A culinary celebration: Air Canada's top 10 best new restaurants 2024

It was a night of food and celebration as Air Canada unveiled the 2024 Canada's Best New Restaurants Top 10 on Monday (Nov. 4) at Toronto’s Ricarda’s Atrium.

Guests, including industry professionals and invited members of the public, enjoyed tasting signature dishes from across the country, while excitement built to see which restaurant would claim the top spot.

Canadian chef, television personality and restaurateur Chuck Hughes served as the MC for the event, energizing the crowd and getting them ready for the top 10 countdown.

Montreal's Sabayon took the top spot. 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.

In second place, 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.

The full Top 10 list is featured in the November 2024 issue of Air Canada enRoute magazine and online here.

"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."

‘Food Worth Flying For’

Now in its twenty-third year, Air Canada's Best New Restaurants is recognized as the longest-running and most respected Canadian restaurant ranking.

The airline’s Best New Restaurants culinary event aligns with Air Canada’s “Food Worth Flying For” campaign, designed to help travellers plan memorable dining experiences for both business and leisure trips through recommendations for top dining destinations.

“Food is such a big part of a trip, whether you're going with friends, family or on a business trip. You can consult this list (of restaurants) and be in the know, at the forefront of what's hot and trending in the country,” shared Jamie Steiner, senior manager of brand and corporate events at Air Canada, during an interview with PAX.

Best newcomers 

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, Air Canada shared that 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 culinary journey took her to over 30 restaurants across 16 cities nationwide, dining incognito at each one. These establishments were nominated by a panel of food industry experts for showcasing Canada's best new culinary talents.

"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."

Here is the complete list of Canada's Best New Restaurants 2024:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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 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.

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