After a tense season of watching 10 Canadian chefs go head to head, we finally know the winner of Top Chef Canada Season 11.
Chanthy Yen, chef de cuisine at Vancouver’s Bacaro, emerged victorious after several weeks of intense competition, concluding in an epic showdown against fellow chefs Haan Palcu-Chang and Moira Murray in Montreal.
Speaking to Dished, Yen said the win felt “incredible.”
“I feel like my life is about to change. It’s a wonderful time to represent Canada and to be a BIPOC individual who’s queer and belongs to so many different communities. It feels like I’m on the right path,” he said.
Life before the competition
Despite his outstanding performance throughout Season 11, winning multiple challenges, Yen admits he isn’t naturally competitive. In fact, Top Chef Canada was his first-ever culinary competition.
So what drove him to take part? Yen explained he made the decision to enter after being asked by a fellow cook if he’d ever competed in a culinary competition.
“I was like, ‘No, but maybe I should now.’ Just to show that you can reach for the stars, you can compete and I’m a valid mentor for the team. I just went for it,” he said.
Throughout his Top Chef Canada journey, Yen took the opportunity to tap into his Cambodian roots, often showcasing ingredients and flavour profiles that aren’t widely represented in Canada.
“I want to add to the perspective of Cambodian cuisine and to that experience as much as possible,” he said.
Yen is no stranger to stressful situations, having served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s personal chef and worked in Michelin-starred restaurants. However, he said the Top Chef Canada experience was “way more stressful.”
Top Chef Canada
If you’ve ever watched Top Chef challenges and wondered if those timers are real, Yen was ready to set the record straight.
“The pressure is unfathomable, and you are cooking among some of the best in the country. You never have to deal with that on a day-to-day basis. You work a service, you know the clientele coming in, and you know the food in front of you. But in this competition, you really have to lean on your experiences and innovation,” he explained.
He may be an extremely accomplished chef, but Yen learned a lot from the Top Chef Canada experience, both through the judges’ critiques and from his fellow competing chefs.
“Less is more was the lesson for me. I tend to put so many things on the plate just to showcase technique, but then I forget about the story of the food and the heart of it,” he said.
“I realized during the finale that I was doing so much because I could, but it didn’t mean that I needed to. Other chefs excelled in that, such as Haan and Moira.”
As for his fellow competitors, Yen said he wished viewers could have seen more of the “kumbaya moments” between the competing chefs throughout the season.
“We would have words of affirmation toward each other to push each other to move forward. Canada is a nice country. We have very good etiquette. Even though this was a competition, we were really sweet and kind to each other. Those moments were not captured, but they were just so us. So Canada.”
What’s next for Yen?
While Yen may be fresh off his Top Chef Canada win, the chef still has plenty of ideas for what comes next, including opening his own restaurant and developing a cookbook all about Cambodian cuisine.
“I really want a Cambodian restaurant where I am in the kitchen and cooking what I love to cook. I would love to be able to show my passion in that space. The winnings from Top Chef Canada are not going to get me there, but they’ll get me one step closer,” he said.