Vancouver chef pays homage to the Japanese masters who helped him earn his star | Canada Voices

Peter Ho buzzed through the skinny open kitchen at Sumibiyaki Arashi with a serious look on his face.

His usual smiley, peacefully calm demeanour had given way, ever so slightly, to the stresses of the moment: In a mere three hours, his intimate Vancouver restaurant would open its doors for the first of six one-year anniversary dinners. Called the Lineage of Fire, the omakase menu wasn’t just special because it marked the first birthday of his 14-seat yakitori eatery, which specializes in charcoal-grilled skewers – it was special because Ho wasn’t cooking it alone.

With him in the kitchen were the two Tokyo-based chefs who’ve had the most influence on his career: Yoshiteru Ikegawa of wildly popular yakitori restaurant Torishiki, and Kentaro Nakahara of the equally beloved wagyu grill spot Sumibiyakiniku Nakahara.

“I was surprised; he’s doing very well,” said Nakahara, reflecting on the meal that Ho cooked for the two chefs upon their arrival. It was their first visit to Vancouver, but they happily made the trek across the ocean to help celebrate Ho’s accomplishments thus far (namely, earning one Michelin star after only seven months in business). But then, with a sly smile, Nakahara added: “It’s not perfect yet.”

For Ho, his mentors’ visit was a chance to pay his respects the best way he knew how: through food. “I feel very honoured that they said yes,” he said. “So I’d better not screw this up.”

Tending to and cooking with fire requires patience, presence, and precision. Those who have never tried authentic Japanese yakitori may balk at Sumibiyaki Arashi’s prices, which start at $175 before drinks and add-ons (and tickets to Lineage of Fire were double that amount). But the skill required to excel at this type of cooking shouldn’t be underestimated.

Ho uses a traditional charcoal called kishu binchōtan, which is sourced from Japanese ubame oak trees and burns at an extremely high heat. That means the skewers require near constant attention (flipping, fanning, repeat) to ensure they cook evenly and thoroughly without burning. When done right, the results are transcendent: juicy, moist, shining morsels of meat are taken to new heights thanks to the smoky aroma and flavour from the charcoal.

Born in Taiwan, Ho moved to Canada with his family when he was eight years old. It was his paternal grandmother who, with fond memories of Japan’s 50-year occupation of Taiwan (which ended in 1945), helped him fall hard for Japanese food. When he was a kid, she would take him to Japan two to three times a year, and at home in Vancouver his family often went to Japanese restaurants.

Ho soon realized that he not only wanted to eat Japanese food, though – he wanted to cook it. With dreams of one day opening his own place, he learned his trade at restaurants both in Vancouver and abroad – back in Taiwan and also in Japan, where he met Nakahara in 2015. A few years later, Nakahara introduced him to Ikegawa, who became his yakitori mentor. Back in Vancouver, Ho took what he learned and channelled it into Sumibiyaki Arashi, which opened in March, 2025.

“I wanted to teach him passion,” Ikegawa said through a translator, in between food prep tasks for the evening’s festivities. “I did this by showing him that I had passion. We worked in the same kitchen, but I didn’t say it directly to him: Peter had to find it out.”

Ho, whom Ikegawa praised for being a quick study, got the message.

“The number-one thing he taught me was heart, passion, and hospitality,” Ho said. For example: if you hear the ice cubes clink in someone’s glass, it means their drink is finished and they should be offered another one. Such details may not directly relate to charcoal grilling, but that’s the point.

“‘These things eventually will translate, and will help you be more focused and more observant when you’re grilling,’” Ho recalled Ikegawa saying. “Because with charcoal, it’s not like you just turn a knob on and off.”

Lineage of Fire, then, was both the culmination of everything that Ho had learned so far and a pledge to keep pushing his skills forward. Over multiple sold-out nights in late March, the three chefs served a staggeringly delicious menu that included a show-stopping wagyu shabu-shabu from Nakahara, and an array of tender chicken skewers from Ikegawa and Ho: From hatsumoto (the connective tissue between the liver and heart) to kata (a tender piece near the neck), each one was somehow more flavourful than the last.

By the end of service, Ho’s nerves had clearly dissipated. He was back in his flow state, with his two greatest culinary influences by his side. A banner way to mark a banner year.