Source: Air Canada/Newswire. Nov. 3, 2021
Air Canada and OpenTable have partnered to release the 2021 list for Canada’s Best New Restaurants! There’s restaurants from all over Canada that made the list, highlighted in a variety of categories.
Categories included are best fine dining, bar dining, takeout, farm-to-table and others, while also highlighting producers of the year and changemakers in the Canadian culinary landscape.
All categories that we think make for a great date night, no matter what you’re into.
“OpenTable joins for the first time as presenting sponsor, and will be showcasing bookable bespoke Chef’s Menus at a selection of the restaurants featured on the 2021 Canada’s Best New Restaurants list. Gold sponsor Destination Canada is on board to help travelers experience more of the food and places within Canada.”
-Air Canada Media (Newswire.ca)
“Canada’s Best New Restaurants represent the vibrant culinary landscape of this country. We know how much people have missed restaurants over the past 18 months and as part of our partnership with Air Canada we are bringing a selection of unique bespoke Chef’s Menu experiences to diners at some of the most renowned and innovative restaurants in Canada,” said Matt Davis, District Director of OpenTable Canada. “We are helping diners create meaningful moments around the table, whilst also enjoying best-in-class hospitality.”
These are Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2021
Best Tapas North of 60
BonTon & Company (Dawson City, Yukon)
Diners at Shelby Jordan and Dennis Dunn’s Yukon restaurant just 240 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle are treated to international cuisine inspired by surrounding farms and producers. BonTon & Company is part of a Dawson City movement to re-establish local food chains and reverse decades of reliance on goods trucked in from away.
Best Bar Dining
JinBar (Calgary, AB)
Chef Jinhee Lee, already an exemplar in contemporary Asian fusion cooking, mixes the lively cocktail-leaning embodiment of her effervescent personality with her love of bold Korean flavours – Korean pizza, anyone?
Best Fine Dining
Pompette (Toronto, ON)
The modernist French Bistro offers updated classics, striking new flavour combos, modernist cocktails and a 300-plus label wine list that sparkles with Old World and New World gems. Service is always on point, and the vibe ever-relaxed.
Best Takeout
Sunny’s Chinese (Toronto, ON)
From its beginnings as an exclusive experience obtained via a mailing list, to the brick-and-mortar incarnation opening 2022, Sunny’s Chinese sums up the entire pandemic restaurant experience in one brown bag filled with meticulously rendered regional Chinese delicacies.
Best Trailblazer
Tropikàl Restobar (Montreal, QC)
The St-Henri restaurant has a carnival-like energy that resonates in chef Jae-Anthony Dougan’s cooking. It’s a celebration of Caribbean, Afro-Latin and West African history and cuisine, all backed up by a rum-fuelled cocktail bar.
Best Farm-to-Table
Bika Farm and Cuisine (Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu, QC)
Ingredients travel only a few metres to diners’ plates at this farm table 45 kilometres southwest of Montreal. Chef Fisun Ercan’s suppers span a dozen dishes over four servings, all made from fresh produce and inspired by Ercan’s youth.
Grower of the Year
Les Jardins Lakou (Dunham, QC)
Jean-Philippe Vézina grows vegetables typically used in Afro-Caribbean cuisine, inspired by a 2017 trip to the land of his birth, Haiti. Since his start in 2020, Vézina has doubled the number of subscribers to his weekly vegetable baskets filled with jicama, sweet potato, giraumon (turban squash), amaranth, okra, collard greens and African spinach.
Best Hotel Restaurant
Terre (St. John’s, NL)
At Terre, which overlooks St. John’s Harbour from inside the ALT Hotel, chef Matthew Swift has orchestrated a symphony of in-season Newfoundland produce, sourced directly from the fishers, farmer and hunters who work on the rugged island.
Producer of the Year
Tim Ball, subsea forager (Garnish and St. John’s, NF)
Part-time bayman and full-time subsea forager, Tim Ball is changing the sustainability and stewardship of Newfoundland and Labrador fishing by hand-harvesting scallops and sea urchins that are enjoyed on plates from St. John’s to Japan.
Check out more restaurants and date ideas in Canada that are great for everyone!
