Celebrity-approved Vancouver restaurant was just named one of the best in the world
Whether it’s praise from none other than Anthony Bourdain or love from local celebrities like Seth Rogen, there seems to be no stopping the Vancouver restaurant Lunch Lady. In addition to all the praise, the restaurant has now received an even more impressive accolade: being named one of the best in the world.
Food & Wine recently published its list of the top 10 global restaurants, and Lunch Lady ranked ninth.
“Menu items, many available as large-format dishes for family-style eating, are mostly Vietnamese classics that incorporate Pacific Northwest products wherever possible. Vietnamese sausage is sourced from Two Rivers Meats in North Vancouver; American wagyu beef comes from Idahoâs Snake River Farms; the duck is from Yarrow Meadow in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia,” wrote the publication.
“Lunch-only soup specials still rotate daily: bĂșn thĂĄi with baby octopus and local clams on Thursday, bĂĄnh canh cua with Dungeness crab on Saturday. Drinks (pho-spiced Old Fashioneds, green-cardamom Piña Coladas) and desserts (like tiramisu made with cĂ phĂȘ, or Vietnamese coffee) stray a little further from tradition.”
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Lunch Lady first got its start as an unnamed noodle stall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and was operated by late chef Nguyen Thi Thanh. The stall skyrocketed to global popularity after a visit by Anthony Bourdain for an episode of No Reservations.
Following the episode, Vancouverite Michael Tran (who had also dined here during his travels in Vietnam) brought Thanh’s recipes to the Pacific and opened Lunch Lady on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive in 2020.
Since opening in 2020, Lunch Lady has expanded with an outpost in Toronto and will also be coming to Vancouver’s Time Out Market, which is expected to open this spring. In addition to the aforementioned Bourdain and Rogen, the Vancouver outpost has been host to multiple major celebrities, including Hasan Minhaj, Ronny Chieng, John Mulaney, Zack Galifianakis, Bowen Yang, and more.
As for other restaurants that made the list, Lunch Lady was the only Canadian spot. Ikoyi, a restaurant located in London, England, took home the number one spot, followed by the likes of Maido in Lima, Peru, and Ciel Dining in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
“These establishments, all part of this year’s Food & Wine Global Tastemakers list of Best International Restaurants, were selected by travel and food experts not simply for technical perfection, but also for their special points of view. They reflect the movement of ideas, ingredients, and influence across borders. And, naturally, all of them are worth planning entire trips around,” wrote Food & Wine.
Winners are chosen through a selection process that includes over 400 experts, from chefs to travel writers, who nominate “culinary travel experiences” across a variety of categories. These nominees are then ranked by Food & Wine‘s Global Advisory Board.
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