Toronto chef Coulson Armstrong just became Canada’s newest Top Chef (and actor/restaurateur Matty Matheson has a serious reason to celebrate his protégé’s win, but let’s start with last night’s crowning!)
Armstrong was named the winner on Tuesday night’s Season 12 finale of Top Chef Canada, after a season that put the 41-year-old and nine other chefs through challenges ranging from film-festival spreads to a Bocuse d’Or-inspired showdown. In the “One Night Only” finale, Armstrong beat chef Alex Kim, the Vancouver-based culinary director at Vancouver’s Five Sails Restaurant.
After the credits rolled, celebrations quickly moved online.
“CANADA’S TOP CHEF,” Armstrong captioned an Insta pic of himself with his family.
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Top Chef Canada judge and food writer Mijune Pak jumped into Armstrong’s Instagram comments after the finale, calling him a fantastic chef, father and husband who “brought home the bacon” for his family! Guest judge and Toronto restaurant mogul Janet Zuccarini also congratulated him on a win she said was “so well deserved.”
The win is also a big one for Toronto’s food scene. Armstrong has cooked in some of the city’s most respected kitchens, including a long stint in the Oliver & Bonacini world at Auberge du Pommier and Canoe, before joining Matheson to help build out his growing restaurant universe.
At Prime Seafood Palace, the Queen West steak-and-seafood room that’s landed on several best-restaurant lists, Armstrong has been serving an array of dishes, including black pepper-crusted filet mignon, pristine New Zealand bluefin tuna and meticulously sourced shellfish. He was also the culinary director at Bar Clams, Matheson’s now-closed East Coast-inspired diner on Dundas West.
In a Streets of Toronto Q&A at the start of the season, Armstrong said his decision to compete was driven by his family and his team at Our House Hospitality. The first episode was filmed at a packed St. Lawrence Market on a Sunday morning; it was a chaotic setting he described as “overwhelming but exciting,” and a moment where he paused to take in what the competition would demand.
And when Matheson found out Armstrong had joined Top Chef Canada?: “He said one thing to me — you better win. That’s it.”
If anything, a national TV win, especially one cheered on in real time by his famously loud boss, is likely to make it even harder to snag a table the next time Armstrong is on the line.
“BEST CHEF IVE EVER MET IN MY LIFE PERIOD! LOVE YOU FOREVER,” Matheson raved on Instagram after Armstrong was awarded the title.
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