- Restaurant 20 Victoria in Toronto named Canada's Best New Restaurant
MONTREAL, Nov. 1, 2022
/CNW Telbec/ - After a brief hiatus, Air Canada enRoute is
thrilled to present the anticipated Top 10 list of Canada's Best New Restaurants, with
Toronto's Restaurant 20 Victoria
taking the number one spot.
Led by chef Julie Hyde,
Restaurant 20 Victoria features an upfront bar area for à la carte
plates and an elegant dining room and patio for the six-course
tasting menu. In second place, Montreal's Mastard showcases Quebec terroir with fresh seasonal
ingredients. Mimi Chinese, this year's third-place winner, takes
diners on a tour of hyper-regional Chinese cuisine from its
location in Toronto. The full Top
10 list is featured in the November issue of enRoute
magazine and online at CanadasBestNewRestaurants.com.
The Top 10 were selected by award-winning journalist
Nancy Matsumoto after a month-long
cross-Canada journey, where she
dined anonymously at more than 30 establishments nominated by an
expert panel. From the culinary vision and quality of ingredients
on the menu to the trappings and team spirit that surround it,
every element factored into an equation that savours deliciousness
above all. Ultimately, it all came down to one meal.
"Air Canada is proud to take
off with this tradition once again and to put the Top 10 best new
restaurants on Canada's culinary
map," says Andy Shibata, Vice
President, Brand, Air Canada. "It's inspiring to see these
restaurants make their mark with world-class cuisine while also
leading the way on industry trends such as sustainability and
workplace wellness. We wish them all luck and success."
Here is the complete list of Air Canada's Best New Restaurants
2022:
- Restaurant 20 Victoria (Toronto,
ON): Two years after the abrupt closure of Brothers Food
& Wine (No. 8, 2017), a reshuffled team led by chef
Julie Hyde and sous chef
Jenna Reich shows us the way back
from the pandemic-born land of the fast and casual with
pitch-perfect six-course tasting menus.
- Mastard (Montreal, QC):
Chef Simon Mathys' passion for
Quebec terroir is palpable in
dishes like the thick, ruby-red slice of tomato from La Ferme des Quatre-Temps resting in a pool of
camelina oil, adorned in herbs and flowers and doused with smoked
beef fat—Matsumoto's favourite of the year.
- MIMI Chinese (Toronto,
ON): Executive chef David
Schwartz and head chef Braden
Chong present hyper-regional renditions of Chinese cuisine
ranging from deep-fried, sesame-showered shrimp toasts from
Guangdong to a four-foot-long,
chili oil-slicked take on Shaanxi
belt noodle, scissored tableside.
- Perch (Ottawa, ON): For
those who love fine dining tasting menus but not the starchy
attitudes, Perch is a gift from chef Justin
Champagne-Lagarde, who foregrounds sustainability and
minimal-waste cooking with offerings like a deeply flavoured
compost broth made from daily veg scraps.
- Một Tô (Calgary, AB):
"Crunch" could be its own category on the menu of this Crescent
Heights Vietnamese spot, judging from the crackly crab pork and
taro spring roll and the grilled cheese served with a pho broth
dipping bowl.
- Hearts Tavern & Bar (Kimberley, ON): One visit to this dream
version of a roadside tavern and you will want to come back for the
silky slices of house-smoked fish or fat spears of Meyer
lemon-spiked asparagus served alongside a generous wedge of Château
de Bourgogne cheese.
- Fonda Balam (Toronto, ON): Chefs Julio Guajardo and
Kate Chomyshyn turbocharge tacos and
their birria subset with their sublime quesabirria con consome,
oozing corn tortillas filled with braised beef, mozzarella and
aromatics.
- Major Tom (Calgary, AB): 40 floors above Calgary find a steakhouse reimagined for the
modern age, delivering crispy egg halves topped with pepperoni jam,
extra-terrestrial prime rib, alongside cocktails like All the Way
Up—Matsumoto's pick for best cocktail of the year.
- Fox & Monocle (North Saanich,
BC): The culinary talents of chef Ross Bowles and pastry chef Tracie Zahavich come together in offerings like
cod and potato pithivier and B.C. spot prawns served with roasted
red peppers and crunchy polenta cubes.
- Restaurant Alentours (Quebec City,
QC): Only ingredients sourced from within 150 kilometers
are considered fair game for chef Tim
Moroney's inventive and delicious tasting menus (wine,
ethically produced salt, yeast, milk and cream are the
exceptions).
Last year Air Canada enRoute celebrated the 20th
anniversary of Canada's Best New
Restaurants by paying tribute to the restaurant industry's hard-won
resiliency. In lieu of sending a writer across the country, the
adapted program presented several new categories, which have been
incorporated into this year's program alongside the revered Top 10
list. These Special Mentions include Best New Takeout, Best New
Pop-ups, Best Dish of the Year, Best Dessert of the Year, Best
Cocktail of the Year and Trailblazer. See all the winners at
CanadasBestNewRestaurants.com.
Awards Celebration
The Top 10 restaurants were revealed in Toronto during the Canada's Best New Restaurants celebration on
November 1, 2022. Chefs and teams
from the Top 10 restaurants were invited to receive their awards
and share cuisine from their winning menus with over 600 public,
industry professionals and Air Canada guests.
A special thank you to Canada's Best New Restaurants
lead sponsors Diageo, American Express and Destination
Vancouver.
Canada's Best New Cookbook
Created in collaboration with Destination Canada,
Canada's Best
New Cookbook rounds up the most memorable dishes uncovered
by Air Canada enRoute over two decades of
searching the country for great meals. This collector's item
marries flavours and stories from across our country's vibrant
restaurant scene, with truly great recipes from Canada's best chefs. The cookbook is
available now at Indigo, with $1 from
each sale being donated to the Canadian Hospitality Foundation.
About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest airline, the country's flag
carrier and a founding member of Star
Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation
network. Air Canada provides
scheduled passenger service directly to 50 airports in Canada, 47 in the
United States and 69 internationally. It holds a Four-Star
ranking from Skytrax. Air Canada's
Aeroplan program is Canada's
premier travel loyalty program, where members can earn or redeem
points on the world's largest airline partner network of 45
airlines, plus through an extensive range of merchandise, hotel and
car rental rewards. Its freight division, Air Canada Cargo,
provides air freight lift and connectivity to hundreds of
destinations across six continents using Air Canada's passenger
flights and cargo-only flights with its fleet of Boeing 767-300
freighters. Air Canada has
committed to a net zero emissions goal from all global operations
by 2050.
About Air Canada
enRoute
Air Canada enRoute is
Air Canada's award-winning travel media brand published by Spafax.
An inspirational authority for the global traveller, it reaches
passengers at every step of their journey through its multimedia
portfolio: including print, digital channels
(enroute.aircanada.com) and many prestigious programs and events.
The Air Canada enRoute Canada's Best New Restaurants print magazine
will be distributed nationally through Globe and Mail home
subscriptions and by direct mail to Aeroplan Super Elite and
Million Miler members in November
2022. Follow on Twitter and Instagram: @enroutemag,
#AirCanadaTop10.
Internet: aircanada.com/media
Sign up for Air Canada news: aircanada.com
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