Chef Paul Haldane | Vancouver Foodster

Vancouver is home to some of the best chefs in the world, many have worked for the top chefs and restaurants around the world as well as around the city. Dishing with the Chefs is a series of Interviews with some of the top chefs in and around Vancouver.

Paul Haldane

A few weeks ago I spent the afternoon with Chef Paul Haldane at the Blue Canoe Restaurant in Steveston. I previously met Paul this past summer when dining at Blue Canoe on their outside patio.

Paul got his start in the kitchen when he was 15 years old in Battle, England. While at school, he apprenticed at a hotel that had 2 rosettes for fine dining and he did all the Larder and Pastry etc. He then worked at a 1 Michelin Star restaurant in Cambridge, at 19 years old he worked as the Sous Chef in a semi-fine dining establishment. He then travelled to Australia for a year and worked all over and then returned to the restaurant where he had apprenticed back in England where he met his wife. They moved to Brighton where he got a job at The Jolly Sportsman as a Sous Chef who was then promoted to head chef.

In 2009 Paul and his wife moved to Richmond, BC where he got a job at a Greek restaurant. In April 2010 he became the Sous Chef at Blue Canoe Restaurant in Richmond and was then promoted to Executive Chef in July of 2010.

Did you always want to be a Chef?

Yes, I cooked family dinners while I was growing up, got a job as a dishwasher when I was 12 years old getting paid 2 lbs 60 per hour and from there pursued cooking as a career.

What was it about Cooking that you liked growing up?

Pressure, speed, the amount of respect that was given by chefs to the head chef and vice versa.