The Five Sails culinary director came out on top at the 2025 Canadian Culinary Championships
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The Five Sails culinary director came out on top at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Ottawa on Saturday. Kim competed against nine other chefs from across the country, all of whom qualified for the national competition after winning Canada’s Great Kitchen Party countrywide regionals.
Representing Glowbal Restaurant Group, Kim competed in two events as part of the championships.
The first, on Friday night, saw Kim and his sous-chef, Jitin Kapoor, create a meal to pair with a wine that was revealed to the competitors earlier in the day. On Saturday, a Black Box competition gave chefs one hour to create a dish using mystery ingredients.
Before the competition, Kim told Postmedia that he spent “about six months not only just making a good food with good texture” but creating dishes that meant something to him.
“I scrolled back to my memories growing up, and linked it with my Korean identity,” says the chef. “Once I finalized my idea, I had to make it into a great flavour and textural combination.”
Kim worked on his grandparents’ farm in Korea and learned to cook alongside his grandmother. After emigrating to Canada as a teenager, he honed his skills at several luxury hotel properties in Alberta before coming to Vancouver in 2017. He joined Glowbal in 2021 as executive chef at its flagship Glowbal Restaurant following a three-year turn as chef de cuisine at the former MARKET by Jean-Georges at the Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver.
Kim is the fourth B.C.-based chef to win the Canadian Culinary Championship following Melissa Craig of Whistler’s Bearfoot Bistro in 2008, Alex Chen and Roger Ma of Vancouver’s Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar in 2018 and 2020, respectively, and Jasper Cruickshank of Whistler’s Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar in 2024.
This year, Jordan Holden of Moncton’s Atelier Tony and François-Emmanuel Nicol of Quebec City’s Tanière3 won silver and bronze, respectively.