Weekend Warrior: Pastry chef Kenta Takahashi paints his stress away after hours

It’s often midnight by the time pastry chef Kenta Takahashi gets home from Downtown Vancouver’s Boulevard Kitchen + Oyster Bar. The city is quiet, his kids are sound asleep. But instead of fixing himself a snack, watching TV or just going to bed, he sets up a canvas in the living room and starts to paint.

He picks a colour, then slowly adds shapes, lines and layers until the composition is, in his words, “comfortable to look at.” This process can go on until 4 a.m., and while some would argue that Takahashi’s abstract creations are a rare glimpse into his introverted mind, he sees it differently. “Painting, for me, is more for the practice of colour composition, for the practice of the visual… It’s not like I want to express what I’m feeling or something. I don’t put much thought into it.”

His art—like his desserts at Boulevard—is intricate and introspective. In the food world, Takahashi’s attention to detail snagged him Best Pastry Chef awards from both Canada’s 100 Best and Vancouver magazine this year, so he’s being more than a little humble when he describes his craftsmanship as “nothing special.”

“People say, ‘This is art,’ or, ‘It’s very fancy, unique, special.’ But I always say I’m not doing something special; I always focus on the basic and classic,” he says.

Before Boulevard, Takahashi’s experience at Thierry (under local pastry chef Thierry Busset) and his training at the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, Japan, focused on traditional French techniques. And in the pursuit of perfecting those French basics, Takahashi serves up innovative desserts that are full of imagination.

Unlike the quietness that engulfs him when he’s painting in the dead of night, Takahashi’s mind comes alive when he’s working on a recipe. If he’s making mango pavlova, for example, he’ll examine each component carefully before thinking about the dessert as a whole. He’ll research the history of pavlova (including what culture it originates from and why it’s made) to draw inspiration from the ingredients and then do the same for mangoes. He’ll also ask questions like “What is the main texture of this dessert?”

“It’s almost like I’m talking with my creations,” he says. “‘What is your character?’ And  I try to put that on the dish.”

Plating, however, can be a challenge. Prior to Boulevard, Takahashi didn’t spend a lot of time in restaurant kitchens. And as someone who prioritizes taste above all else, painting has become a powerful way for him to polish his presentation skills. It’s also helped him step out of his shell as the shy chef from Japan.

“I really don’t like to be in front of people; that’s why I’m always hiding in the kitchen,” he admits. But since he started painting over a year ago, Takahashi has participated in exhibitions and learned to talk about his creations.

Last October, he held a month-long solo exhibition at Melriches Coffeehouse, where he sold three small canvases. That inspired him to do dessert demonstrations at Boulevard so that he doesn’t have to always rely on the restaurant’s branding team to tell his creative stories.

“That was very interesting,” says Takahashi when asked how it felt to sell his art. “I don’t have any confidence in my creations—and it’s the same for desserts—so I was worrying about many things. But good people came in, and for me, those creations [acted as] a pipeline to connect with someone else. Without that exhibition, without my creations, I wouldn’t have reached those great people, so that’s what I really liked. I love those connections. That’s more valuable than selling art.”

Warrior Spotlight

As executive pastry chef at Michelin-­recommended Boulevard Kitchen + Oyster Bar, Kenta Takahashi leads a team of five and chooses to work 14-hour shifts. “The staff and the people in the restaurant tell me to go home and take a break, but I just don’t,” he says. Takahashi has been with Boulevard for over seven years now, and he was named Best Pastry Chef by ­Canada’s 100 Best in 2020, 2023 and 2024. Having said that, he’s a man of simple pleasures outside of work: his go-to for sweet cravings are typically doughnuts, apple pie, ice cream, Kit Kats and Coffee Crisps.