Air Canada’s ‘Best New Restaurants’ is the longest running Canadian restaurant ranking and the 2024 Top 10 list has now been unveiled at CanadasBestNewRestaurants.com, showcasing the best of new culinary talent across the country.
In its 23rd year, Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants reviews dining spots opened across the country between late spring 2023 and May 31, 2024. Judged by a single, anonymous reviewer, the Top 10 list evaluates all aspects of the dining experience, from culinary vision and quality of ingredients to service and overall team spirit.
Back in September, the list of 30 restaurants that would be competing for the coveted 10 spots was released and included restaurants in 18 cities from coast-to-coast.
the winner
This year, Montreal’s Sabayon took the top spot ranking number one on the top 10 list of Best New Restaurants in the country.
Led by acclaimed pastry chef Patrice Demers and sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin, Sabayon offers intimate afternoon tea and evening dinner services that showcase locally sourced seasonal ingredients.
the top 10 list
In second place is Toronto-based Mhel, by co-owners Seung-min Yi and Young Hoon Ji, serves Korean-Japanese dishes with a touch of magic. Taking third place, Édith Foliot and Didier Lortie’s Maison de Soma redefines farm-to-table dining from a 600-acre property in the Laurentian Mountains.
3. Maison de Soma in Mont-Tremblant, QC
A farm-to-table restaurant at its finest, on a 600-acre property in the Laurentians, where nearly every ingredient is cultivated. Whether serving a crunchy and custardy take on okonomiyaki, a Japanese cabbage pancake, or a tropical tasting Somananas sour (Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants’ Cocktail of the Year), Maison de Soma upends expectations.
4. Takja BBQ House in Toronto, ON
This high-end Toronto Korean barbecue (KBBQ) spot showcases grilled house-dry-aged meats, seafood and seasonal veg and Air Canada Best New Restaurants’ Sides of the Year: shareable banchan small plates, including kimchi two ways, mustard greens, spicy jalapeño muchim and a scallion salad.
5. Café Malabar in Victoria, BC
Press the button for service at a kitchen stall in Victoria Public Market and moments later a parade of coastal Keralan dishes arrives at communal tables, from clay pots of fish chatty choru to flaky egg puffs and lacy rice hoppers.
6. Parapluie in Montreal, QC
At this saucy, white table-clothed bistro in Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood, platonic ideals of boulangerie bread and frites accompany eight-minute-20-second eggs in cloudlike tarragon emulsions and barely-torched trout in delicate pools of horseradish dill cream so you can soak up every last drop.
7. Bar Prima in Toronto, ON
A heady mix of determination and bygone glamour are what make Toronto’s Bar Prima a primo spot and judge Tara O’Brady’s pick for the Air Canada Best New Restaurants’ Design of the Year, where classics like beef tartare come spruced up on a bed of chives, laced with fermented chili and punctuated with sardine and bone marrow cream.
8. Fat Rabbit in St. Catharines, ON
Led by chef and co-owner Zach Smith, Fat Rabbit is not your average restaurant. As a full-time grill house, zero-waste butcher, live-fire caterer, and grocer, this multi-hyphenate earned Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants’ Concept of the Year.
9. Gary’s in Vancouver, BC
The first restaurant from industry veterans Bailey Hayward and Mathew Bishop brings supper club vibes to Vancouver’s South Granville neighbourhood, where locals and visitors alike can spring for dishes like crudo, gem salad, hen-of-the-woods, and rabbit.
10. Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch in Winnipeg, MB
At this one-two punch of an eatery in Winnipeg, the day begins with Cloe Wiebe’s naturally leavened boules and blink-and-you-miss-them viennoiseries. An hour before noon, Andrew Koropatnick clocks in with sandwiches on split housemade pizza bianca, shareable pastas, salads and supplì.
Looking for more? Check out the Best New Restaurants long-list of 2024 here!
