Canada’s Great Kitchen Party (KP) has been building a more inclusive Canada for nearly two decades. They celebrate Canadian culture and raise funds for Canadian youth through music, sport, wine, and of course – food!
KP recently held their Canadian Culinary Championship flagship event in Ottawa. This event brings together ten of Canada’s finest chefs – winners of competitions held nationwide in cities stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic – to celebrate Canadian culinary excellence and raise funds for national and regional charities that work to create equitable access to healthy food, music education and sport opportunities for Canadian youth.
If you missed out on the action, not to worry – we have a full event recap for you. Keep reading for all the details!
Competition #1: Mystery Wine
The championship kicked off on Friday, January 31st with the Mystery Wine competition, where chefs are given a mystery bottle of wine and are challenged to create a dish with local ingredients that best complement the mysterious vintage.
Chefs were given their unlabelled Mystery Wine on Thursday night to taste and conceptualize their dish. On Friday morning, they rushed out to shop for ingredients to create a dish that would pair exquisitely with the wine, all while working under a tight $700 budget to serve 300 guests and the panel of judges.
The Mystery Wine was selected by CCC National Wine Advisor David Lawrason. “Over the years, I have often selected a lighter red like Pinot Noir or Gamay to accommodate a variety of culinary interpretations by the competing chefs. This year I went to a boldly different white [wine] that could conceivably pair with some richer dishes.”
At the end of the event, Mr. Lawrason revealed the wine to be the 2023 Sémillon from MW Cellars, a new winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. This wine’s medium-plus intense aromas of Asian pear, passion fruit, raw honey, soft beeswax, lemon verbena, smoke, rich warm floral notes, and a hint of melon create a truly captivating bouquet.
The guests in attendance voted for their favourite dish of the evening and awarded the People’s Choice Award to Ottawa's Lizardo Becerra of Raphael Peruvian Cuisine with his dish of beet-cured Hokkaido scallop crudo with citrus Grana Padano foam and spiced cucumber/charred basil nuts/lemongrass plantain.
Competition #2: Black Box
Chefs were up bright and early the next day for the Black Box competition at Collège La Cité. Upon arrival, chefs received the same mysterious box and were given one hour to identify the mystery ingredients and prepare two dishes for the judging panel.
Each box was packed with seven ingredients sourced from producers across Canada:
- Lardo (a luscious cured pork fat) from Montreal’s Aliments Viens
- Merasheen Bay Oysters, which are harvested from Canada’s coldest oyster-growing region in Newfoundland
- Organic, non-GMO artisanal popping corn from Highwood Crossing Foods in Alberta
- Earthy and nutty celeriac from Ottawa Organics
- A selection oyster mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms and black pearl mushrooms grown in vertical containers by Ottawa’s Heartee Foods
- Award-winning Minas Frescal cheese by Unique Brazilian Dairy in Manitoba
- Fresh sea urchin roe from the Pacific Ocean
Chefs were tasked with creating two dishes that used all seven ingredients between them. Edmonton’s Chef Doreen Prei, who heads up Riverview Restaurant at Glenora Park (yes, it’s a retirement home!), created two inventive dishes: raw oysters with uni vinaigrette and lardo-cooked popcorn as well as roasted mushrooms with crispy cheese and a celeriac and lard puree, roasted mushrooms with crispy cheese.
Saskatoon’s own Taszia Thakur from Calories Restaurant and Pique Café similarly impressed the judges with her jalapeño sofrito filled corn crêpe with uni emulsion, pickled pan-roasted mushrooms and tempura oyster mushroom as well as her delicate celeriac puree with lardo-melted leeks, herb chimichurri and fried cheese.
As soon as the Black Box Competition ended, chefs made their way directly to the Shaw Center to start preparing for the Grand Finale.
Competition #3: The Grand Finale
The final competition took place on Saturday, February 1st in the evening. At the Grand Finale, chefs plate a version of their winning dish from the regional championships. These dishes often represent an ingredient or cuisine that is very close to their hearts.
Chef Nicholas Walters from Merchant’s Tavern in St. John’s, Newfoundland, offered up a brilliant and unexpected powerhouse dish: Newfoundland bluefin tuna tartare with a foie gras crémeux, partridge berry lime compote, green onion, sesame brittle and a squid ink tuile in the shape of a fish skeleton.
Ultimately, what determined the winners wasn’t the grand finale, but rather an ability to maintain consistently high scores throughout each of the three competitions. Let’s reveal the winners!
The Canadian Culinary Championship 2025 Medalists
After a thrilling weekend of creative cooking, three chefs took home medals and bragging rights.
