Restaurants

Sliding Doors: Vancouver Restaurants Opening and Closing in December

Top Chef alum openings, cool new spaces and street food spots level up.

By Kristi Alexandra /

While the big news dropped yesterday that short-lived Mexican-inspired queer bar Gina’s, located in Chinatown, announced its imminent closing just nine months after opening, we’ve been flanked with some good news, too.

Launching its soft opening today (December 17), newcomer Osteria Otto comes inspired by Japanese kissa listening bars (read: warm lighting and hi-fi vinyl) with Italian-style cooking. Handmade pastas and “thoughtful small plates… built for sharing” are developed by chef Tarun Tiwari, while bar manager Yashir Gonzalez will be mixing up the drink menu. The new Mount Pleasant haunt is located at 151 E. 8th Ave., in the same building as Giusti, which is in the former Bar Susu spot.

Top Chef Canada season 11 winner chef Chanthy Yen will be opening the doors to his much-anticipated Touk on Friday, December 19, promising Cambodian and French flavours using local ingredients.  The downtown restaurant, located at 1152 Alberni St., will kick off with a menu that “celebrates Cambodia’s depth and diversity” with dishes like Babor (a rice porridge layered with snow crab, egg yolk and Kampot pepper foam), Twa Koh (grilled beef sausage) and wild boar tomahawk with Cambodian mole, Yen’s winning dish from his Top Canada. Vanmag Bartender of the Year for 2025, Tara Davies of Chupito, is behind the bar and cocktail program, while a natural wine list will be curated by Jayton Paul of Chez Celine and Virgine Semery of St. Lawrence.

Also opening this week, on December 19, is the opening of Street Hawker Turbo on Cambie. The restaurant is the second location for Street Hawker (some are calling it Street Hawker 2.0) after the closure of Potluck Hawker, a casual eatery serving up laksas, wings and noodles—all inspired by southeast Asian street food. The new restaurant, located at 3424 Cambie Street, takes visual inspiration from late ’80s Capcom video game Street Fighter.

So, it looks like our holiday schedule just got a lot more full!

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Kristi Alexandra

Kristi Alexandra

Kristi Alexandra is the managing editor, food and culture, at Canada Wide Media. She loves food, travel, film and wine (but most of all, writing about them for Vancouver Magazine, Western Living and BCBusiness). Send any food and culture-related pitches to her at [email protected].