With the momentum gained from his 2024 “Top Chef Canada” victory, Chanthy Yen opened Touk in downtown Vancouver in December 2025. (Photo courtesy of Touk)
When Chanthy Yen had the opportunity to be the cook for then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he accepted the job for deeply meaningful reasons. “I was the first BIPOC individual to have that postion and that was important, but the biggest reason I took the role was because Justin Trudeau’s father was the prime minister who allowed refugees from Cambodia to come to Canada. So, I wanted to pay that back. I was able to showcase to the Trudeau family what Canada looks like now and what the ripples of immigration look like.”
Yen’s parents were refugees during the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia, which was a war-torn nation in the 1970s. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Yen was the youngest member of the family of five and, from a very young age, the most capable cook. He says he was preparing rice for the family at seven years old and two years later working on a farm after school. “I didn’t have much of a childhood,” Yen says, noting the intergenerational trauma in his home and the painful memories of the family struggle.
Chef Chanthy Yen’s inventive congee is an award-winning dish that has already turned heads at Touk. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
His background makes both his cuisine and his personality all the more remarkable. Easy with a smile, Yen appears cherubic when he presents his plates in his outstanding new restaurant, Touk. With a goal of taking Cambodian food to new heights, Yen has, rather poetically, done exactly that for his family name, too.
One of the unrelentingly marvellous aspects of Canadian society is how the children of immigrants can dramatically alter the trajectory of their lives through effort and ambition. Like many kids of immigrants who struggled financially, Yen was sternly guided away from a career in the arts. He worked in hospitality and customer service, and still managed to pursue his passion for culinary creativity without his parents’ approval.
“They thought cooking was an ugly place to be. But I continued to cook and drive myself a little bit further all the time. It wasn’t until I was in Montreal with a pop-up and won some awards that they believed in it,” Yen says of his parents’ attitude toward his career.
The Touk interior features a mural depicting Cambodia and notable moments in chef Chanthy Yen’s life. (Photo courtesy of Touk)
They have become true believers — as have some of the most notable connoisseurs in the country. The first iteration of Touk was that pop-up in Montreal during the 2020 pandemic. Yen then took on the role as the prime minister’s chef until propelling himself to the forefront of the nation’s culinary scene when he won the 2024 edition of “Top Chef Canada”. He used the $100,000 grand prize to open his own restaurant — receiving addtional financing from business partners and friends — on ritzy Alberni Street in downton Vancouver.
“‘Top Chef Canada’ is the most intense experience in my career and I’ve worked with different Michelin-starred chefs and restaurants around the world. After representing Cambodian cuisine and winning with that cuisine, I thought I could finally put Cambodian food on the menu. I was afraid to do that before because when you’re not the owner of a restaurant, you cook what you’re told to cook. But being on the show, it gave me a platofrm to open up the restaurant,” Yen told me in a phone interview a week after I entered at Touk and left utterly impressed by the skill and execution.
Yen’s goal of reimagining dishes is showcased in his rice congee, which comes alive with crunchy textures, silky broth, and tongue-pleasing amount of deliciousness. Like so much else at Touk, it has a potent story behind it.
“During the war, food was given to people as rice in their pocket. There wasn’t a lot of it. So, you’re going to boil it and stretch it as much as possible. It was a poor man’s meal and then over time it became more of a luxurious experience,” Yen points out.
His version of an everyday dish is a joyful expression of his vision. So are many other elements of the restaurant. The decor is contemporary with flourishes of Southeast Asia, and one especially notable feature: A tiny image of Yen as a 7-year-old running with a the head of a chicken. It marks the first time he actually butchered a fowl — and, yes, he was still only a grade-school kid when he did it.
Touk, whose name means “boat” and is reflective of the journey that Yen takes diners on, is rounded out by a stellar wine list and an inventive cocktail list, developed by award-winning mixologist Tara Davies, who has admirably taken a deep dive into Cambodian flavour profiles and favourite spirits.
Prior to dining at Touk, my understanding and experience with Cambodian cuisine was limited to a single restaurant: Phnom Penh, the beloved Michelin-recognized mainstay in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Phnom Penh is a low-cost, good-quality restaurant that has been around for decades. But it isn’t fine dining. Yen is determined to show that Cambodian cuisine can stand as a peer with other nationalities.
“When people think of Cambodian cuisine they think of a hole in the wall. A lower-price-point restaurant, with someone using bottled sauces and drowning things with flavour. I wanted to pay respect with Cambodian cuisine by moving it forward, and not being stuck with those tropes,” he says.
Already, after only being open for a month, Touk has accomplished that and much more.
MORE ABOUT TOUK
Location: 1152 Alberni Street, Vancouver (see map below)
Website: www.toukyvr.com
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Published on Main Debuts New Menu
Duck has always been a celebrated staple on the Published on Main menu and the latest offering follows the restaurant’s reputation. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson is constantly thriving to bring Canadian flavours — especially those from the nation’s heartland — to greater representation on the plate. True to that ambition, Published on Main has unveiled a new menu that focuses on ingredients in the restaurant’s pantry.
While the restaurant reinvents a portion of the menu, there are some features that are always favourites with Published fans. They include the snacks course, which currently features one of the best bites I’ve had in the city lately: A tiny omelette on a spoon topped with sturgeon roe. Also notable is the perfectly roasted Manitoba pickerel, a nod to Stieffenhofer-Brandson’s home province and a lake fish that has been part of diets in the middle part of the country for generations.
Stieffenhofer-Brandson is passionate about his duck courses and currently serves it two ways on the tasting menu: Aged and grilled and paired with a Pinot Noir from Burgundy; and secondly in a pithivier (puff pastry).
Published on Main has always made the effort to be an inclusive restaurant. It’s taken an extra step now with a non-alcoholic beverage program that is created with intention. More effort has been put into serving a growing segment of fine diners — those who don’t drink alcohol but want flavour experiences, not just sugar overload. For a restaurant that has received a great deal of notoriety over the years, it’s heartening to see the continued effort to both excel and reinvent.
Vij’s Stars in New York City
Vikram Vij represented Canada during a collaboration dinner with esteemed Adda in New York City on January 27. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
Celebrity chef Vikram Vij long ago conquered the Canadian culinary scene and he headed to the Big Apple at the end of January for a one-night showcase of his famous Indian cuisine. Vij cooked in a collaboration dinner with chefs Neel Kajale and Chintan Kiran Pandya at Adda, a year-old restaurant in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Pandya and his business partner, Roni Mazumder, launched Unapologetic Foods in 2017 and have achieved wonders in New York City ever since. In 2025, their restaurant Semma was named the best in town and their biryani and paneer cause lineups of diners.
When I first tried their food last September at Adda, I believed Pandya was the culinary descendant of Vij, who elevated the reputation of Indian food in North America 30 years ago. Pandya and his stable of talented chefs are lifting Indian flavours to yet another level.
Vij and Kajale’s brigade teamed up for a dinner that featured three dishes from each of them. Vij served his famous lamb popsicles and debuted an albacore tuna ceviche that I hope will find its way onto the Vij’s menu this summer. It was perfectly cured in leche de tigre and the tuna was lightly spiced with garam masala that made it Vij’s own.
Notables in attendance were iconic chef Daniel Boulud and Manhattan restaurateur Danny Meyer.
Unapologetic Foods will make their Canadian debut with a collaboration dinner at Vij’s later this year.
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