Nisga’a-Cree chef Robert Robinson combines artistry and technique in the Five Sails kitchen
The East Vancouver-raised culinary artist fell in love with food while spending time with his fishing family—and worked for Gordon Ramsey
Robert Robinson.
VANCOUVER CHEF ROBERT Robinson is well-versed in classical French technique, having worked at Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe, Canoe Restaurant in Toronto, and at Vancouver’s Le Crocodile and West (when it was Ouest). But the roots of his culinary aspirations can be traced back to traditions that are thousands of years old. The Nisga’a-Cree Vancouver resident picked up a love for food and cooking from so many visits to family in Kinkolith, just off the Nass River in Haida Gwaii, where he stood by his mom’s and grandmothers’ sides in the kitchen.
“I was raised by fishermen on seafood,” Robinson says. “All of my of my uncles, grandpas, dad, grandmas, aunties all worked the nets. It was incredible. I spent four summers there, and my grandparents shared as much as they could.
“Every time we had a family dinner, I recognized the value of getting together,” he says. “It was always a big to-do, and it spawned the value of food in me. Most of the time I’d be in the kitchen peeling potatoes and helping my grandma make mashed potato and fried bread. I was always her helper.”
These days, Robinson is heading the team at Five Sails, which is part of the growing Glowbal Restaurant Group. He emphasizes the word “team”, giving credit for the long-standing venue’s renewed vigour to those around him. He didn’t study formally, but first landed in a professional kitchen when he was 10. Living in the Trout Lake neighbourhood, he would walk several blocks to pick up his 15-year-old sister after her shift ended at the now defunct Felicia’s Italian restaurant on East Hastings Street. To get her out the door faster, he began helping her with her duties, and soon found himself hired, washing tables then making pizza, breads, and pastas plus scrubbing pots and pans.
“I just fell in love with the kitchen life,” Robinson says. In his mid-teens he got hired at iconic Vancouver restaurant Le Crocodile. “That’s where I studied: At the school of Michel Jacob,” he says of the dining room’s founder. “It was my favourite place. I learned how to clean and process vegetables and also about the tidiness of the kitchen, which was always remarkably clean. I love that man.”
A job at West (Ouest) under chef David Hawksworth followed. Then, through a phone call, he got the chance of a lifetime: to work with Gordon Ramsey in London. “It was incredible. I worked 18-hour days and would sleep for four hours a night,” he recalls. The people he worked with there became best friends. “You learned a lot about the food, but that’s kind of a side thing once you learn you’re dedicated to this and you’re going to spend 18 hours a day in the kitchen getting screamed at. It was pretty nutty.”
After three years in Europe, Robinson returned to the West Coast and worked at Bacchus at the Wedgewood Hotel & Spa, Chow with J-C Poirier, and at the Vancouver Club. He was in Toronto at Canoe when COVID hit, so moved back to Vancouver to stay with his mom.
Then Five Sails came calling. “It’s an amazing team,” he says. “We do classically trained French cuisine but put a West Coast spin on it. There’s a huge Asian influence and flavours from around the world, using Canadian ingredients. That’s the key thing. We source from the Pacific Ocean up to Alberta; sometimes we use foragers from Ontario who get us lots of cloud berries that we’re serving with our duck right now.” It all goes back to the principles instilled in him through his Indigenous teachings.
Five Sails.
Some of his signature items at Five Sails include Rossini carpaccio, a classic roasted filet of beef with seared foie gras, brioche croutons, and bordelaise sauce with bone marrow, shallots, and red wine. “It’s a torchon of foie gras, then I sear it and freeze it, then I burrow a hole inside beef tenderloin and stuff it with foie gras. I freeze and slice the bone marrow croquettes and serve it with a shallot-reduction vinaigrette—it’s one of my favourites.”
So are Japanese scallops with miso cauliflower purée in a sea-truffle vinaigrette. “Sea truffle from the East Coast is like a sea lettuce or sea moss with the aroma of truffle. It’s very, very incredible. I learned it from Canoe,” Robinson says. The dish also has braised leek rolled in nori, three pieces all wrapped together, one side crispy, the other side buttery with an herb salad of dill, fennel fronds, parsley, and chervil.
For spot prawn season, Robinson has devised a lasagne with a scallop mouse containing lightly chopped spot prawns folded throughout. “We roll it into a boudin, steam it, and slice large coins,” he explains. “The pasta is made black with charcoal, rolled and punched out into slightly larger coins. We stack them and steam for a few minutes. The plate has a pesto made with dandelions, roasted zucchini, and a froth made with Vermouth. Finished with sorrel.”
While Robinson still cooks most days, he often lets his staff manage the line while he practises new dishes, letting his creativity flourish.
“There’s definitely artistic value to it,” he says, “but it’s also all about technique. And there’s a lot of technique in art; it’s not just whimsical. There’s a lot of philosophy, too.
“The team is everything,” he says. “Maintaining a happy team means I can keep creating.”
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