Haisan: A 16-Course Chinese–Pacific Northwest Tasting Menu Opens on Commercial Drive

# What Haisan is aiming to be

# The chef's approach Che's working method is deliberately numeric and systematic. He records recipes, weighs ingredients, and reduces seasoning and technique to percentages. When a dish reaches his internal quality threshold—an "eight out of ten"—he stops dissecting it and lets the aesthetic and the feeling of the food take over. If a dish is underseasoned, he returns to analysis until it meets his standards.

That tension between precise calculation and aesthetic ease is central to Haisan: the back-of-house will run with detailed systems and exacting preparation, while the front-of-house experience will be intended to appear effortless and nourishing.

# Training and influences Che was born in Macau and moved to Vancouver as a child. His early interest in food grew through television and practical experience. After studying dietetics at the University of Florida, he moved into professional kitchens.

He staged at and was hired by Maaemo, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Oslo, where he worked across stations and briefly ran pastry. The experience exposed him to intense coordination: multiple cooks servicing a single table simultaneously, with strict timing and choreography.

At Orana in Adelaide, he encountered a different model: similar high ambition but with a much smaller team. That taught him how to achieve rigorous results with leaner operations—an approach he plans to use at Haisan.

Back in Vancouver, Che worked at Scratch Kitchen and later opened Just Pizza on Kingsway. He ran fine-dining pop-ups alongside the pizzeria and was named Rising Star Chef of the Year by the Chinese Restaurant Awards in 2024.

# What diners can expect Haisan's menu will be centered on a roughly 16-course tasting progression. Expect close attention to technique, precise seasoning, and courses that draw on local Northwest ingredients while referencing Chinese flavours and culinary practice.

Che frames his work in terms of execution levels familiar to Michelin-calibre kitchens—less to chase stars than to describe the degree of coordination and consistency he wants in his service.

# The name and intention The restaurant's name, Haisan, links ocean and mountains—an attempt to join the landscape Che grew up in with his Chinese heritage. The stated dining objective is simple: feed people properly and make it look effortless.

# Location and timing Haisan will open later this fall at 2892 Commercial Drive. The space is designed for an intimate, small-service tasting format that relies on tightly coordinated kitchen systems.

# Why this matters for Vancouver dining Haisan combines several trends visible in the city's restaurant scene: a focus on local ingredients, chefs translating personal heritage into tasting-menu formats, and an emphasis on systemized execution learned in international fine-dining kitchens. Che's experience across different service models—large, highly staffed operations and smaller lean teams—suggests Haisan will aim to deliver high technical standards in a compact setting.

# Final note The restaurant is positioned as the next step in Che's evolution: a concentrated presentation of technique, memory, and local produce designed to read as both exacting behind the scenes and relaxed at the table.