Powered by the magazine on the way Air Canada and closely monitored each year, the list of Best New Canadian Restaurants (which had experienced a hiatus in 2020) offers a very special edition to mark its 20e birthday.
This year, no top 10, but a list that highlights the exceptional work of new Canadian companies dedicated to gastronomy across 9 categories, during these last 18 months marked by the pandemic, the containment and the closure of the dining rooms.
The award for Best Gourmet Food went to Toronto French bistro Pompette, while JinBar’s work in Calgary was recognized in the Best Bar Food category. Three Quebec companies are in the game: the restaurant of chef Fisun Ercan, Ferme et Cuisine Bika, located in Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu, wins the prize for Best local cuisine, while the Tropikàl Restobar, in the Saint -Henri, that of Best pioneer restaurant with dishes from chef Jae-Anthony Dougan that celebrate Caribbean, Afro-Latin and West African history and cuisines. The market gardener of the year prize is awarded to Jardins Lakou, in Dunham, where Jean-Philippe Vézina cultivates vegetables that are emblematic of Afro-Caribbean cuisine.
The revised list also includes categories such as Best hotel restaurant (Terre, at Alt Saint John’s), Best take-out menu (Sunny’s Chinese, Toronto), Best tapas north of 60e Parallel (BonTon and Company, Dawson, YT) and Producer of the Year (Tim Ball, an underwater picker in Garnish and Saint Jonh’s, Newfoundland). For this special edition, Air Canada is teaming up with a new partner, Open Table Canada, which will offer, through its reservation system, a series of Chef’s Menu experiences in some of the restaurants that have already appeared on the charts, such as Hoogan and Beaufort and Tropikàl.
Consult the winners