"It’s a great time to be dining out in Canada," said Jacob Richler, the Editor-in-Chief of the annual publication Canada's 100 Best Restaurants.
On May 15, Canada's 100 Best revealed its list of the nation's top places to dine, giving everyone a reason to celebrate. Vancouver was well-represented, with 15 of the coveted spots on the ranking, including four of the top 10.
Canada's 100 Best Restaurants shared a reveal date Monday with Vancouver's own celebration of its dining scene (well, one of a couple of prominent ones), the 2023 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards, which itself honoured many of the same places - meaning not only does our city have a wealth of tremendous places to dine but also getting reservations is going to be exponentially harder now.
Landing in third place for 2023 is Published on Main, which in 2022 took Canada's 100 Best Restaurants' number one spot. You'll also find Vancouver's St. Lawrence (6), AnnaLena (9), and Kissa Tanto (10) in the list's highest spots. Downtown Vancouver's Hawskworth slid in at number 20 for this year.
AnnaLena and Kissa Tanto are both new to the Top 10 this year, and AnnaLena also nabbed Van Mag's 2023 Restaurant of the Year, Best Contemporary, and its chef, Michael Robbins, was named its Chef of the Year.
An additional near-dozen restaurants in Vancouver were featured further down on the list. They are:
- L'Abattoir (27)
- Boulevard (43)
- Mott 32 (44)
- Oca Pastificio (51)
- Masayoshi (52)
- Cioppino's (69)
- Tojo's (71)
- Maenam (73)
- Burdock & Co. (79)
- La Quercia (92)
The best restaurant in Canada right now, according to these judges, is Montreal's Mon Lapin.
For those looking to explore the rest of the nation's incredible restaurants, you may want to book some tables and some flights. Toronto is home to 18 of the hotspots, including the double Michelin-starred Sushi Masaki Saito in 19th place. Ottawa has eight, Calgary has seven and Halifax boasts four. The list of 100 best restaurants includes two each from Quebec City, Winnipeg, Edmonton, St. John’s, N.L. and Whistler, B.C. (newcomer Wild Blue, which has some Vancouver ties), with the rest of the entries scattered among smaller communities across the country.
Richler and the team behind the rankings also announced their top 10 best new restaurants, led by Toronto's Prime Seafood Palace.
Now in its ninth year, the gastronomic catalogue celebrates the country’s best places to dine as decided by 135 judges chosen for their reputation and knowledge of the culinary scene.
Officials say the judges do not receive any direction on where to go and what to eat and no free meals are accepted.
This year’s judges included Top Chef Canada judge Mijune Pak, and restaurant critic Mia Stainsby - both Vancouver locals - and celebrity chef Michael Smith.
With files from the Canadian Press
