Review: Okeya Kyujiro, Michelin-Starred Omakase Restaurant (Vancouver)

Wednesday newsletters always feature a hotel or flight review.

I recently enjoyed a sublime holiday and cruise in Canada and Alaska. You can read my trip reports here:

Review: British Airways A350 Business Class from London to Vancouver
Review: Okeya Kyujiro, Michelin-Starred Omakase Restaurant in Vancouver (today)
Review: Luminara Superyacht by The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
Review: Ultra-luxury cruise in Alaska with The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
Review: Sonora Resort, British Colombia
Review: JW Marriott Parq Vancouver & the Dougles, Autograph Collection Hotel (Vancouver)
Review: British Airways A350 Business Class from Vancouver to London

Review: Okeya Kyujiro, Michelin-Starred Omakase Restaurant in Vancouver

This is only the fourth restaurant review I have published on my blog — following Central in Lima, Peru, ranked the world’s best restaurant in 2023; Paz in the Faroe Islands, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant; and Julien Binz in France, which holds one Michelin star. I am therefore particularly excited to share my experience at Okeya Kyujiro in Vancouver, a Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant where an exceptional omakase is combined with a highly theatrical dining experience.

There are restaurants where the food is the main attraction, and then there are restaurants where dinner becomes an experience in its own right. Okeya Kyujiro belongs firmly to the latter category. Located in Vancouver’s Yaletown neighbourhood, this Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant takes the traditional omakase concept and turns it into something far more theatrical. Rather than simply sitting at a sushi counter and watching a chef prepare a succession of courses, guests are taken through a carefully choreographed performance in which food, music, lighting, presentation and Japanese hospitality all play a role.

The concept was created by chef Takuya Matsuda, who first opened Okeya Kyujiro in Montreal before expanding to Vancouver. The Vancouver restaurant received its first Michelin star in 2023 and has retained the distinction in subsequent editions of the guide. At its heart, however, Okeya Kyujiro remains an omakase restaurant. The dinner currently comprises more than 25 courses, predominantly sushi, using seasonal ingredients sourced primarily from Japan. There is no à la carte menu and little decision-making required from the guest: you simply sit back and allow the chefs to determine the journey.

In this restaurant review:

The setting in Yaletown
The dining room & ambiance
The Omakase show
The food: a 25 course Japanese journey
Final thoughts
Photos

The Setting: Yaletown

Okeya Kyujiro is located on Mainland Street in Yaletown, Vancouver’s trendiest neighborhoods. The area was once a commercial and industrial warehouse district, shaped by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the development of False Creek. Today, its historic brick warehouses have been transformed into restaurants, boutiques, lofts and contemporary residences, creating one of the city’s most fashionable dining districts. This contrast between old and new is part of Yaletown’s appeal. Walk along its brick-lined streets and you will find a lively mix of patios, cocktail bars and restaurants, while the waterfront and seawall are only a short stroll away.

Okeya Kyujiro, however, feels deliberately removed from that urban energy. In fact, you could easily walk past its discreet entrance without realizing that a Michelin-starred restaurant is hidden inside. From the street, it has an almost unassuming, garage-like or hole-in-the-wall appearance — hardly the kind of façade you would expect from a high-end omakase experience. That first impression changes quickly, however, as you step inside and follow the narrow hallway towards the stylish dining room.

The Dining Room

The dining room is dark, intimate and deliberately understated when you first enter. At its center is an open kitchen, although you would not know it immediately: a curtain conceals the cooking area, creating a sense of mystery and anticipation before the omakase begins. Guests are seated around the sushi counter, with the curtained kitchen directly in front of them. The subdued lighting and minimalist décor create an almost theatrical atmosphere, as though you are sitting in a small private theatre waiting for the curtain to rise.

And then, quite literally, it does, accompanied by some dramatic, almost emotional music.

When the omakase begins, the curtains are lifted and the kitchen is revealed. The transformation is striking: what initially appeared to be a dark and understated dining room suddenly becomes a stage, with the chefs taking centre stage in the open kitchen. From this point onwards, the preparation of the meal becomes part of the experience. The chefs work directly in front of the guests, surrounded by an impressive collection of knives, ingredients and carefully arranged utensils.

This is what makes Okeya Kyujiro so different from a conventional sushi restaurant. The kitchen is not simply where the food is prepared; it is the stage on which the entire dining experience unfolds. Once the curtains open, the omakase effectively becomes a live performance, with the chefs, ingredients and preparation techniques taking centre stage.

