QUALITY TIME
It's often midnight by
the time pastry chef Kenta
Takahashi gets home from
Downtown Vancouver's Boule-
vard Kitchen + Oyster Bar. The
city is quiet, his kids are sound
asleep. But instead of fixing
himself a snack, watching TV
or just going to bed, he sets up
a canvas in the living room and
starts to paint.
He picks a colour, then
slowly adds shapes, lines and
layers until the composition
COLOUR PALATE
Painting is therapy for award-winning pastry
chef Kenta Takahashi by Rushmila Rahman
W E E K E N D W A R R I O R
is, in his words, "comfortable
to look at." This process can
go on until 4 a.m., and while
some would argue that Taka-
hashi's abstract creations are a
rare glimpse into his introvert-
ed mind, he sees it differently.
"Painting, for me, is more for
the practice of colour compo-
sition, for the practice of the
visual... It's not like I want to
express what I'm feeling or
something. I don't put much
thought into it."
His art—like his desserts at
Boulevard—is intricate and in-
trospective. In the food world,
Takahashi's attention to detail
snagged him Best Pastry Chef
awards from both Canada's 100
Best and Vancouver magazine
this year, so he's being more
than a little humble when he
describes his craftsmanship as
"nothing special."
"People say, 'This is art,'
or, 'It's very fancy, unique,
special.' But I always say I'm
not doing something special; I
always focus on the basic and
classic," he says.
Before Boulevard, Taka-
hashi's experience at Thierry
(under local pastry chef Thi-
erry Busset) and his training at
the Tsuji Culinary Institute in
Osaka, Japan, focused on tradi-
tional French techniques. And
in the pursuit of perfecting
those French basics, Takahashi
serves up innovative desserts
that are full of imagination.
Unlike the quietness
that engulfs him when he's
painting in the dead of night,
Takahashi's mind comes
alive when he's working on a
recipe. If he's making mango
pavlova, for example, he'll
examine each component
carefully before thinking
As executive pastry
chef at Michelin-
recommended Boule-
vard Kitchen + Oyster
Bar, Kenta Takahashi
leads a team of five
and chooses to work
14-hour shifts. "The
staff and the people in
the restaurant tell me
to go home and take a
break, but I just don't,"
he says. Takahashi has
been with Boulevard
for over seven years
now, and he was
named Best Pastry Chef
by Canada's 100 Best
in 2020, 2023 and 2024.
Having said that, he's
a man of simple plea-
sures outside of work:
his go-to for sweet
cravings are typically
doughnuts, apple pie,
ice cream, Kit Kats and
Coffee Crisps.
WARRIOR SPOTLIGHT
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B C B U S I N E S S . C A
N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 24 K e n t a Ta k a h a s h i
