Top Dining Cities in Canada
wondering what others think the top 5 eating out cities in canada are. base this on restaurants only. my top 5 based on where i have been (every province except NB, NFLD, PEI) (Quebec City too for cities)
1. VANCOUVER - great options for dining out no matter what style of food you enjoy. sushi is great, local produce and seafood make every menu that much better, and there seems so be great options all around the downtown core. The only thing I find VAN lacking in is Caribbean, but most cities in Canada do besides Toronto.
2. TORONTO - From high end restaurants down to the street dogs, T.O has the largest variety of dining in the country. With such a great ethnic mix, pretty much every category of food can be found. For some reason we lack great Mexican, hopefully one day that will improve. The downtown core is full of great places, no matter what your taste
3. HALIFAX - I was very impressed by this city. Great places to eat! The seafood is fresh, good use of local fruits and veggies as well. That is the main thing I noticed eating there. Most places try to incorporate as much fresh local items in the menu as possible. Friendliest service I have had in some time.
4. MONTREAL - I have only been 3 times the past few years, but every time I go I eat great food! This pick may be biased, but because we ususally eat at nicer establishments, the food more often than not turns out great. I find the service lacking though...maybe it's cause I am useless at french, but I try.
5. CALGARY - I lived in Calgary from 2002-2004 and thought that it was pretty decent for restaurants. Then the boom happened and now every time I go back there are as many new great places as there are overpriced homes. Lot's of good Vietnamese and Sushi. Steak is great, and lot's of great Italian. Service sucks at some places...chalk that up to lack of employees I guess.
other thoughts....
I think Deadmonton lives up to it's name as far as dining also. Winnipeg I can't really comment on as I was only there for 2 days. Saskatoon - not bad...but lacks enthic variety. Kelowna - great place! Great restaurants - Fresca was one of the best meals I have ever had. Victoria - good fresh food at restaurants there also..but have not been recently enough to comment on more. Ottawa is alright. I just find most restaurants there lacking atmosphere.
Anyway..let's here what others have to say.
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I'm not sure there can really be an ordered top 5 or top 10 list. Each major city has it's own specialties/regional cuisine. Calgary for instance has phenomenal Vietnamese and the (stereotypical) steaks but Vancouver is where I'd go for excellent sushi and I haven't found a good Montreal-style bagel outside of Montreal(there's more to Mtl the bagel is just an example).
Well FWIW that's my 2 cents.
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I've not eaten in Calgary, so I can't comment on that, but I'd like to nominate Quebec City, not so much for variety (not that I had a alot of time to explore) but certainly for the quality of the French/Quebecois cuisine. Perhaps I got lucky, but it was more consistantly good than what I've experienced in Montreal. Dare I say, the reception was warmer, as well.
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"At the risk of sounding [more] like a shill for my hometown here are a few articles on dining in Montreal:
- An overview and reaction to Gourmet magazine's devotion of their March 2006 issue to Montreal (only New York, Rome, Paris and London had received special edition treatment in the past); http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2006/20/c4472.html
- A Globe and Mail article that provides an up-to-date glimpse of dining in Montreal; http://tinyurl.com/3dfa5c
- An entertaining read from the Montreal Gazette on Anthony Bourdain's barnstorming tour of Québec for his "No Resevations" TV show; http://tinyurl.com/293whr"
Why are Montrealers so insecure about themselves? This Top 5 list is 1 person's opinion and entirely subjective. If you like seafood, Halifax is going to rank high. If you like French cuisine of course MTL will rank higher. Mr Bozo why don't you get over it and be proud that Canadian cities have come a long way, in terms of dining, than 20 years ago. BTW, having dined at most of these cities, Montreal's lacks great Japanese and Chinese food..for that you have to go to Vancouver and Toronto. Oh yeah, their pizzas sucks, and the smoked meat scene ain't what it used to be (only Schwartz's merits mentioning).
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re: Canadian Gourmand
mrbozo
Jul 29, 2007 07:53 AM
No at all insecure, rather, proud that Montreal is Canada's top dining city - with Vancouver behind by a nose and gaining fast. To be sure, other Canadian cities have grown in leaps and bounds due to immigration which has resulted in more varied cuisine and an elevation of dining options.
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re: Canadian Gourmand
Canadians seem to be insecure (this is also true od people in DC). A visit to the Toronto board shows a lot of insecurity--hard to fathom; my one weekend there showed a marvelous multi-cultural, friendly city as nice as any place Ive ever been.
I've been to Vancouver (and other places in BC) and Montreal several times and once each to Quebec, Halifax, Toronto, and Ottawa. The food is excellent. (L'Express in Montreal may be my favorite resto in the world.) I was really surprised on a recent visit to Nova Scotia and PEI about the quality in even remote places. learn to appreciate where you live
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I don't know how you can put Halifax ahead of Montreal. It just doesn't hold a candle up to Montreal for quality, variety or inventiveness. I haven't been to Halifax in about four years, so maybe things have drastically improved, but based on half a dozen visits, I can count on one mangled hand the number of restaurants there I'd cross the street for. And I've had far better seafood in Montreal.
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re: profjmm
In Halifax we dined at the following:
GIO - Beautiful restaurant, great service...very fresh entrees and app's. We each had 2 different fish dishes and they were prefect. Amazing warm sushi app to start!
