Niwa: Japanese farm-to-table on Powell Street

Some restaurants start with a business plan. Niwa started with a phone call from Japan. On the line was chef Darren Gee, saying he was ready to come back to Vancouver, and the team behind Dachi set out to find him a kitchen. The one they landed on sits on Powell Street, in East Vancouver, in a small, light-filled room with about 30 seats. For anyone who ate his cooking before he left, the restaurant reads like a second chapter.

Ugly Dumpling alum

The team arrives with plenty of shared history, and the first chapter of it was written at Ugly Dumpling, the chef’s earlier restaurant and a spot the Dachi crew loved so much they spent their nights off there. The friendship that grew around those tables fits the way Dachi owners Miki Ellis and Stephen Whiteside like to work: when someone they care about in East Van dreams of a place of their own, they help build it, and each business keeps a personality of its own.

When the chef came home, opening Niwa together felt like the obvious next step, and Robin Corbett joined them as the fourth partner. The designer, Claire Saksun, created a calm, pared-back room: blond wood, soft light through sheer curtains, a burnt terracotta ceiling, booths along the windows and counter seats facing the open kitchen. The finished space feels serene and sets an unhurried pace for the meal.

The name means garden in Japanese, which suits a chef whose cooking starts in the soil. The partners would have loved a patio where he could grow vegetables on site, but the space doesn’t allow it, so he keeps a plot at a community garden down the street, and what grows there ends up on guests’ plates.

A menu rewritten with the harvest

The chef’s cuisine has always revolved around vegetables and the people who grow them, with an Asian influence that his years in Japan brought even closer. His résumé includes Le Crocodile and Farmer’s Apprentice, and at Niwa he buys vegetables and produce directly from nearby farms, then writes the menu around what they bring in. Niwa’s à la carte list changes every day, running from small plates to larger dishes, so no two visits look quite the same.

At Niwa, vegetables always tend to lead the way. Celeriac, fried karaage-style and dipped in a bright yuzu mayonnaise, has become something of a regular, while leeks come off the charcoal glossy with shoyu butter. When the meal turns richer, it often goes by way of the sea, with hand-cut buckwheat pasta tossed in BC uni, butter and kabocha squash. Even dessert takes its cue from the calendar: in spring, a sakura ice cream arrived wrapped in mochi with a jasmine tea jelly.

The team’s advice is to hand over the keys. The chef’s menu, served as a series of courses from snacks through dessert, is the most direct way to understand the kitchen, since nobody knows what’s best tonight better than the people cooking it.

Sake for the curious

Sake anchors the Niwa’s drink list, a natural match for the food and a category many Vancouver diners are still curious about. The list is deliberately broad so guests can explore and help the category grow in the city. Low-intervention wines, beer, whisky and a few cocktails fill out the offer.

Dinner in the field

When the weather turns sunny, the restaurant leaves Powell Street for the farms it buys from. The team rotates among a few growers, gets a couple of hours to set up a working kitchen outdoors, and serves about 60 guests a menu built largely around what that particular farm is harvesting. It’s Niwa’s literal version of farm to table, and a good reason to follow its announcements once the warm season comes around.

Weekdays only, by design

Niwa opens Monday to Friday and closes on weekends. The schedule is a deliberate attempt to build a restaurant career that can last a lifetime, with time at home written into the calendar. The weekly rhythm also has a happy side effect for diners: with the doors open when many kitchens are dark, Niwa is an easy answer to the question of where to eat on a Monday. Yet, whatever the day, it’s worth dining the way the kitchen cooks, following the season and the farms that feed it, and giving the meal all the time it deserves.

Written by Marie-Françoise Malo
Photography by Niwa

Updated on November 09, 2026

Make a suggestion