A fine dining Thai restaurant in Richmond’s Steveston was just named North America’s Best Restaurant at the 2026 World Culinary Awards.
Baan Lao Fine Thai Cuisine was also named Canada’s Best Restaurant AGAIN, which the team says makes it three years in a row.
On Instagram, the restaurant called itself the first Canadian restaurant to win the North America title, picked from 40 nominees across Canada and the United States.
“Five years ago, we set out to become the best Thai restaurant in North America,” the team wrote.
The same title went to The French Laundry in 2025 and to Le Bernardin in 2024.
That’s some company for a restaurant in Steveston.
Behind it is chef and owner Nutcha Phanthoupheng, a former nurse and cancer researcher from Thailand, as we reported when Baan Lao won Canada’s Best Restaurant last October.
The restaurant opened in 2021 and serves Royal Thai cooking through a seasonal tasting menu it calls an 18 dish journey.
Earlier this year, it also came in at no. 24 on Canada’s 100 Best 2026 list.
Winners of this award are decided by online votes from the culinary community, industry experts and diners.
That makes it a popular vote rather than an inspector’s verdict, and Baan Lao thanked “everyone who voted for us” in its post.
It wasn’t the only Metro Vancouver win this year.
Masayoshi, the one MICHELIN star Japanese restaurant on Fraser Street, was named North America’s Best Japanese Cuisine Restaurant.
Hawksworth Restaurant, inside the Rosewood Hotel Georgia downtown, took North America’s Best Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant.
If you want to see what the votes were about, Baan Lao runs two dinner seatings a night, at 5 pm and 6:30 pm, with reservations through OpenTable on its website.
The win caps a big year of lists for local restaurants, after the 2026 Vancouver MICHELIN Guide, Canada’s 100 Best 2026 and Canada’s 2026 Best New Restaurants shortlist.
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