Who is guiding the Michelin inspectors, Canadian critic asks as Toronto Michelin Guide 2023 awards just 2 additional stars
- The newly unveiled Toronto Michelin Guide 2023 awarded the first Michelin stars to two new restaurants, but a food writer says is should have cast its net wider
- Favourite restaurants, including one run by Matty Matheson of TV comedy series The Bear, missed out, and none earned a second Michelin star
Toronto’s fine-dining scene just got a little starrier, courtesy of the Michelin Guide.
On September 27, in a glitzy ceremony at History, a club and concert venue designed by Drake, two additional restaurants were awarded stars one year after the guide launched in Toronto. This brought the total number of Michelin-star restaurants in the city to 15.
The new additions are the Japanese spot Kappo Sato and the shoebox-sized Restaurant 20 Victoria.
Kappo Sato, which opened its doors in 2022, is run by chef Takeshi Sato, who came to Toronto from Japan to cook for the consulate general of Japan. His 12-course omakase, priced at C$360 (US$266), includes wagyu beef, sashimi and rice cooked in a copper hagama pot.
Restaurant 20 Victoria, located on a tiny downtown Toronto street best known among locals as the place to renew their government ID, emphasises local produce and seafood.
Chef Julie Hyde serves dishes including smoked beets with oyster cream and grilled fish with beurre blanc and eel crumble.
“It’s super exciting,” Hyde says of her Restaurant 20 Victoria winning its first star. “But the focus is always on the people who come in and dine with us, and on the day-to-day to do the best that we can every day.”
As to what’s next, she says: “I’m going back to the restaurant now to get back to work. There are still orders to be placed tonight.”
No new restaurants were awarded more than one star on the 2023 list, and Sushi Masaki Saito is the only restaurant in Canada with two stars so far.
That could change soon, however: the latest edition of the Michelin guide for Vancouver, the second Canadian city to get one, will be unveiled on October 5. Currently, the west coast city has eight one Michelin-star restaurants.
The Green award, which recognises a dining team’s leadership in sustainable gastronomy, was given to Frilu, which already has a conventional Michelin star.
I was not expecting it this year. You kind of feel like you’re on the sidelines a little bit
At Frilu, chef John-Vincent Troiano sources produce from Willowolf Farm in Tottenham, Ontario, 70km (40 miles) north of Toronto, which employs a no-till method that minimises soil disturbance.
He has also installed a composting programme that cycles the kitchen waste back to the farm.
Popular spots such as chef Ron McKinlay’s Canoe, and Prime Seafood Palace, run by chef Matty Matheson – who co-starred in the comedy drama series The Bear – missed out on a star.
Who is and who isn’t recognised by Michelin is always a hot topic, especially when it comes to diversity and representation, be it culturally, regionally, or gastronomically.
“Who is guiding these inspectors?” says prominent local food writer Suresh Doss, who questions how only two new stars were awarded in Toronto’s Michelin Guide.
“There were some names that were amazing, like Puerto Bravo, a small Mexican Tampico-style restaurant, that got a [Bib Gourmand] nod and probably benefited the most out of all the restaurants named. Somehow an inspector found that. Can we multiply that by at least five times?
“Toronto isn’t just one pocket. And Michelin needs to understand that,” he adds, referring to areas of the city that make up the Greater Toronto Area – GTA as it’s locally known.
Chef Eric Robertson of the prominent Restaurant Pearl Morissette, which is based in the Niagara region of Ontario and commonly ranked as one of Canada’s top five restaurants, hopes Michelin will expand its radius soon.
“I was not expecting it this year. You kind of feel like you’re on the sidelines a little bit, but that being said, we know the workings of it and that we won’t be included. But we come here to support our fellow chefs,” Robertson says.
To produce the guide, Michelin partnered with Destination Toronto, Destination Ontario and Destination Canada for “promotional, marketing, and communication strategies”. Monetary considerations surrounding the partnership remain undisclosed.
The organisations have revealed that they started working together two years before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The addition of new restaurants is good news for Toronto. According to data from the restaurant platform OpenTable, in-person dining in the city has been declining since June compared to the same period in 2022.
A list of Toronto’s Michelin-star restaurants follows. An asterisk (*) denotes a new entry.
Two Michelin stars
Sushi Masaki Saito
One Michelin star
Aburi Hana
Alo
Alobar Yorkville
Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto
Edulis
Enigma Yorkville
Frilu
Kaiseki Yu-Zen Hashimoto
Kappo Sato *
Osteria Giulia
Quetzal
Restaurant 20 Victoria *
Shoushin
Yukashi
Green star
Frilu *
White Lily Diner *
