My wife and I are thinking about a 2018 late summer/early fall Canadian trip via rail that goes from Toronto to Montreal. Other cities include Ottawa and Quebec City with a couple of nights in each city. Are there any hotels and restaurants that are on the must stay and/or must do along the way?
Montreal: Rue St Denis and Rue St Laurent, Joe Beef Restaurant (as per https://skift.com/2013/05/06/anthony-bourdains-parts-unknown-episode-4-recap-canada-by-rail/)
Bieres et Compagnie in Montreal had the best moules frites I’ve had.
You could stay at all the Fairmont hotels in each city. They were built by CN rail.
The Montebello in between Montreal and Ottawa might be worth a detour.
Toronto is an amazing food city, and has a great dining scene right now. Ton’s of great choices.
How about some details?
Google Bertrand Aleppe, the Tempered Room, and the Group of Seven. If that doesn’t convince you about Toronto, let me know and I will hook you up with Bert Aleppe. He’s related to one of my closest friends and is a badass chef.
I spent a week in early July on an Algonquin canoeing/portaging trip. We were chased out by the mosquitos and leeches.
Thanks for the advice, I’ll google Bert.
The Montebello is very special, esp. if you play golf.
Sure, what are you looking for? I think Buca (modern Italian) and Buca Yorkville (specializing in salumi di mare (cured fish) are unique. Edulis offers some amazing menus, with thoughtful, creative combinations of flavours. If you order in advance they will age pigeon or duck for you, for example. Dandylion is also excellent, with thoughtful, creative combinations but more local/forage than Edulis. There is great Asian food in Toronto though I’m not the person to ask. I did very much enjoy Law Wai Heen, while non-traditional dim sum, it’s far more convenient than the best places which are way outside the city in the suburbs. Bar Isabel is a ton of fun though loud.
Atelier in Ottawa is very cool, playful, inventive molecular gastronomy, very reasonably priced.
Notes are 3 years old, so confirm with more recent reviews. For Quebec City, we had a lovely dinner at Bistro Le Hobbit on Rue St Jean outside the old city. We were looking for a quality, unpretentious bistro and this fit the bill. Their wine list was reasonable, though my experience in Canada was that good wines were more scarce and more expensive than in US, UK or EU. Classic bistro fate, well prepared. Just up the Rue St Jean was Erico, a chocolate shop that in the summer does housemade soft serve ice creams and regular ice cream that they will dip in their melted house chocolate. Must have the salted caramel milk chocolate. I swear we went 5 times in 3 days. Down the cliff, a wonderful lunch at Bistro du Cap. A bit of a small room, and the husband and wife who run the place have a bit of the Seinfeld “soup nazi” reputation, but we found them delightful and the food to be some of the best on our trip. Also down the cliff, Cochon Dingue is a terrific casual bakery with some prepared foods, sandwiches, etc… for a quick bite to refuel.
There have been a number of Ontario/ Quebec threads in the past year or two. If you haven’t searched already, I think it would be worth your time.
I’ve been to Buca and Buca Mare two years ago and each was very good. We also liked Bar Raval (reminiscent of gaudi).
Toronto: alo is a must if you can get a table ( go online at midnight 60 days prior). Would also agree about Edulis. Actinolite highly rated by many but I’m personally not convinced (terrific cooking underwhelming experience). Fantastic variety of ethnic foods - but not my bailiwick, others will help on that I’m sure.
As a Toronto resident, here are my recommendations - these are my regular spots. Tran Bronstein has written about our meals at most of the locations below - do look up his name. Good write ups.
Alo (They take bookings 60 days - it gets full in about 15 minutes after reservations open)
Edulis (They take bookings 30 days in advance)
Bosk at Shangri La Hotel - regular menu is good, but arrange for a Tasting menu. If Chef Richard Singh is there, it will be a treat.
Actinolite - it tends to be a love/hate experience. I and everyone I’ve taken there have fallen in to the first category.
Cava - Spanish food, excellent.
Los Colibris - excellent Mexican food.
Opus - very good food, superb wine list.
SALT Wine Bar - Portuguese/Spanish food with mostly Portuguese/Spanish wines.
Dandylion - I’ve heard very good things about it, but can’t speak from personal experience.
I find that anything from Buca group to be overly expensive with stupid wine pricing, and avoid all of their locations. I detest George - adequate food, shitty service and super expensive. Dai Lo - unless you want a migraine after 5 minutes, avoid it - overrated chef/food.
About an hour West of Toronto, there is an excellent resort called Langdon Hall with a superb kitchen helmed by Jason Bengartner. Have the tasting menu - highly recommended.
Cheers, Jay
Agree with Jay and Robert on Alo—two of the best 15 dining experiences of my life.
Rickshaw Bar is doing some amazing stuff in the Indian/Asian fusion area.
In Ottawa, if you can get to Soif—Veronique Rivest’s place in Gatineau, you need to see it. Beckta is expensive but worth it. Also liked Play in the Byward Market.
What do you enjoy doing? 2 nights in Toronto may or may not be enough. Ditto for Ottawa and Montreal. I do think that’s probably enough time in Quebec City, it’s a lovely place but nice and compact for the most part.
And…if you want to do an OL in Toronto when you set your dates, let me/us know.
Mike
How do you not continue on all of the way to the coast? Shellfish, beautiful scenery, great drives.
Except for the flatlands of Manitoba and Sasketchawan where you can see your dog run away for days!!! 