Wherever you are in Canada, finding a restaurant for a date night out in diverse cuisines and cultures can be either very easy, or very hard to locate. From our buzzing downtown hubs and big cities, to rural communities serving up Canadian fare, options are all over the map (literally), and we may even discover dishes from part of the world in the most unexpected places!
According to an October 2025 Article by Escoffier (school of culinary arts) on Canada’s most diverse food cities and provinces and TripAdvisor data, Vancouver leads the list, with the highest diversity share and per-capita access to international restaurants.
The study examined Canada’s 30 most populous cities, focusing on how many restaurants serve international food, and how easy that food is to access.
Curious about the rest of the list and what makes Vancouver so prime for this top spot? Read on!
1. Vancouver, BC
Vancouver, showing one of Canada’s highest restaurant densities per capita due to its relatively small city boundaries, leads the top 10 offering an impressive array of global cuisines which reflect the unique migratory history of the region.
This makes the wide variety of international dining options readily accessible by foot or public transit. Living costs may also play a role. Higher incomes and areas catering to tourists may drive a broader range of global dining options.
Number of Restaurants: 2,446
Diverse Restaurants: 1,161
Diverse Share: 47.47%
Final Score: 100/100
2. Vaughan, ON
Vaughan makes a surprising second-place appearance, showing that smaller cities can rival major metros in global dining variety. It is a smaller city, but Vaughan is celebrated for its multicultural population.
More than 217 ethnic or cultural groups are represented in the city, and its food scene represents this diversity well, with 339 diverse restaurants.
Number of Restaurants: 831
Diverse Restaurants: 339
Diverse Share: 40.79%
Final Score: 63/100
3. Montreal, QC
Montreal’s high food diversity score reflects both its layered immigrant history and its unique cultural positioning as a French-speaking city in North America. Long-established communities from Haiti, Lebanon, Vietnam, and North Africa are among those that have shaped the city’s culinary landscape over decades.
As a result, Montreal scores high in both raw diversity (over 2K unique restaurants) and per-capita restaurant accessibility, with 36.1% diverse share.
Number of Restaurants: 5,758
Diverse Restaurants: 2,083
Diverse Share: 36.18% of the population
Final Score: 58.7/100
4. Richmond Hill, ON
Chinese dim sum, Persian kebabs, South Asian curries, and Mediterranean mezze make Richmond Hill a culinary destination in the Greater Toronto Area (which itself is one of the most multicultural cities in the world). Richmond Hill proves that some of Canada’s most diverse culinary hubs are in suburban communities, with 178 diverse restaurants, making up 40.2% of all local food scene.
Number of Restaurants: 442
Diverse Restaurants: 17
Diverse Share: 40.27%
Final Score: 52.4/100
5. Markham, ON
Known for its large Chinese and South Asian communities, Markham’s food scene is rich in authentic, specialized offerings, from hand-pulled noodles to regional Indian thalis. Similar to Richmond, Markham is a suburban community that offers a diverse culinary scene.
Number of Restaurants: 603
Diverse Restaurants: 253
Diverse Share: 41.96%
Final Score: 49.4/100
6. Toronto, ON
Toronto is frequently regarded as Canada’s most food-diverse city. So, why didn’t it achieve a higher ranking in this list? When you look at raw numbers, Toronto dominates. But their analysis also factors in how the number of diverse restaurants compares to the city’s total restaurant count and population.
In a massive food scene of more than 9,000 venues, many restaurants are tagged as “Canadian,” “American,” or other general categories. Consequently, although Toronto has more diverse restaurants than any other Canadian city, they represent a smaller share of the total.
Final Score: 48.8/100
FULL RESULTS
Additionally, the top 10 continues on to include #7. Calgary (45.7), #8. Mississauga, ON (45.2), #9. Burnaby, BC (43.4) and #10 Richmond, BC(42.7), with Ottawa (42) coming in just after them in spot #11.
The ranking continues all the way to 30, this is the rest of the list along with their score:
| 12. Winnipeg, MB | 41.4/100 |
| 13. Laval, QC | 41/100 |
| 14. Windsor, ON | 39.6/100 |
| 15. London, ON | 38.5/100 |
| 16. Saskatoon, SK | 38.4/100 |
| 17. Hamilton, ON | 37.3/100 |
| 18. Gatineau, QC | 36/100 |
| 19. Regina, SK | 35.7/100 |
| 20. Oakville, ON | 33.2/100 |
| 21. Quebec City, QC | 32.9/100 |
| 22. Halifax, NS | 31.8/100 |
| 23. Burlington, ON | 31.1/100 |
| 24. Edmonton, AB | 29.9/100 |
| 25. Longueuil, QC | 29.1/100 |
| 26. Kitchener, ON | 28.4/100 |
| 27. Sherbrooke, QC | 27.1/100 |
| 28. Surrey, BC | 26.9/100 |
| 29. Oshawa, ON | 20.8/100 |
| 30. Brampton, ON | 0/100 |
HOW DATA WAS TAKEN
To determine the diversity of these cities, the research evaluated restaurant listings on Tripadvisor. The total number of restaurants is compared to 47 distinct international and regional cuisines, calculating each city’s Diverse Share (percentage of total restaurants offering international cuisines) and Diverse Restaurants per 1,000 residents. Scaling and combining these factors produced the final diversity scores.
Do the results surprise you? Get you in the mood for travel? Browse date ideas and more here!
