Chef Darren MacLean is one of Canada’s most acclaimed and outspoken chef restaurateurs with three successful concepts in Canada as well as an extensive partnership with Princess Cruise lines in Asia as well as the luxury Tahiti based French Cruise lines of Paul Gaugin.

To date he boasts the only restaurant group to hold 3 concepts in Canada to have landed in the esteemed 100 Best Restaurants list. In addition all rated in the top 10 best overall in Calgary’s Avenue Magazine

His flagship Shokunin a Japanese inspired Izakaya that focuses its menu around Japanese charcoal cookery in his home city of Calgary, has been voted one of the country’s top 50 restaurants for 6 years in a row it also has to date hosted the most Michelin and worlds 50 best Chef collaborations of any restaurant in the country.

MacLean is Inspired by its Canadas multi-cultural and ethnic mosaic, as he believes this forms the foundation of what defines Canada’s national food culture.

His restaurant EIGHT is a reflection of this that seeks to express Canadian food as a reflection of the nation’s cultural mosaic. Proving to be more popular than anticipated this room sells out 3 months of dining in seconds upon release! Making it the most sought out reservation in Canada. In 2025, Darren and EIGHT were awarded One Knife – Excellent at The Best Chef Awards, recognizing their exceptional contribution to the global culinary scene.

Finally, MacLean’s restaurant NUPO named for his mother. Opened in 2020 to many accolades. In partnership with the Le Germain Group of hotels.

This plant-forward restaurant, which focuses its offer on vegetarian, sushi, and large-format fish dishes, features a specialized dry-aging chamber for fish and serves no meat. The feature of this restaurant is a 20 course Omakase Sushi Experience that since its opening has catapulted NUPO to the nations best new restaurants list as well as earning a spot in Canada’s 100 best its first year!

Seeking to showcase Canada’s culinary scene to international audiences, MacLean was Canada’s sole contender and a finalist on Netflix’s global cooking competition ‘The Final Table.’

MacLean is passionate about sustainability and the food building community. While he regularly participates in events as an educator, speaker and culinary judge in Canada and abroad, he is happiest in his kitchens.