Bronze
Third place overall went to Chef François-Emmanuel Nicol of Tanière³ in Quebec City. Tanière³ offers a creative, unique and evolving dining experience, which Chef Nicol wove into his final dish, “Beef of the Fall with Memories of Summer.” This dish was made with Picanha steak, a tender and flavourful sirloin cut, served with preserved memories of Canadian summer.
Chef Nicol paired his dish with a cocktail crafted with Acérum from Distillerie Mitis in Mont-Joli, QC. Acérum is an eau-de-vie made from distilled maple syrup, a distinctly Quebecois appellation protected by L'Union des distillateurs de spiritueux d'érable.
Silver
The silver medal went to Chef Jordan Holden of Atelier Tony & Tony's Bistro in Moncton, New Brunswick. Chef Holden’s dish highlighted rabbit, which is a common game meat in New Brunswick. His dish was composed of Rabbit Ballotine, a stone fruit and rabbit liver tartlet, hazelnut and parsnip purée, smoked rabbit kidney tuile, and spiced jus.
Chef Holden paired his dish with NOASKA Baker Buck, a robust haskap berry wine with rich aromas of blackcurrant, chocolate and notes of oak. NOASKA is a family of wines produced by the Coopérative forestière du Nord-Ouest Ltée, which was formed in 2010 to market New Brunswick fruit and maple syrup.
Gold
Triumphing over a field featuring ten of the best chefs across Canada, Chef Alex Kim of Vancouver's Five Sails Restaurant impressed the judges with his creativity and execution in the Mystery Wine and Black Box rounds. The dish that clinched his win was titled “Taste of the Pacific Northwest,” a true tour of the PNW’s rich waters, with wild Sablefish and Cortes Island scallop terrine, sidestriped shrimp Mandu (dumplings) with Dungeness crab and Okanagan apple and Kusshi oyster on sea lettuce tartlet, Pemberton salsify, 6 month fermented DoenJang, and Shiso leaf. (Say that five times fast!)
Chef Kim paired his dish with the 2019 Blanc de Blanc from Tinhorn Creek Vineyards in Golden Mile Bench, BC. The Okanagan Valley’s 2019 growing season began with a warm and steady spring, setting the stage for a strong start. Moderate summer temperatures followed, allowing for balanced and even ripening. September was warm and dry, providing optimal conditions for flavour development, before giving way to a cooler, wetter October, which added complexity to the fruit. The resulting wine offers fine bubbles and a crisp burst of freshness that evolves into layers of quince and ripe Honeycrisp apple and finishes with a smooth, mousse-like texture.
The Canadian Culinary Championship Wineries of the Year
The Canadian Culinary Championship includes a wine competition that runs concurrently with the culinary challenges. Wineries from across the country provided each regional competition with bottles of their very best vintages for judging. In all, 65 wineries donated 110 different wines for the competition.
After an amazing showcase of Canadian wines, judges selected the following winners:
Gold
Mason Vineyard took the title of Winery of the Year for their 2022 L'avenir Chardonnay. Mason Vineyard is located in the Beamsville Bench region of the Niagara Peninsula, where they are part of a genre of small wineries and independent winemakers that make low volumes of very special wines.
“This wine won the regional competition in Ottawa in September. The winemaker, Kelly Mason, is one of the most revered in Niagara and opened her own property in the Beamsville Bench two years ago,” stated National Wine Advisor David Lawrason.
Silver
Prince Edward County’s Closson Chase Vineyards took second place with their 2022 Churchside Pinot Noir. This wine is sourced entirely from their Churchside vineyard and pairs wonderfully with grilled or smoked fish, roasted pork loin or tenderloin with a thyme/mustard sauce, or mushroom ragout pasta.
Bronze
Hinterland Wine Company rounds out the top three with their 2016 Les Étoiles Brut. Made from the softly pressed grapes of estate-grown Chardonnay (35%) and Pinot Noir (65%), this Prince Edward County wine was aged in bottle for 7 years (84 months) prior to release!
Looking Forward to the 2026 Canadian Culinary Championship
It is truly thrilling to watch Canadian chefs compete at such a high level. “It's so good to be here again in Ottawa for the 2025 Canadian Culinary Championship,” said Karen Blair, COO of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party. “The chefs showed up to win, and they proudly represented their region. The guests who were lucky enough to be here, enjoyed exquisite dishes and benefitted from the competitive spirit of each of the chefs from across this great country. Thanks Ottawa, we will be back next year!”
Want to check out a future Canadian Culinary Championship event? Next year’s Canadian Culinary Championship is already scheduled to take place once again in Ottawa, January 29th - 31st, 2026, so save the date!