The Omakase Show

At Okeya Kyujiro, you are not simply being served dinner; you are being invited to watch the creation of dinner from beginning to end.

The chefs work with remarkable coordination. One may be slicing fish while another prepares sushi, another handles a cooked course and another concentrates on the next presentation. Ingredients are occasionally brought forward and displayed before being transformed, giving guests an appreciation of both their origin and the skill involved in preparing them.

There are also moments of music and ceremony woven into the progression of the meal, reinforcing the restaurant’s theatrical identity. Yet the best moments are arguably the quieter ones: the concentration of the chefs, the sound of a knife moving through fish, the careful placement of a single piece of sushi and the brief pause before the next course arrives.

The result is surprisingly immersive. For a couple of hours, the outside world largely disappears.

The Food: A 25 Course Japanese Journey

Ultimately, however spectacular the presentation may be, Okeya Kyujiro would not have earned a Michelin star on theatrics alone. The food is exceptional, with every course feeling like a small work of art — not only in its presentation, but equally in its flavour, texture and execution. Each bite is meticulously composed, combining pristine ingredients with precise technique and a remarkable attention to detail.

There is no menu to browse and no choice of dishes to make. Guests simply surrender themselves to the chef’s selection, with the courses determined by what the kitchen has prepared for the evening. It is a true omakase experience in the traditional sense: you trust the chef to decide what comes next.

And there is plenty coming next. The 25 courses are generally served as small bites, with one following another at a remarkably brisk pace. Rather than lingering over individual dishes, the meal maintains a continuous rhythm, with the chefs moving seamlessly from one preparation to the next. The entire dining experience lasts around two hours, making the evening feel almost like a carefully choreographed performance.

During my visit, the omakase’s 25 beautifully presented courses showcased premium Japanese ingredients and an impressive variety of flavors and textures. The meal featured delicacies such as crab chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard), scallop with caviar, creamy uni (sea urchin), and an exquisite succession of sushi and sashimi, including lean and fatty cuts of bluefin tuna, mackerel, snapper and grilled unagi (freshwater eel). Other highlights included miso-simmered black cod, Wagyu beef, miso soup, and a seafood rice course topped with ikura (salmon roe). Towards the end of the meal, a delicate tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) was followed by a comforting bowl of ramen in a rich seafood broth. The experience concluded on a sweet note with a beautifully presented selection of seasonal desserts.

These were the dishes serving during my dining experience at Michelin-starred Okeya Kyujiro:

Bonito fish
Aradashi miso soup made with shrimp shells
Saba bo sushi — pressed and seared mackerel, served warm
Chawanmushi — silky steamed egg custard topped with snow crab
Botan ebi — spot prawn cured with kelp and topped with caviar
Tomorokoshi surinagashi with karasumi — Japanese-style corn soup with dried mullet roe
Seafood ramen in a rich seafood broth, topped with fresh bonito flakes and gold
Bafun uni — sea urchin topped with seaweed jam
Uni gunkan
Golden eye snapper
Maguro — tuna
Tamago
Gindara saikyo yaki — miso-marinated black cod with ginger
Anago — saltwater eel, served as tempura
Japanese lobster in a delicate tempura batter
Wagyu beef
Grilled unagi (eel)
Monaka — ice-cream sandwich with thin crisp mochi wafers and yuzu ice cream
Nerikiri — traditional Japanese confection made from white bean paste
Crown melon
Japanese grape
Matcha tea

Final Thoughts

Michelin-starred Okeya Kyujiro is not simply a place to go for sushi. It is an immersive interpretation of omakase in which the meal, the chefs and the setting are deliberately combined into one performance. That distinction is important because the restaurant comes with a significant price tag. Dinner currently costs CA$335 per person before tax and gratuity, for a 25+ course experience, with two evening seatings.

It is therefore not the kind of restaurant I would recommend for a casual dinner. Rather, Okeya Kyujiro is best approached as a special-occasion experience — one where you allow yourself a couple of hours to forget about the outside world and simply watch the chefs work.

For anyone interested in Japanese cuisine, particularly the craftsmanship behind high-end sushi, it is a fascinating experience. The food is only one part of the attraction; the precision, ceremony and sense of occasion are equally important. Okeya Kyujiro succeeds because these elements ultimately complement rather than compete with one another. The show may draw you in, but it is the quality of the ingredients and the skill of the chefs that make the experience memorable.

In a city with an exceptionally strong Japanese dining scene, Okeya Kyujiro offers something genuinely different: a Michelin-starred omakase where dinner is not merely served to you, but performed in front of you.