The sister restaurant of 1 Michelin-starred St Lawrence, Chez Céline has the comfortable atmosphere of a classic French bistro with the hearty, seasonal fair of French Canada. The Fraserhood restaurant only just celebrated its first birthday in May, but it has already gained much acclaim. It was awarded the No. 10 spot on the 2026 list of Canada’s Best New Restaurants and claimed No. 60 on the latest annual list of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants. In addition, Chez Céline recently won four accolades at the 2026 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards.
Deliberately Unpretentious
It almost feels wrong to start with Chez Céline’s accolades since the restaurant is so humble, unpretentious, and casual.
This tone is intentionally cultivated by Head Chef Margaux Herder and General Manager David Lawson, a duo who collectively spent over a decade at the Michelin-starred St Lawrence. Chef JC Poirier of St Lawrence enthusiastically aided the Herder and Lawson when they came to their boss with a new French Canadian concept. Chez Céline is an excellent casual counterpart to its fancier, fine-dining sister restaurant.
Even as early as three years into her stint at St Lawrence, Herder was talking with JC about opening her own place. By the end of her time there, she also knew she was ready to leave the world of Michelin.
During her time at St Lawrence, Herder had the opportunity to participate in long table dinners and other special events that they took her out of the St Lawrence kitchen. With this broad experience, Herder had some choices to make about the trajectory of her culinary career.
Culinary Crossroads
After a stint in a 3 Michelin-star kitchen, she recognized that she wanted to move into more casual rather than more extreme fine dining. “That was a three-star, that’s like supposed to be the best of the best,” she recalls, “and I just thought, like, it was very impressive, the food that they were making and sending out, but it felt lacking soul. And I realized on that trip that I did not want to do 2 or 3 star restaurants.”
With this newfound clarity, Herder and Lawson, a Montreal native, embraced the humble, delicious, and more raucous vibes of the Québécois city.
“Chez Céline is a bit more humble,” sums up Herder. She goes on, “We have a bit more fun with it. It’s more inviting for people, like, we don’t want to be pretentious. We don’t want to be cocky. We just want to be ourselves, have a nice time, and invite people in.”
From Pork to Poutine
While French-Canadian food may first bring to mind hearty stews, rich sauces, and lots of butter, summer at Chez Céline means lighter and brighter dishes. I had a wonderfully simple salad of fennel and grapefruit that made for a fresh start to the meal.
On the richer, French side, Chez Céline has a delightful little sandwich. It’s about the size of one for high tea with foie gras and fruit preserve. In a wild way, it feels like an elevation and enrichment of the classic combination of peanut butter and jam.
Another iconic Chez Céline dish is the Pork Chop for two with maple-apple cider sauce. The pork is expertly cooked, still juicy with the right amount of fat rendering. Its maple apple-cider sauce is absolutely lip-smackingly delicious, and the dollop of grainy mustard is appreciated.
As a side, I tried the Charred Cabbage with Oka cheese sauce. This dish was recommended by my server as a well-suited side for the pork. He was right. He even stopped by the table as I was partway through to recommend dragging a piece of the pork through the cheese sauce.
After trying, I would also highly recommend this.
Chez Céline also has one of my favourite poutines in Vancouver. I believe it to be the closest to a Montreal-style that you can get here. And they serve it in an adorable paper take-out cup.
But Chez Céline Also Does Brunch
The first time I visited Chez Céline was for brunch. And I also enjoyed their poutine alongside the decadent Céline Breakfast Sandwich. The poutine is one example of menu crossover between brunch and dinner.
“For example,” Herder tells me, “We have a raviolo with crab on the dinner menu with a yolk in the middle. And then on brunch, we have the same raviolo, but with sage and brown butter.”
This raviolo actually first started on the brunch menu before also being a dinner option.
Looking ahead after celebrating one year open, Herder shares, “We’re just trying to be better every day. Just focused on the team we have, which I think we’re very lucky. We have a great team, but pushing everyone to be better, and I think, you know, if we do a good job, things will come.”
