Mary Bailey with photos by Jordann Chan
Meet the podium
Chefs Jordan Holden, Moncton, silver; Alex Kim, Vancouver, gold and Chef Francois-Emmanuel Nicol, Quebec City, bronze
Over 1,000 food lovers, chefs, sous chefs, winemakers, culinary students, volunteers, journalists, broadcasters and judges descend on Ottawa every winter for the Canadian Culinary Championships. Chefs and their sous from 10 cities across the country compete in three distinct competitions: Mystery Wine Night, where chefs are given an unidentified wine and a small budget to feed over 500 people; the early Saturday morning Black Box and the Saturday night Grande Finale Gala. It’s a grueling couple of days. It’s just as tough on the judges, who are required to taste all the food and all the wine (we do it blind for the first two but know who the chefs are on Saturday night when they present their dishes to us in the judging room). This year was energetic and, truly, one of the best ever competitions—excellent, well-thought-out, delicious dishes with some outstanding wine matches, including a New Brunswick wine made from haskap berries.
Dorren Prei and Ross Garrett at the Grande Finale.
Though Edmonton’s team, chef Doreen Prei and sous Ross Garett (Riverview Restaurant at Glenora Park) did not podium, they inspired culinary students and made friends from across the country. One of my favourite Black Box dishes this year turned out to be Doreen’s—a beautiful raw Newfoundland oyster with uni vinaigrette and roasted mushrooms with the silkiest celeriac purée.
The Mystery Wine’s Peoples Choice Award was snapped up by Ottawa’s Lizardo Beccer (Raphael Peruvian Cuisine) for his delicious beet-cured Hokkaido scallop crudo with citrus Grana Padano foam.
Wine of the Year is the excellent 2022 L’Avenir Chardonnay Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula. “The winemaker, Kelly Mason, is one of the most revered in Niagara and opened her own property in the Beamsville Bench two years ago,” said national wine advisor David Lawrason.
BRONZE
Chef François-Emmanuel Nicol
La Tanière3, Quebec City
Wine Pairing Grand Finale:
Acerum Cocktail, Distillerie Mitis, Mont-Joli, QC.
La Tanière3 is one of Quebec City’s most renowned restaurants. Already, in 2024, the Québec restaurant was crowned Restaurant of the Year and François-Emmanuel Nicol named Chef of the Year at the Lauriers de la Gastronomie Gala. Its mixologist, Simon Faucher, also won the Mixologist or Bartender of the Year award. Now the bronze at the Canadian Culinary Championships. It’s a logical next step for the young chef, who hopes to win a star in the Michelin Guide for the province of Quebec, to be published next spring.
For the final, chef Nicol and Simon Faucher prepared a unique cocktail with Acerum from Mitis Distillery, mixed with Quebec pumpkin seed orgeat and thyme-infused pumpkin water. It was an amazing pairing with the chef’s plate, Picanha of Beef served with Preserved Memories of Canadian Summer, a crust of spices with roasted spaghetti squash, confit tomato and eggplant cooked with prickly ash pepper, along with a superb beef jus and gel of tomato water.
On the championship: “We launched ourselves into the void. It was impressive to experience the 2025 Canadian Culinary Championship,” says the chef. “The amount of food we produced in 24 hours. It’s intense, fast-paced and very demanding.”
Message for future contestants for the Mystery Wine Challenge: “At the restauarant, we work with the best supplies and quality products, but for mystery wine, we’re limited to the grocery store’s selection.” Chef advises them to find the best proteins at the best prices. “The rest is pretty easy, you just have to adjust the recipe to the aromatic notes of the wine.” And there’s no point in running out to find niche products in the region. “They’re too expensive, and we don’t have the time!”
Chef remembers above all the Black Box challenge. “These were products that really spoke to me. But the quantity was limited. We only had one oyster to serve! Thinking about it afterwards, I had other ideas for the restaurant—I’m going to work on the sea urchin sabayon, and the simply poached oyster, with a salad of basil tempura and spinach.”
