The wild berries in Tengis Battur’s winning dish came from his father, who picked them in the same places they had foraged together when Tengis was a boy.
The Five Sails chef won the Canadian regional final of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition 2026–27 in Toronto on October 28. His dish, “Steppe” in the Spring, earned him a place at the 2027 final in Milan, where he will represent Canada. When I asked him about the food behind the award, his answers kept returning to family.
A Mongolian spring, served in Toronto
Battur was born and raised in Ulaanbaatar. Growing up, the months before winter were spent preserving, fermenting, pickling and drying food. When the snow melted, the family went out to forage. The first fresh herbs and berries were eaten alongside the ingredients that had sustained them through the cold.
That change of season is what he wanted the judges to experience. His competition entry brings together five Mongolian dishes, with each part contributing to the feeling of sitting down to a feast.
“It was a celebration of nature, resourcefulness, and appreciation,” he told me by email. “In many ways, this dish is my attempt to revisit that feeling and share it with others.”
There is khushuur, a crisp lamb tenderloin dumpling with spring onion purée, chips and scapes. Suutei tsai combines roasted bone-broth milk tea with chive oil and borts, or wind-dried lamb. For shorlog, lamb heart and tongue are grilled over charcoal and served with ramp and nettle chimichurri and allium flowers.
The spread also includes bantan, a charred onion filled with braised meat, caramelized onions and soft noodles, plus lamb saddle with bone marrow soubise, wild cherry and lamb bone reduction. Slow-cooked lamb loin is wrapped in burnt onion and wild-spice farce.
Tea leaves, dried meat and a piece of home
The milk tea has its own family connection. Battur used the same tea leaves his grandfather would brew whenever the family visited. His family also helped source the dried meat from the place where he grew up, while a friend made custom plates for the competition.
He describes meat dried in the Mongolian winds as taking on the character of the surrounding terrain and microclimate. Its flavour is tied to where it comes from, making it a particularly meaningful ingredient to bring to the judges.
“Having my family involved meant that I wasn’t simply bringing ingredients to the competition,” he said. “I was bringing a piece of home, and a part of the people who shaped me.”
What he has learned from Alex Kim
For the past two and a half years, Battur has worked alongside Five Sails chef and co-owner Alex Kim, the 2025 Canadian Culinary Champion and his official competition mentor. He credits Kim with improving his seasoning, fermentation and butchery, as well as the way he works with proteins and vegetables.
The confidence has mattered just as much. Kim’s encouragement has helped him take more responsibility for his own development and push himself in the kitchen. Asked what he most wants to carry into his own career, Battur points to his mentor’s kindness and humility.
“My heritage gives my cooking its identity, while the experiences and knowledge I’ve gained here allow me to explore that identity in ways I hadn’t previously imagined.”
Battur spent two months developing the dish for his submission, followed by another four and a half months practising after he was named a finalist. The difficult part was getting all five preparations to work together while allowing each to keep its character.
I asked when he knew it was ready. “As for the moment I knew the dish was ready, I’m not entirely sure that moment will ever come.” He is still studying and refining it for Milan, with more ideas for how to approach the food he grew up eating.
Next stop, Milan
Ten chefs competed in the Canadian final, judged by Daniel Hadida of Restaurant Pearl Morissette, Briana Kim of Antheia and Quinton Bennett of O’Rourke Family Estate. In Milan, Battur will join the winners from 14 other regions.
He wants the international judges to see the depth of Mongolian cooking, particularly its long knowledge of preserving and transforming ingredients. For him, the chance to compete also belongs to the people who helped him get there, from his family in Mongolia to the cooks who have taught him in Canada.
“Winning would be my way of giving something back to that community,” he said. “It would be a tribute to every restaurant I’ve worked in, every chef I’ve had the privilege of learning from, and every person who has played even the smallest part in my journey.”
Five Sails by Alex Kim is at the Pan Pacific Vancouver, 999 Canada Place. Kim’s current menu draws on Korean food traditions, fermentation and ingredients from British Columbia.
