Okaasan Energy: How Chef Yuki Aida Is Redefining Japanese Dining in Vancouver and Beyond
In a small, artful space on 3rd Street in North Vancouver, a stone’s throw from Lonsdale Quay, Sushi Mahana is quietly preparing for its next chapter. After earning a loyal following for its intimate omakase experiences, the restaurant is set to relaunch on June 10th, offering something at once more casual and more personal: a Kyoto-style obanzai menu rooted in community, comfort, and local ingredients.
At the heart of this evolution is Chef Yuki Aida, a trained artist and whose perspective on food is shaped as much by creative expression and human connection as it is by culinary technique.
For Yuki, the shift is more than a menu change. It’s a deeply personal transformation informed by her upbringing, her education, and her mission to bring care, creativity, and female leadership to the center of the hospitality world.
Yuki Aida’s path to opening Sushi Mahana has been anything but typical. Born and raised in Tokyo, she moved to Canada nearly four decades ago, initially pursuing fine arts before diving fully into the culinary arts. Driven by a passion to connect deeply with others through food, Yuki’s career trajectory took a profound turn when she enrolled at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. Her multifaceted life experiences now enrich Sushi Mahana, creating a restaurant as much a reflection of her personal journey as a culinary destination.
Sitting at the Sushi Mahana counter, it’s impossible not to notice the art on the walls: bold, layered canvases that evoke memory, emotion, and process. They’re Yuki’s own work. “The abstract painting” she says, indicating the work of art behind us, “has several layers,” she says. “Each one represents part of my life. I actually carved into it so the layers show through. That’s where I am now.”
This sense of intentionality permeates the entire space, from the soft lighting and dedicated sake lounge to the selection of ceramics used for tasting flights.
But perhaps most unique is Yuki herself: a woman leading a sushi restaurant in an industry where that remains exceedingly rare.
“We are there,” she says of women in sushi. “But often behind the scenes. I thought—why should we stand behind? We’re capable, and we care deeply. I want to bring that forward.”
In Japanese, the word okaasan means mother—a role Yuki fully embraces both in spirit and in service. Nurturing, in her words, is not a limitation but a strength. “Having a great meal is a nurturing experience. I like to be a mama for everybody.” In fact, her favourite dish to cook is a fusion of Anthony Bourdain’s beef bourguignon and her own Japanese influences: a soulful braise of beef with Hatcho miso and dashi, served alongside family-pickled vegetables using her mother’s recipes.
While Sushi Mahana initially gained acclaim for its sophisticated Kyushu-style omakase, chef’s choice menus built around pristine seafood and exacting techniques, Yuki has decided to take the experience one step further. As the restaurant reopens this June, diners can expect something warmer, more fluid.
“I think eating food should be fun,” Yuki says. “In Japan, there are all sorts of eateries, not just expensive omakase, but casual and more friendly and warm family-led omakase.” That’s what she wants to bring here.
That idea (of blending high-level technique with familial warmth) forms the foundation of Yuki’s new vision. Drawing from Kyoto’s obanzai tradition, Sushi Mahana will serve small, shareable plates crafted with local produce and sustainable seafood from British Columbia. “Obanzai is regional cooking,” she explains. “It’s about using what’s available around you and preparing it with care. In Kyoto, that means Kyoto vegetables. Here, it means North Vancouver farms and fisheries.”
This hybrid concept means diners can still expect exquisitely prepared sushi, but the tone will be more inviting and inclusive. “We’re mashing it together,” she says, smiling.
One of the most distinctive elements of the Sushi Mahana experience is its dedicated sake program and lounge, personally curated by Yuki from her own travels and collections. Sake is particularly important to Yuki and at Sushi Mahana there’s a sake for every moment. “In Japan,” she says, “the rice is polished with incredible precision. It’s like drinking the core of the rice. Like water from heaven.”
While she has access to a spectacular number of Sakes, Yuki’s philosophy is to pare that down and rotate them, offering nine options at any one time. Each night she personally guides guests through flavour profiles from floral daiginjo to full-bodied kimoto brews. “I always ask: have you had sake before? What do you like? Then I choose for you.” Each pour comes in a different artisanal cup, handpicked from her private collection.
Yuki’s journey has taken her from Japan to Vancouver and now, in a full-circle moment, back to Kyoto.
This September, Yuki will expand her vision with the opening of Mahana Kyoto, a new restaurant in Japan’s cultural heartland. Rather than split her time between continents, she’s entrusting the Kyoto operation to a longtime friend and respected female chef, Yubaco Kamohara.
“We’re creating a female-run restaurant group.” Yuki powerfully explains. “Chef Kamohara ran the entire female crew of the Japanese restaurant in Ginza and that was just an amazing experience for her. She told me about the story and I was inspired by that. I thought, hey, you know what? We should work together.”
Not just inspired by her new partner-chef, Yuki’s artistic sensibilities are alight about the interior and space design of the Kyoto location. “It's beautiful, beautiful design. It's a state of art. A combination of a tradition and a current Japan.”
While the Kyoto outpost will carry the same spirit, Yuki will remain in North Vancouver, rooted in the community that helped shape her.
At Sushi Mahana, the experience is not just defined by what’s on the plate, but by the layered presence of Yuki herself, expressed through three distinct yet deeply intertwined identities.
There is Yuki the artist, whose background in fine arts reveals itself in the restaurant’s visual aesthetic, her abstract paintings, and the thoughtful plating that treats each dish as a composition. Then there is Yuki the entrepreneur, a visionary who has built a refined and evolving brand rooted in female leadership, cultural connection, and uncompromising quality. And finally, there is Yuki the okaasan—the nurturing maternal figure whose hospitality philosophy centres on warmth, generosity, and heartfelt care.
Together, these facets of Yuki’s identity don’t just shape the Mahana dining experience—they are the experience. It’s this rare convergence of creativity, leadership, and emotional intelligence that makes both her story and her restaurant so profoundly memorable.
Reservations for Sushi Mahana’s relaunch open soon. The restaurant will operate by reservation only to begin, with limited seating and a focus on intimate, intentional service. For Yuki, it’s not about volume. It’s about connection.
For more food stories like this, check out our weekly newsletter.
See our mates on crates with yuki aida here