—Gildas Meneu, head judge, Montreal
SILVER
Chef Jordan Holden
Atelier Tony, Moncton, New Brunswick
Wine Pairing Grand Finale:
Noaska Baker Buck, Clair, NB.
Immediately after presenting his Grand Finale dish to the judges, chef Jordan Holden of Atelier Tony in Moncton, went briefly off script to announce: “I just want you all to know, this has been one of the greatest weekends of my life.”
Little did he know that within a couple of hours his weekend would improve even further.
Admittedly, chef Holden’s weekend hadn’t started off that strongly. His dish at the Mystery Wine event—mi cuit salmon with dill cream, cucumber yogurt sauce and compressed cucumbers—was respectable, but didn’t stand out among stiff competition.
His performance at the Black Box competition, however, rocketed him back into contention. Chef presented two dishes, a creamy and expertly made celeriac risotto with sautéed mushrooms, crispy oyster mushrooms, uni and rendered lardo that was one of the morning’s highlights, while his corn sponge cake with a lemon cheesecake and honey tuile was a sophisticated and much-loved dessert (unusual for Black Box) in the judge’s room.
Going into the Grand Finale it was still anyone’s competition, but another very strong showing from chef Holden: a delicate rabbit ballotine with stone fruit and a rabbit liver tartlet anchored by a superb, spiced jus was enough, when combined with his scores from the other competitions, to secure him the silver medal.
A note on the wine: The Baker Buck is made from haskap berries grown by the Coopérative forestière du Nord-Ouest in the upper Saint John river valley, a bold and delicious choice that surprised all the judges.
—Chris Wood, national head judge, for Moncton judge Emmanuel Charretier
GOLD
Chef Alex Kim
Five Sails Restaurant, Vancouver, British Columbia
Wine Pairing Grand Finale:
2019 Tinhorn Creek Blanc de Blanc Sparkling, Golden Mile Bench, British Columbia
Chef Alex Kim has barely unpacked his bags from the 2025 Canadian Culinary Championship in Ottawa, but he’s already thinking about paying it forward. His gratitude runs deep for the mentorship and guidance he’s received throughout his career, and he’s keen to pass on the hard-won wisdom earned along his gold-medal journey.
Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, the culinary director of Five Sails Restaurant holds dear the deeply resonant flavours from childhood summers spent at his grandmother’s farm. Hands-on cooking lessons in her kitchen are the foundation of his approach to building flavour with sustainable seasonal ingredients, honed during culinary studies at NAIT and working in world-class kitchens, including Fairmont and Shangri-La.
Kim’s impeccable Taste of the Pacific Northwest for the Gala Finale was a culinary tour de force, spotlighting pristine B.C. seafood and produce with Kyuquot Sound sablefish as his anchor. This exquisite trifecta was an elegant modern interpretation of traditional Korean eomuk (fishcake), mandu (dumpling), and ssam (lettuce wrap)—his spectacular trompe l’oeil oyster-shell cracker left our judging panel astonished and smitten.
“It gives me so much joy and pride to be Canada’s culinary champion,” says Kim. “I’m incredibly happy and grateful that all those months of preparation, the long nights perfecting my dish, and countless hours of refining my cooking skills have paid off. And I’m thrilled to continue encouraging and coaching fellow chefs who are also passionate about competing.” Indeed, the mark of a true champion.
Chef has Edmonton connections, having cooked at several Edmonton restaurants, including Madison’s, early in his career and his aunt owns Hanjan.
—Joie Alvaro Kent, head judge, British Columbia
Canada’s Great Kitchen Party raises funds for Spirit North and MusiCounts nationally and for regional food charities, like Edmonton’s food Bank. Since inception the organization had raised more the $19 million. Find out more, including the culinary and wine reports, at greatkitchenparty.com.
