How a Thai restaurant in a seaside B.C. village became the best restaurant in Canada

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Steveston is a sleepy little village at the mouth of the mighty Fraser River in Richmond, B.C.

Lush year-round, it’s a pretty spot, with heritage homes, a boardwalk, quaint shops and a historic wharf (circa late 1800s).

As destinations on Canada’s West Coast go, Steveston has a lot to offer. But for many Vancouverites, it’s considered a trek: The 45-minute drive from the downtown core makes it a charming place to visit, every so often, usually to go whale watching or eat fish and chips.

Last year, however, Steveston suddenly became a destination of note, at least for foodies, when word spread that a 20-seat establishment on the waterfront called Baan Lao was named best restaurant in Canada at the World Culinary Awards.

The prize sparked pride, and some surprise, among Steveston residents who weren’t sure what to make of Baan Lao when it opened in 2021, with its white-glove service and 13-course tasting menu, priced at $195 a person, comprised of beautifully plated, intricate dishes normally served to kings and queens of Thailand.

Chef Nutcha Phanthoupheng, who moved to Canada with her husband, John, in 2014, knew it was a risk to introduce such an elevated menu in a place that was off the beaten path. But she was sure once people tasted her small plates – which resemble works of arts and adhere to the stringent principles behind Royal Thai cuisine – they would be smitten.

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It took no time for the quiet, soft-spoken chef to be proven right.

In three years, Baan Lao has won countless awards: best chef, best restaurant and best hidden gem (Vancouver Golden Plates), made Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list and in 2022 chef Phanthoupheng became the first Thai chef in Canada to be given the designation of Maitre Rôtisseur by La Chaine des Rôtisseurs (an International Association of Gastronomy established in more than 75 countries and a partner with Le Cordon Bleu).

All of which is remarkable given that Phanthoupheng, a former nurse and cancer researcher in Bangkok, has only been cooking professionally for a handful of years.

As for what convinced her to swap her white lab coat for a neatly pressed chef’s jacket and hat? After working in health care for 13 years, she came to believe that “good food is the best medicine.” And she was horrified by the “cheap and cheerful” version of Thai food she tried soon after moving to Vancouver.

“When most people in the Western world think of Thai food, they think of street food, meat on a skewer, and a pad Thai that is too sweet, without texture or subtlety,” she says. “I wanted to show people what ‘real’ Thai food is like, to change their perception.”

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Her tasting menu is called Celebrating the Bounty and Beauty of Thailand, where every dish tells a story. “I grew up in the northeast of Thailand, in the region of Issan, where we grew everything ourselves, raised our own animals, we foraged and cooked everything from scratch, over a fire.”

After much research, she decided Royal Thai cuisine would be a good way to introduce Canadians to the subtleties and complexities of authentic Thai food.

Royal Thai cuisine is made to exacting standards that only a few restaurants globally even attempt to meet. For example, fruits and vegetables served together must be the same size; all ingredients must be the best and freshest available; all dishes must have bones, pits and stones removed; and all flavours must be perfectly balanced, without extremes.

In 2018 and 2019, while caring for a young family, Phanthoupheng travelled back and forth to Thailand. She studied with chef Chumpol Jangprai, the Iron Chef of Thailand whose restaurant, R-Haan, has two Michelin stars, and under chef Vichit Mukura, who served the Thai royal family and has a restaurant, Khao, with one Michelin star. She also earned certifications from the Blue Elephant in Bangkok, the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Cooking School and Bussaracum Royal Thai Cuisine.

At Baan Lao, which means “our home” in Thai, gold tongs are used to present hot towels scented with lemongrass, the crystal is Austrian (Mark Thomas) and the cutlery is handcrafted by the same artisan who makes the eating utensils for the Thai royal family.

Ingredients are sourced from local farmers within a 10-kilometre radius of the restaurant with a few select items from Thailand.

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Phanthoupheng’s menu features Maa Haaw (an organic water buffalo meatball served in a spoon carved from pineapple), Tom Kha Pla Fu (coconut galangal soup with crispy wild sockeye salmon) and Phat Thai Kung Lai Suae (pad Thai with mangrove black tiger prawn).

Phanthoupheng’s phat Thai takes four hours to make. She makes the sauce from tamarind and specially processed chili peppers (she peels off their skin, removes the seeds and pounds the flesh to extract the chili essential oil). The finished product is then encased in delicate egg lacing.

“Because it is so beautiful I believe it inspires people to slow down and savour each bite so they can appreciate each layer of flavour.”

There is a playfulness to her menu, too. She tips her hat to her nursing background with a palate cleanser called Nam Ta Khrai Bai Toei Un Chan Ma Nao, made from lemongrass, pandan and fresh butterfly peas. Diners are given a syringe filled with freshly squeezed lime juice, which when injected, turns the drink lavender.

“My dream is to show people that Thai food can be world class and hold its own on the fine-dining stage.”

Jacob Richler, publisher and editor of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants, says the chef is well on her way to reaching that goal.

“Most people will find Nutcha’s cooking revelatory,” says Richler, who invited the chef to come to Toronto last November and cook at his magazine’s fall issue launch party. She prepared a dish of British Columbia water buffalo tenderloin and Miyazaki A5 Wagyu with a “notoriously laborious Massaman curry, rice from Baan Lao’s own farm in Thailand and topped with caviar.”

Richler applauds Phanthoupheng for trying to break the stereotypes that have plagued cuisines such as Thai, or Chinese, or Indian. And he adds that her ascent comes as Thailand is finally getting recognition as a global destination for fine dining.

The 2025 Michelin Guide showcased 452 dining venues in Thailand, including one three-Michelin star Bangkok restaurant called Sorn.

This calibre of Thai fine dining is showing up in other cities, too. Portland’s Langbaan won outstanding restaurant at last year’s James Beard Awards. And Richler notes that “places like Kiln in Soho, and more recently AngloThai in Marylebone, are getting a lot of positive attention in London.” In Canada, he adds, there’s Vancouver’s Maenam, Montreal’s Pichai, and Kiin, in Toronto.

Phanthoupheng believes it is her job to keep introducing Canadians to new ways of looking at Thai cuisine. She recently started serving a sommelier-led afternoon Thai tea ($95 a person), which is a cross between dim sum and British high tea. She and her husband have also signed a lease for two new locations on Granville Island in Vancouver, one a restaurant focused on charcoal-grilled dishes inspired by the region where she was raised, and the other a bakery/café.

She has no plans, however, to leave Steveston, a town she hand-picked to raise her children and where she feels at home. “I knew, when we first started talking about opening a restaurant, that I wanted it to be in a place that was unique and different, on the waterfront, and in a charming area. I saw something in Steveston. The people are lovely, and I just fell in love.”