Profile | Shut out of Chinese restaurant kitchens, he turned to YouTube. Meet David Schwartz, the Michelin Young Chef winner taking Toronto’s food scene by storm
- Michelin Young Chef award winner David Schwartz owns two Toronto Chinese restaurants, but didn’t learn to cook from Chinese chefs – they refused to teach him
- The Canadian, who developed a passion for Chinese food travelling in Asia ‘like Anthony Bourdain’, says his mission ‘is about representation of a food culture’
David Schwartz almost didn’t show up for the Michelin Toronto awards ceremony in late September, but he’s glad he did.
His name was called to receive the inaugural Michelin Young Chef award – fitting for a 31-year-old chef-owner who has opened not one but two popular restaurants in Canada’s largest city that serve Chinese food, such as grilled eggplant and leeks with Sichuan sauce, tendon and tomato, and shaved ice with osmanthus syrup and brown sugar tapioca.
Ever since he was a child, Schwartz has been obsessed with Chinese cuisine, thanks to his parents.
“My family and I would go for dim sum every Sunday for the first probably 15 years of my life,” he says via a video call from Toronto. “My dad was really big into eating tripe, tendon and chicken feet. And then basically, I picked up the same habits. I just became fascinated with the textures and I became obsessed.”
They not only frequented Chinese-Canadian restaurants, but also Cantonese ones.
He continues this practice today, driving to municipalities outside Toronto – such as Markham, Mississauga and Scarborough – to try out Chinese restaurants.
