The third annual Michelin Guide was unveiled Wednesday at a ceremony at the History venue in the Beach. This year, the guide went beyond the GTA borders, adding restaurants in Creemore, Niagara, Dundas, Oakville and Hamilton to the list of what the globally influential guide considers to be the best in dining. No restaurant received two or three stars this year, the latter being the guide’s highest honour.
Toronto’s most decorated spot is still the two-starred Sushi Masaki Saito, an omakase restaurant in Yorkville, priced at $680 per person. Its stars were awarded in 2022. Michelin’s anonymous restaurant inspectors — the guide’s name for its restaurant critics — awarded single stars to four fine-dining places: DaNico on College Street; Hexagon in Oakville; Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Jordan Station; and The Pine in Creemore.
As for the Bib Gourmand category, which includes restaurants that Michelin considers to have more moderate price points, four were added to this year’s list: Guru Lukshmi in Mississauga, Berkley North in Hamilton, Rasa in Harbord Village and Conejo Negro on College Street. But it’s the less celebrated “Recommended” nods that are the most varied in both cuisines and locations, with an additional 15 spots this year that include Armenian, Indian, Japanese, Turkish, French and Italian restaurants. There’s a luxury resort in Cambridge and a butcher shop in St.
Catharines that operates as a restaurant at night. Also on the recommended list are halal barbecue spot Northern Smokes ( ), and , known for its papaya salad — its sister location already has a Bib Gourmand marker from the Thai Michelin Guide. Opened in September 2023, this Italian restaurant run by the Liberty Entertainment Group, which also owns places such as Blueblood Steakhouse inside Casa Loma and King West club Paris Texas, offers a $225 tasting menu combining Ontario ingredients and Italian cuisine.
A $150 three-course set menu is available. Executive chef Daniele Corona is also the chef at the Toronto outpost of Don Alfonso 1890, which also has a Michelin star. The contemporary French restaurant has been a fine-dining destination in Oakville since 2018 ( ).
A , and there are à la cart dinner and lunch menus, as well as a $55 two-course Sunday brunch with a kids menu. This lunch and dinner fine-dining restaurant is located on its namesake winery in the Niagara region. A .
A recent dish added to the menu includes . There’s also an onsite bakery and cafe, , for more casual bites like cakes and pastries. The restaurant has received accolades from Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants lists and the World’s 50 Best list.
The guide’s first Creemore entry is this restaurant. Its latest menu features nods to Chinese cooking with dishes like carrot dumplings, fish balls and rhubarb sweet soup. The restaurant first opened in Collingwood in August 2020 before in an unassuming standalone building on the site of a former gas station and surrounded by residential houses on a country road.
It’s also a favourite of the annual Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants guide, making the list for three consecutive years. This casual spot serves staples like its house burger, fried chicken sandwich and tuna poke bowl for lunch. For dinner, the menu adds house-made gnocchi, pan-seared trout from Manitoulin Island, and striploin steak with fries.
There’s also a snack menu during late afternoon . Combining Caribbean, Creole and Latin flavours, dinner spot Conejo Negro (the name means black rabbit in Spanish) opened in November 2023 and serves dishes such as gumbo, firecracker shrimp, and a mac and cheese with cavatappi, roasted poblano and topped with chicharron. This spacious South Indian lunch and dinner restaurant known for its extensive dosa options and chai has been a staple for years.
It also has a Jain menu for those who don’t eat garlic and onions. The decade-old Harbord Village restaurant serves family-style plates such as grilled octopus with green mole and pumpkin seed crisp, as well as truffle gudi on its dinner menu. Its sister restaurant, Sara, was added to Michelin’s recommended list in 2022.
Self-taught BBQ master Imran Ali opened Northern Smokes barbecue restaurant on the eastern edge of Scarborough in 2019. His restaurant is recommended by the Michelin Guide this year. , Mediterranean, 162 Danforth Ave.
(Toronto) , Indian, 36 Toronto St. (Toronto) , seasonal Canadian, 135299 9 Line (Markdale, Grey County) , Italian pasta, 122 Geary Ave. (Toronto) butcher shop serving burgers by day and a meat-centric menu for dinner, 34 Geneva St.
(St. Catharines) , Canadian, 1 Langdon Dr. (Cambridge) , French, 100 Yonge St.
(Toronto) , Turkish, 10385 Weston Rd. Unit 7B (Woodbridge); 6970 Financial Dr. (Mississauga); 265 Wharncliffe Rd.
N. (London, Ont.) , barbecue, 371 Old Kingston Rd.
Unit 12 (Scarborough) , French, 16 Sydenham St. (Dundas, Ont.) , Thai, 76 Gerrard St.
E. (Toronto) , Armenian, 1276 Yonge St. (Toronto) , seasonal Canadian, 1249 Niagara Stone Rd.
(Niagara-on-the-Lake) , sushi, 7634 Woodbine Ave. (Markham).
