Owners of Michelin-starred, Bib Gourmand Vancouver restaurants 'shocked', 'honoured' to win designations

Vancouver's culinary community and those who love to enjoy their creations are celebrating following the inaugural Michelin star event on Thursday night. 

Eight restaurants were awarded one Michelin star out of a possible three, and 12 received the Bib Gourmand designation, which recognizes high quality among good-value restaurants — those able to offer two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for less than $60. 

Among the owners of restaurants awarded a star is Patrick Hennessy, who founded the restaurant, Barbara.

"There was a fair amount of shock going through my body when my name was announced."

Hennessy and Amélie Nguyen, owner of Bib Gourmand designate Anh and Chi, spoke to CBC's Gloria Macarenko following their big wins. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Patrick, describe Barbara for us.

Hennessy: Barbara is a very small and intimate restaurant, mainly built around an open kitchen and bar, and we serve food and drink that we think is delicious. And that's pretty much our ethos.

We have a constantly rotating menu. I change one dish a week and it's a tasting menu where there's three dishes in each course, three courses, there's a vegetable, a fish, a meat in each course. And so guests get to come and kind of choose their own adventure and we provide them with some snacks throughout the meal.

You opened during the pandemic. Why did you even proceed with that?

Hennessy: It takes quite some time to open a restaurant and I took possession of the space in August of 2019. And so after permitting and architects and so on and so forth, it was time to build pretty much two weeks before the lockdown started to happen. After you are that far in, there's no real stopping and I just knew that I was going to have to find a way.

Amélie, congratulations to you. Anh and Chi was awarded the Bib Gourmand. What does that mean to you?

Ngyuen: We are so honoured and humbled. We are so delighted to represent Vancouver, represent our neighborhood Mount Pleasant and represent all the unconventional self-taught dreamers and doers and chefs and cooks that grind with grit every day. 

Do you think anything will change for you and the way you approach marketing?

Nguyen: I mean Anh and Chi is an approachable neighborhood hub. We're happy that we landed in this category because it just means it's approachable for everybody. You can get something affordable that's delicious.

I don't see any changes. I think we just put our heads down and keep working and keep doing what we do. 

Patrick, your restaurant Barbara is named after your mom. Can you tell us a little bit about her?

So her name is Jane.

Well, she's Barbara Jane. But she's been Jane her whole life. And the reason it's called Barbara is whenever I feel sassy, I call my mother Barbara.

And I thought, as she was my first investor, what nicer way to pay homage than to name it after the name that she is increasingly irritated by?