Chanthy Yen brings contemporary Cambodian cuisine to Vancouver with TOUK
TOUK, Canada’s first contemporary Cambodian restaurant, will softly open later this week at 1152 Alberni Street, bringing chef Chanthy Yen’s long-anticipated solo project to life. The Top Chef Canada Season 11 winner is offering Vancouver its first taste of Cambodian cuisine through a fine-dining lens that’s personal, polished and rooted in memory. Along the way, Yen’s résumé has included everything from running the now-closed Yaletown vegan spot Nightshade to leading kitchens at Michelin-recommended Bacaro, to serving as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s personal chef, before Trudeau went on to date noted astronaut Katy Perry.
Named after the Khmer word for “boat,” TOUK is meant to carry stories as much as flavours. For Yen, this opening marks a homecoming on his own terms. When the Straight connected with him around this time last year, following his Top Chef win, he talked openly about how returning to Cambodian food and memories of cooking with his grandmother changed the trajectory of his time on the show. Now, those dishes finally have a permanent home.
“Creating TOUK has been a very personal journey for me,” Yen said in a statement. “It’s a chance to honour the food I grew up with while expressing how my cooking has evolved over the years. My hope is that Vancouver will connect with Cambodian cuisine in a way that feels both fresh and deeply familiar.”
The menu is designed to highlight the depth of Cambodian cuisine, balancing comfort and refinement. Expect dishes like babor, a rice porridge topped with snow crab, egg yolk and Kampot pepper foam, and twa koh, a grilled beef sausage seasoned with galangal and toasted rice. Yen’s Top Chef–winning pan-roasted wild boar tomahawk with Cambodian mole also makes an appearance, alongside French-influenced plates such as coquilles mee katang with East Coast scallops, wide noodles and sea urchin butter, and magret de canard finished with prahok pistou.
The drinks program follows the same thoughtful approach. Award-winning bartender Tara Davies has built a cocktail list inspired by Cambodian spices and aromatics, with each drink nodding to a different region of the country. A carefully curated wine list from Jayton Paul and Virginie Semery leans into French bottles, BC producers and respected international regions.
After years of watching Yen champion Cambodian flavours on national television and talk candidly about representation, kindness and cooking with heart, TOUK feels less like a debut and more like a long-overdue arrival.
TOUK will open on December 19 at 1152 Alberni Street.