Collaboration dinners are the latest hot trend amongst Vancouver’s chefs

The dining room at DD Mau pulses with an orchestra of sounds: loud music thumping through the speakers; cocktails shaken and stirred; and a happy chorus of, “Hi, friends!” shouted at anyone who walks in the door.

Excited guests have gathered at the Chinatown restaurant for the first installment of Feast & Friends: DD Mau’s collaborative dinner series that invites chefs and bartenders from around the city to come together in the creation of a special one-off menu.

This edition features Chanthy Yen — last year’s Top Chef Canada winner, and the mind behind the soon-to-open downtown Cambodian restaurant Touk — as well as Taylor Kare and Andrew Kong, the duo behind the roving Bar Supernova, which turns food waste into cocktails (don’t worry if you haven’t caught them yet: they also have plans to open their own space). 

The drinks are inventive and delightfully weird, from the Tomato and Shells — a drinkable shrimp cocktail, if you will — to the Mango & Pepper, a spicy little number complete with lickable fruit-leather garnish.

The food menu, meanwhile, unfolds in a steady stream of fragrant family-style dishes: a mix of Cambodian flavours from Yen and Vietnamese ones from DD Mau chef Tyler Hoang. Some instant favourites? Consider the braised beef tongue with Cambodian mole from Yen, so decadent and rich; or the cold glass noodles with tamarind-tomato broth and fresh herbs from Hoang, so refreshing and bright. 

The beauty of a meal like this is that it’s here for a good time, not a long time. The collaboration dinner’s impermanence is one of its strongest assets: free from the shackles of the everyday menu, it allows chefs to challenge themselves.

“The goal is for chefs and bartenders to get their creative juices flowing in terms of thinking outside of their regular menus,” says DD Mau co-owner Kim Tran. “The idea spawned as a fun way to connect the food community — but also guests, as well — over a creative concept. It brings chefs, bartenders, and, of course, our team together to create a unique menu.”

The first Feast & Friends edition took place on September 9 and 10, while the second —featuring chef Mark Singson and bartender Tadia Rae — happened on October 19. A third volume is currently in the works for January 25. 

Collaboration dinners are nothing new, but Vancouver’s chefs and restaurateurs are breathing fresh life into them with fun and inventive concepts. DD Mau’s is unique for its all-local focus, and for its decision to invite not only a guest chef, but a guest bartender. Still, it’s far from the only Vancouver venture that is tapping into the collaboration-over-competition mindset.

Gastown restaurant L’Abattoir is partnering up with Victoria’s Ugly Duckling for a two-part series that sees each restaurant’s chef cooking a one-night-only guest spot at the other. It begins in Victoria on November 3, when L’Abattoir executive chef Jasper Cruickshank heads to Ugly Duckling; then on January 27, Ugly Duckling chef/owner Corbin Mathany will do a stint at L’Abattoir.

For Mathany, who calls L’Abattoir “one of my favourite restaurants ever, not just in Vancouver,” the key to any good collaboration dinner is, well, right there in the name. 

“The biggest thing I’ve found with some collaborations is that it can feel like two very separate menus that you’re eating in alternate courses,” he says. “So, a lot of time goes into making sure that everybody’s voice shines, but that it feels like a cohesive experience — and not like a competition to have the most memorable dish of the night.” (As for how that cohesion comes to be, Mathany jokes that it starts with “a very long email chain.”)

He sees collaboration dinners as a way to get re-inspired. When you’re a young chef starting out in the industry, he explains, you’re exposed to so many different perspectives and ideas in the kitchen. When you have your own restaurant, however, you’re much more insular.

“You get siloed into your immediate vicinity,” he says. “So part of it is winning that back, and getting to continue to experience how other people approach their food. It’s getting that broader perspective back that you tend to lose once you’re just in your own restaurant every day.”

Of course, these types of dinners aren’t just great for the chefs — they’re also a boon for the diner, who gets to experience an exclusive menu, be introduced to new restaurants or cuisines, and learn a little more about the chef process.

“It’s giving them a little bit of insight into how chefs work,” says Karl Gregg of Rosie’s BBQ, which pops up around the city and also runs the kitchen at Main St. Brewing. “And that’s one of the things I want to make sure we talk about at our events.”

Gregg is currently running a collaboration series at Main St. Brewing in support of peer-led support organization Chefs’ Table Society; the first edition took place on October 23 and featured dishes by chef John Bates from Austin’s one-Michelin-starred InterStellar BBQ. The second edition, happening on November 6, will feature a giant seafood boil cooked in partnership with Chef’s Table president Johnny Bridge. It’s sure to be a feast, albeit a laid-back one.

“It’s the backyard barbecue kind of stuff,” says Gregg, “that chefs like to do when they’re not at work.

The straight goods

• The next installment of DD Mau’s Feast & Friends is set to take place on January 25, 2026. The guest chef and bartender have yet to be announced; check the restaurant’s Instagram for updates.

• The next Chef’s Table Dinner at Main Street Brewing will take place on November 6. Tickets are $35. Get them here.

• TUgly Duckling x L’Abattoir takes place at Ugly Duckling in Victoria on November 3 (tickets are $230 and can be reserved here), and at L’Abattoir on January 27, 2026 (ticket details will be posted in the coming weeks here).