Alex Kim, Culinary Director of Five Sails and Glowbal Restaurant, recently won top prize at the 2025 Canadian Culinary Championship. After claiming gold at regionals in October, Chef Kim battled against Canada’s best and won at the nationals in Ottawa from January 31 to February 1.
Kim On Cooking to Compete
Speaking of his experience, Kim says, “It was a mix of all the emotions, I was confident at one point, it was nerve-wracking at one point. I felt nervous because everyone was so talented.” He also felt the passion of the other chefs and judges. He describes winning the 2025 Championship, a process which spanned ten months, as “a really joyful moment at the end of a wonderful journey.”
Now he’s returned from Ottawa with not just the grand prize, but also a new desire to inspire his team. Kim served multiple dishes at the finals, from an oyster dish that he fine-tuned for half a year, to a challenge dish he made with mystery ingredients in just an hour. To bring these competition dishes home, Kim crafted a special, six course Canadian Culinary Championship menu, which is on now at Five Sails until March 19th.
An Ode to BC… and Eating Oyster Shells
To start, there is a BC side stripe shrimp crudo. The ingredients used throughout the meal demonstrate Kim’s love for local. The wine pairings, thoughtfully curated by Head Sommelier Alexandre Blais, also celebrate BC. However, a cocktail is the pairing for the mind-blowing oyster dish that follows the crudo. The Lemon Drop Martini is made with local BC lemons, which is impressive given we’re still in the depths of winter.
“The Oyster” is a feat of culinary magic. Magic is the perfect word for it; to explain in detail how this dish is made would strip the illusion of its impact. When served, it looks beautiful, although simple. An oyster on the half-shell. But everything, shell and all, is edible. The sensory experience of eating it whole is surreal.
It’s no surprise that the dish took months to fine-tune. “There was a lot of experimenting and developing,” admits Alex, as well as “so much support from the team.” To create an edible oyster shell, he experimented with every kind of flour, at different ratios, and levels of saturation. Finally, the right texture was achieved. Then, to complete the visual illusion, Kim hand-paints each shell with sea lettuce ink. To simulate the juices of a fresh oyster, Kim uses a salsify purée. He also includes a house-made doenjang, or fermented soy paste.
Kim’s Past Flavours His Future
When it comes to dish composition, Kim is guided first by ingredients, then by flavour, and lastly by technique. His training is French, and his personal background is Korean. He was born in Seoul and moved to Canada with his family when he was 15, partly because his parents recognized his creative instincts and anticipated the challenges he may face pursuing cooking in Korea. “Back then in South Korea, they were hesitant about what to tell me when I said I wanted to be a chef,” Kim says of his parents. “We came to Canada where there were more opportunities.”
Always passionate about cooking, Kim cites Jamie Oliver’s Naked Chef series as inspiration. Other sources of culinary inspiration were his grandparents. They were farmers who grew pears as well as rice. From them, Kim learned traditional techniques. His grandmother shared her recipes with him, and he watched her prepare dishes like the doenjang he included in his oyster dish. While the entire Canadian Culinary Championship menu is enchanting, The Oyster is unquestionably the highlight.
Edible Art
Next, is the Sablefish and Scallop Terrine. I expected a slice with visible layers, possibly encased in aspic. Instead, once again, Kim delivered edible art. He gently cooks the Haida Gwaii Sablefish, then wraps it in a thin layer of scallop, which is then embossed with a stunning black graphic print, made from the dried and ground skin of the sablefish. Accompanying the mixed proteins are multiple preparations of local Pemberton sunchokes.
The final courses include Fortuna: a dual ravioli with one side stuffed with goat cheese and the other with squash. The granola like mixture of toasted almond and pumpkin seeds adds a lovely sweetness as well as crunch. The Fraser Valley dry aged duck breast closes out the meal, with plump celeriac gnocchi and a chestnut mushroom lardo ragu. Lastly, dessert is a literal golden apple filled with crème anglaise.
The best fine dining experiences rekindle childhood joy. The food becomes magical and inspiring. Time slows and you begin to wonder if anything, oyster, apple, or otherwise, is really what it seems.
