ABOUT YUWA JAPANESE CUISINE
Tucked away in the heart of Vancouver’s West Side since 2017, Yuwa Japanese Cuisine is an elegant enclave where a creative homage to regional Japanese fare is complemented by one of the city’s best selections of artisan sake and wine. Led by Chef/ Co-Owner Masahiro Omori and renowned Sake Sommelier and Co-Owner Iori Kataoka, Yuwa offers an inspired approach to the traditional kaiseki style of dining where the very best local and seasonal ingredients are paired with consummate service, attention to detail and expert knowledge of fine wine and sake from around the world to provide a Zen culinary experience unlike any other.
Recently recognized by the MICHELIN guide as a ‘Recommended’ restaurant and one of Vancouver's Best Japanese Restaurants, Yuwa was also singled out as Best Japanese Restaurant by the 2022 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. In previous editions of annual Vancouver Magazine awards, Yuwa was named a finalist for Best New Restaurant and Best Japanese in 2018 and ’19, respectively, and received two silver designations for Best Japanese and Best West Side Restaurant in 2020. Its wine list also earned Yuwa a third-consecutive gold designation at the 2020 Vancouver International Wine Festival’s Wine Program Excellence Awards, where it was also honoured with Best Food and Wine Pairing by the judges.
Masahiro Omori
Executive Chef/Co-owner
At Yuwa Japanese Cuisine, Chef Masahiro Omori’s classical training, keen grasp of time-honoured techniques and eye for presentation are on brilliant display during each night’s service.
For Omori, Yuwa is both a showcase for his effortless-yet-elegant approach to the traditional Japanese kaiseki style of dining, and a heartfelt homage to the woman who first helped forge his culinary path so many years ago. It was his obaasan (grandmother) Yuwa — fresh fish trader in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture for more than 35 years — who instilled in Omori his dedication to craft, tireless work ethic and gift for selecting the freshest catch.
After attending culinary school in Japan, Omori continued to sharpen his blade with two decades of experience in restaurants both in his homeland and in Vancouver, where he first teamed with Yuwa Co-Owner Iori Kataoka as the opening chef at ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro in 2008. At Yuwa, Omori prides himself on escorting guests on a tour of Japan’s distinct regional cuisines and flavours using the bounty of local and seasonal ingredients available from oceans, farms and pastures located throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In 2022, Omori led Yuwa to earn a coveted spot on the Vancouver list of ‘Recommended’ restaurants by MICHELIN guide, as well as recognition as one of Vancouver’s Best Japanese Restaurants, with the guide spotlighting his “masterful presentation” that will be “etched in your memory forever”.
Iori Kataoka
Sake Specialist/Co-owner
Yuwa Co-owner/Sake Specialist Iori Kataoka takes pride in ensuring that each guest embarks on a culinary adventure unlike any other, providing expert service and pairing an extensive knowledge of sake and wine with the restaurant’s signature take on traditional Japanese regional cuisine.
A respected and self-taught veteran of the Vancouver hospitality scene for nearly three decades, Kataoka opened her first successful restaurant in 1990, rebranding it as ShuRaku Sake Bar and Bistro in 2008. She launched Zest Japanese Cuisine in Yuwa’s current location in Vancouver’s West Side in 2005 and helped the restaurant become a perennial finalist in the ‘Best Japanese’ category at the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards and earn Gold designations from the Vancouver International Wine Festival’s Wine Program Excellence Awards from 2014 through ’17. Since relaunching the restaurant as Yuwa in 2017, Kataoka continued to achieve those same accolades, earning consecutive gold awards in the past three years, with Yuwa also being singled out for Best Food and Wine Pairing at the 2020 edition of the annual wine festival.
A Certified Advanced Sake Professional and recipient of the Premier Crew Award by Vancouver Magazine, Kataoka prides herself on curating one of the city’s top-shelf lists of artisan sake and wine at Yuwa, which was singled out as Best Japanese Restaurant at the 33rd annual Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards in 2022 and as a ‘Recommended’ restaurant by MICHELIN guide.
