca Pastificio at No. 23;
• Hawksworth at No. 25;
• Kissa Tanto at No. 29;
• La Quercia at No. 32;
• AnnaLena at No. 41;
• Tojo at No. 46;
• Testu Sushi Bar at No. 47;
• L'Abattoir at No. 48;
• Botanist at No. 61;
• Maenam at No. 68;
• Savio Volpe at No. 75;
• Say Mercy! at No. 78;
• Cioppino's at No. 90;
• Bacchus at No. 95; and
• Nightingale at No. 96.
Michelin Guide evaluators are more consistent in their criteria, as they grade restaurants using five specific assessment categories:
• product quality;
• mastery of flavor and cooking technique;
• harmony and balance of flavors;
• the chef's personality reflected in the cuisine; and
• consistency over time and across the entire menu.
These criteria guarantee a consistent selection so that a star restaurant has the same value regardless of whether it is in Paris, New York or Tokyo, according to Michelin.
