Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants

The trailblazing establishments shaping Canada’s dining culture today. From ambitious tasting menus and intimate counters to true neighbourhood favourites, meet the 2026 Finalists in the running for the Top 10.

At Touk, chef Chanthy Yen turns toward his Cambodian-Canadian roots, drawing on the flavours and traditions he first encountered cooking alongside his grandmother. His career has since taken him through some of the world’s most ambitious kitchens, into the Prime Minister’s residence as Justin Trudeau’s personal chef and, most recently, to a win on Top Chef Canada. But Touk feels like a return to something more personal: Cambodian cooking expressed through the exceptional seafood, produce and meats of British Columbia. The restaurant, just off Robson Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver, takes its name from Bon Om Touk, Cambodia’s annual Water Festival, a celebration of the rivers and waters that bring abundance to the country’s fields and tables.

Alongside co-owner Terrence Feng, behind Vancouver favourites Kin Kao and Song, Yen finds a natural connection to the bounty of another coast, with an attention to local ingredients that never feels like it needs to announce itself. Pain au lait with Espelette butter brings a little of Yen’s Montréal years to the table before the menu turns toward the Pacific. Oysters arrive simply, topped with a paper-thin slice of cucumber; tartare is scooped onto crisp taro chips; and scallops sourced from the cold waters of northern British Columbia are allowed to remain very much themselves. A beautifully cooked tomahawk pork chop, served with a Cambodian-style mole, brings richness and depth. Plates move across the table in combinations that make each other better, with an exceptional balance of flavour and texture and a flow to the meal that feels instinctive despite the precision behind it. By the time chocolate mousse arrives, the pleasure has been remarkably consistent from beginning to end.

Yen makes his way through the dining room during service, stopping at tables to share a little of the story behind Touk. For all the technique and ambition behind the restaurant, its most compelling idea is also its simplest: the flavours of Yen’s Cambodian heritage meeting the ingredients of the coast he now cooks on. At Touk, two places separated by an ocean find a common language at the table.