The 2024 edition of the Michelin Guide Vancouver sees a double win for 32-year-old Yoji Masuda, a Vancouver-born Japanese chef who receives not only a Michelin star for his eponymous sushi restaurant but also the Michelin young chef award.
Masuda’s love of sushi motivated him to move to Japan, where he learned the craft before returning to Vancouver two years ago.
Sushi Masuda opened in March, and is the only new entry to the ranks of one- Michelin-star restaurants in the latest edition of the guide. There are still no two- or three-Michelin-star restaurants in Vancouver.
Nine restaurants retain the Michelin stars they were awarded last year, including Published on Main, St. Lawrence, and iDen & QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House.
Sushi Masuda, which only has six seats, is described by Michelin as plain, but “brought to life by the artfully simple, meticulous preparations of chef Yoji Masuda, whose time spent in a top counter in Tokyo is amply apparent, though his own personality comes through”.
Masuda said: “When I was in my early teens, we always went back [to Japan] for a summer vacation and watched the sushi chefs in Japan, I thought it was very cool. I have a passion for sushi.”
