Today, Toronto's selection saw 2 new One Stars, four new Bib Gourmands, and two new Green Star. Highlights include new One Star chef Julie Hyde's seasonal tasting menu at Restaurant 20 filled with original dishes (smoked beets with oyster cream) and chef Takeshi Sato's open kitchen chef's counter (think soulful dash broths along with tempura fried mackerel) at Kappa Sato.
Leading the way with a sustainable slant are Frilu and White Lily Diner proving that green gastronomy can be delicious, innovative, and pretty. Joining an already impressive roster of stars, Toronto's gastronomy scene is looking brighter and brighter.
New One Stars
Restaurant 20 Victoria
Cuisine: Contemporary
On a quiet stretch of downtown Toronto, Chef Julie Hyde is making her talents known in this tiny-but-mighty restaurant that captured the city’s heart the day it opened. Top-notch local produce, pristine seafood and refined sauce work make for a delicious trifecta on a seasonal tasting menu that boasts originality in spades. Recent highlights included smoked beets with oyster cream as well as grilled fish with beurre blanc and eel crumble. The dimly lit dining room is elegantly easy-going, as Hyde and her small team work with laser-like focus from a kitchen that’s simultaneously always in use and always pristine. Service mirrors the kitchen’s unpretentious approach, offering a warm, often jovial sense of hospitality that doesn’t miss a beat.
Kappo Sato
Cuisine: Japanese
Unlike the quiet ceremony of a sushi omakase or the formal structure of a kaiseki, this freewheeling tasting is driven solely by Chef Takeshi Sato, who swims in familiar culinary waters on his own terms. To be clear, this counter situated along the entire open kitchen is no Zen temple. The room is a constant blur of motion thanks to a young team that hurries about preparing multiple courses at once. Sato is their seasoned guide, as he moves with intention, ever masterful with a knife, and works with an impressive bounty of ingredients, most of which are flown in from Japan. Soulful dashi broths weave in and out of view alongside clever courses like tempura fried mackerel with shiso or seared toro nigiri with Japanese green onions.
New Green Stars
Frilu
Cuisine: Contemporary
In 2020 the owners of Frilu restaurant (John-Vincent & Sandra Troiano) started their own farm called Willowolf Farm. Using no-till methods they produce fruits and vegetables for Frilu to use throughout the seasons. Also all kitchen waste goes back to the farm's compost program to enrichen the soil used. Frilu also uses local Canadian ingredients throughout the year buying from local markets and farmers. Chef Troiano hand picks the produce from the farm every morning especially during Spring, Summer, and Fall to ensure the guest experiences a true sustainable farm to table experience.
White Lily Diner
Cuisine: Creative
Ben Denham and Ashley Lloyd bought their 10-acre farm three years ago and live there with their two children. It was a hobby horse farm that they've turned into a working farm. Their organic principles are serious and they won't use pesticides that are certified as organic because they aren't in line with their personal principles. Instead, they use insect netting and one to mitigate insects. It is a no-till farm where they exclusively use hand tools for a grass roots, holistic approach. They use greenhouses to mitigate disease. In addition to supplying their own restaurant, the duo's farm also provides produce for more than 15 other restaurants, some in the MICHELIN Guide.
Previous One Stars
Aburi Hana
Cuisine: Japanese
Alo
Cuisine: Contemporary
Alobar Yorkville
Cuisine: French
Don Alfonso 1890 Toronto
Cuisine: Italian
Edulis
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Enigma Yorkville
Cuisine: Contemporary
Frilu
Cuisine: Contemporary
Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto
Cuisine: Japanese
Osteria Giulia
Cuisine: Italian
Quetzal
Cuisine: Mexican
Shoushin
Cuisine: Japanese
Yukashi
Cuisine: Japanese
Previous Two Stars
Sushi Masaki Saito
Cuisine: Japanese
Hero image: Virginie Gosselin/Restaurant 20 Victoria
