There was fresh, tender kampachi sashimi, and perfect East Coast scallops on the shell with mornay and gremolata. There was mushroom bibimbap and galbi that was bursting with umami flavour, honey crullers to die for, and delectable craft cocktails.
Air Canada last night (Nov. 4) staged a fabulously tasty party at a fine event space in downtown Toronto to announce its 2024 Top 10 Best New Restaurants in Canada.
All ten finalists brought one or two of their finest dishes for the media and general public to nibble on. It would’ve taken 10 reservations and a lot of Air Canada flights to taste them over a week or two, but guests at the Toronto event merely walked a few feet to try different concoctions from some of the country’s best chefs.
Your loyal and ever-hungry correspondent is not a culinary critic, but I know a Josper oven from a GE microwave, and I know the difference between burgers and bibimbap. I was in heaven as I dipped in and out of the various tasting stations, taking time to try a couple of craft cocktails along the way, because, you know, research.
Some of the most impressive dishes were the kampachi sushi from Mhel in Toronto and the bibimbap from Takja BBQ House, also in Toronto. Gary’s in Vancouver had a delicious chicken liver and foie gras pate with brioche, apple and walnut, while Toronto’s Bar Prima served up wonderful, perfectly cooked scallops Rockefeller. After tasting the incredible, soft as a cushion with crispy edge honey crullers from Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch in Winnipeg, I’m not sure I can go back to the Tim Hortons variety.
After taking plenty of time to sample the food on offer, it was time for Air Canada and celebrity emcee and chef Chuck Hughes to reveal the winners in a countdown from ten to one. Emerging victorious was Sabayon, a 14-seat restaurant in Montreal that’s run by a husband and wife, Patrice Demers and Marie-Josée Beaudoin.
Air Canada revealed its 2024 Top 10 Best New Restaurants in Canada at a celebration in Toronto on Nov. 4, 2024. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Demers, who seemed blown away by the honour, said he does all the cooking and cleaning and his wife does the rest, including handling sommelier and serving duties.
Sabayon offers intimate afternoon tea and evening dinner services that showcase locally sourced seasonal ingredients. If you’re interested, and you should be, it’s located south of the Lachine Canal and a little east of the fabulous Atwater Market, a mecca for Montreal foodies.
In second place, Toronto-based Mhel, by co-owners Seung-min Yi and Young Hoon Ji, serves Korean-Japanese dishes. 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.
“At Air Canada, we are thrilled to share the very best of our country with the world and for more than two decades, this program has shone a spotlight on Canada’s vibrant, world-class culinary scene,” said Andy Shibata, Vice President, Brand at Air Canada. “Food is an enriching part of travel experiences and through this program which supports new businesses, we hope to inspire travellers with even more compelling reasons to explore our country.”
Scallops from Bar Prima in Toronto. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Now in its 23rd year, Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants is the only cross-country restaurant ranking to use a single, anonymous reviewer who sets out to dine across Canada. Based on the recommendations of a coast-to-coast panel of food experts, Air Canada sends one lucky undercover writer on a month-long culinary marathon to sample the offerings from notable openings across the country, all of which become contenders for the coveted Top 10 list. Imagine the miles flown. Imagine the calories.
Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024 highlights the top restaurants that have opened across the country between late spring 2023 and May 31, 2024, and deliver exceptional experiences through the quality of their food, level of service and commitment to culinary creativity. The Top 10 list evaluates all aspects of the dining experience, from culinary vision and quality of ingredients to service and overall team spirit.
This year’s Top 10 restaurants were selected by award-winning cookbook author, Wall of Bakers judge and culinary journalist Tara O’Brady. Her gastronomic journey spanned more than 30 restaurants in 16 cities nationwide, from a cliffside bed and breakfast in Bay Bulls, Newfoundland and Labrador, to a bustling kitchen in Victoria Public Market.
“Every restaurant I visited told an eloquent story about its community, championing local ingredients and diverse culinary traditions,” said O’Brady. “Notably, this year is the ‘year of the couple,’ with five of the Top 10 (and each of the top three spots) run by restaurateurs who are partners in both life and business.”
The 2024 Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants program saw the return of special mentions including Dish of the Year, Dessert of the Year, Cocktail of the Year, Design of the Year, Sides of the Year and Concept of the Year.
Yours truly at the Air Canada 2024 Top 10 Best New Restaurants in Canada event.
The Top 10 Air Canada Best New Restaurants of 2024 are:
- Sabayon (Montreal, QC): Intentionality is the thread through each aspect of this brilliant 14-seat Montreal restaurant, which offers tea and dinner services by renowned pastry chef Patrice Demers and sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin. It’s all in the details here, from cobalt blue cutlery rests handmade by the couple, to Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants’ Dish of the Year, grilled oyster mushrooms capped with a caramelized arlette and a cloud of sabayon sauce.
- Mhel (Toronto, ON): The Toronto restaurant features an open kitchen where chefs with six burners and two charcoal grills add up to Korean-Japanese alchemy. Mhel also offers Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants’ Dessert of the Year: purin, a sweet and simple Japanese rendition of crème caramel.
- Maison de Soma (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.
- Takja BBQ House (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.
- Café Malabar (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.
- Parapluie (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.
- Bar Prima (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.
- Fat Rabbit (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.
- Gary’s (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.
- Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch (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.
The full list can be viewed in Air Canada enRoute magazine’s November 2024 issue and online at CanadasBestNewRestaurants.com.
