Bar Accanto chef off to finals of Canada’s Great Kitchen Party

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This article was published 03/10/2025 (362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Emily Butcher, executive chef of Bar Accanto and Nola in St. Boniface, snagged the top podium spot at Wednesday’s regional leg of the national culinary competition Canada’s Great Kitchen Party.

Butcher, 35, who moved to Winnipeg from Vancouver 10 years ago, scored top marks in the six categories — visual, texture, taste, technical, beverage compatibility and wow factor — on which all eight competing plates were judged.

The 2025 gold medallist’s dish of smoked duck and squash dumpling, massaman curry, fermented kohlrabi salad with black pepper glazed octopus, leche de tigre, pickled eggplant and toasted peanut was inspired by the Prairie landscape and rooted in her West Coast upbringing and Chinese heritage.

This is the second gold medal for Butcher after her 2019 regional win, which led her to compete in the 2020 nationals, where she took bronze.

“It’s been six years since my last Canada’s Great Kitchen Party and I feel like I came into this year with a more developed creative identity. My dish was all about special moments shared with my family and I think that nostalgia translates to the plate,” she says.

“I wanted the dish to be an adventure with every bite and I didn’t hold back on showing my personality.”

This year’s high calibre of competing chefs resulted in a tightly contested race as eight local chefs battled it out to impress the panel of seven judges, including the Free Press’s AV Kitching and last year’s regional champion, Austin Granados.

Thermea Spa’s Darnell Banman, who won the People’s Choice award, also took home the silver medal with his dish of gently smoked and slow-roasted spiced pressed lamb shoulder, while Norman Pastorin of Basta! Filipino Kitchen walked away with the bronze medal for his inventive rhubarb sinagang.

“I thought this year’s lineup of chef contestants was by far the strongest I’ve seen in my three years overseeing the competition,” national culinary judge and adviser Chris Johns says.

“There were always good dishes on offer in Winnipeg, but (Wednesday) I felt like all of the plates had merit and several of them could compete at the national level.”

Butcher will be heading to Toronto in February 2026 to represent Winnipeg in the nationals, where she will pit her skills against nine other regional winners from across Canada.

— staff