Kitsilano’s Mak N Ming (1629 Yew Street)—an upscale dining establishment serving tasting menus that focus on French and Japanese flavours—has been named Canada’s fourth best new restaurant, according to Air Canada’s enRoute magazine.

Quebec City’s Battuto took home first place, while Toronto’s Canis came in second and Calgary’s Bar Von Del Fels placed third. 

Mak N Ming's co-owners and chefs Amanda Cheng and Makoto Ono wanted to bring a new type of cuisine to Vancouver. They aimed to elevate the city’s dining culture with Ono’s unique style of cooking.

The husband-and-wife duo told the Straight back in January that they weren’t trying to create fusion dishes, but offer a natural blend of flavours from two different cultures.

“The food that [Makoto] comes up with is not just to please diners and fill seats, he wants to introduce flavours that people maybe don’t know they like,” Cheng told the Straight in an interview at their 28-seat restaurant earlier this year.  

This hidden gem was already tight with seats before this accolade, so now it may be ten times harder to make a dinner reservation.

Other Vancouver spots that were promising contenders but didn’t make the top 10 list include Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Botanist (1038 Canada Place) in downtown Vancouver, Cacao (1989 West 1^st Avenue), and Fayuca (1009 Hamilton Street) in Yaletown.

Two other eateries in the province also made the shortlist, but fell short on placing in the annual restaurant awards: Summit (600 Ebadora Lane) in Malahat, and the Salted Vine (37991 2^ndAvenue) in Squamish.

The list also included three restaurants from Edmonton, Alberta. Last year, Chinatown’s Kissa Tanto earned the top spot.  

Here is the full list of top 10 Canada’s best new restaurants 2017:

1. Battuto, Quebec City
2. Canis, Toronto
3. Bar Von Der Fels, Calgary
4. Mak N Ming, Vancouver
5. Clementine, Edmonton
6. Café Linnea, Edmonton
7. Riviera, Ottawa
8. Brothers Food & Wine, Toronto
9. Marconi, Montreal
10. Alder Room, Edmonton