SEVEN WINE BAR - We ate in the ounge area, which had a tapas style menu. One of the more trendy and upscale places we went. Nice place for just drinks too. Amazing wine list. Food was good. Did not blow me away, but was still tasty...we shared 6 dishes and a dessert
CHIVES - Went on a Sun night, was kinda sparse, but the food was very good. Amazing seafood chowder to start. I ahd the tuna and found it to be very fresh..could have used a little more kick with seasoning and spice though. Great creme brule for dessert!!!!
LITTLE FISH - We went for the half price oysters (every day between 4-7pm) and a lobster supper.
I think the best meal we had though was in Wolfville at a place called Tempest. I had the rack of lamb....oh man....I have had lot's of lamb all over the county, but this knocked my socks off. So tender, perfectly cooked, loved it. Best meal we had in Nova Scotia.
Did not have time to go to FID, but it is supposed to be one of the best in Halifax, but my fav there was GIO.
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re: rafer madness
I'll let the completely fallacious and tired crack about "Deadmonton" slide and comment that I agree with your choice of the 5 top cities but you can certainly quibble with the order.
I agree with estragon however, that Montreal should be ranked higher than Halifax when you compare variety and access to different price points and cuisine, BYOB v. highly expensive wine lists , souvlaki joints v. Milos for Greek, etc. etc.
It is also such a cosmopolitan city with so many people able to switch back and forth between English and French with no attitude. Never found service to be an issue especially if one makes an effort. The more red wine the better ...[I think] ... my French gets.
Outstanding meals and fun times had at L'Express, Au Pied de Cochon, Ferreira's and Clube Chasse et Peche among others the last time I was there.
However, that is not to say Halifax is poor. 250,000 people in the general region v. several million. Like Toronto v. Victoria.
The beauty of Halifax is that most visitors likely stay in the downtown core and as a result, there are standout restaurants all within easy walking distance. I can understand if staying for a week why Halifax would be terrific.
profjmm:
I am sure that you will enjoy Halifax. However, it is not cheap but you do get good quality food.
In addition to the ones rafer mentioned [that is the first good review I have read for Seven Wine Bar] I can recommend:
- FID that was also mentioned,
-da Maurizio [however it has received some less than complementary comments of late and I read that Maurizio Bertossi has sold it]
-Il Mercado
-BISH [same proviso as da Maurizio as others have not been as impressed as we were - perhaps it has slid since our visit];
-The Press Gang if it is still open
-The Five Fisherman despite its "tourist trap" reputation in some circles.You will not go hungry in Halifax nor thirsty with all of the pubs in the same general area.
rafer:
Victoria is a wonderful dining city for many of the same reasons as Halifax. If you are staying near the inner harbour one can walk or take a relatively short cab ride to fine restaurants. Our current favourites are Brasserie L'Ecole, Cafe Brio and The Rosemeade but there are many others. We have to get to Paprika next visit along with Sanuk and Niche.
I enjoy Ottawa but have not been to the market area in quite some time. My past couple of visits I thoroughly enjoyed Beckta which is outstanding, Wellington Gastropub and a tiny spot on Elgin that I think was called The Whalebone....heaps and heaps of character and atmosphere in all of them.
Your post reminded me that it is time to visit Quebec City again. Wonderful food if understandably dominated by French cuisine.
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re: Bob Mac
mrbozo
Jul 13, 2007 02:25 PM
"It is also such a cosmopolitan city with so many people able to switch back and forth between English and French with no attitude. Never found service to be an issue especially if one makes an effort. The more red wine the better ...[I think] ... my French gets."
Montreal benefits by a much larger group of recent immigrants from 'la francophonie' (countries where France held sway during colonial days: Vietnam, Haiti, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, the Maghreb {Morroco, Algeria, Tunisia], Lebanon, Syria, etc.) Many Poles settle in Montreal (historical political connections with France). The same stands for the large Persian (Iranian) community. Latin American cuisine is extremely well represented, especially Peruvian, of which there are roughly 3 or 4 times more restaurants to choose from than in Toronto. Mexican food is also readily available. Then there are the long established Greek, Italian, Jewish, and Portuguese communities. Did I forget to mention the French?
Montreal is a city with a long-standing and deeply ingrained food culture. Good food, whether at casse-croute or fine dining levels, is expected not hoped for.
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re: mrbozo
mrbozo
Jul 13, 2007 05:23 PM
At the risk of sounding [more] like a shill for my hometown here are a few articles on dining in Montreal:
- An overview and reaction to Gourmet magazine's devotion of their March 2006 issue to Montreal (only New York, Rome, Paris and London had received special edition treatment in the past); http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2006/20/c4472.html
- A Globe and Mail article that provides an up-to-date glimpse of dining in Montreal; http://tinyurl.com/3dfa5c
- An entertaining read from the Montreal Gazette on Anthony Bourdain's barnstorming tour of Québec for his "No Resevations" TV show; http://tinyurl.com/293whr
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re: rafer madness
rafer:
Following up on your post above, it was nice to read about someone going to Tempest. I saw their opening on the Opening Soon FoodTV show [same for Chives and BISH in Halifax] but did not hear much more about it.
When in Wolfeville we have eaten at Acton's, the Blomidon Inn and the Grand Pre winery which had just been purchased by a Swiss family and was making ok wine and better apple cider
Will venture out to the Valley and try Tempest the next time we visit the Maritimes.
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