This Montreal spot was named Canada’s best new restaurant for 2024

An intimate, 14-seat Montreal spot tops Air Canada’s annual list of the country’s best new restaurants. At Sabayon, chef Patrice Demers and sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin “welcome you as if you were at home,” offering tasting menus, afternoon tea and cooking classes according to a variable schedule — “like a theatre.”

Korean-Japanese Mhel in Toronto, headed by co-owners Seung-min Yi and Young Hoon Ji, and Édith Foliot and Didier Lortie’s farm-to-table Maison de Soma in Mont-Tremblant, Que., round out the top three.

In Mhel’s open kitchen, “chefs with six burners and two charcoal grills add up to Korean-Japanese alchemy,” according to the list. The restaurant is also home to the Dessert of the Year: purin, “a sweet and simple Japanese rendition of crème caramel.” Maison de Soma is a “farm-to-table restaurant at its finest.” Nearly every ingredient is grown on the 600-acre property or foraged from the Laurentian forests.

Of the Top 10, three restaurants are in Toronto (Mhel, No. 1; Takja BBQ House, No. 4; Bar Prima, No. 7), and two are in Montreal (Sabayon, No. 1; Parapluie, No. 6). Mont-Tremblant, Que. (Maison de Soma, No. 3), Victoria (Café Malabar, No. 5), St. Catharines, Ont. (Fat Rabbit, No. 8), Vancouver (Gary’s, No. 9) and Winnipeg (Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch, No. 10) have one each.

Dining devotees will note that Michelin recently added Mathew Bishop and Bailey Hayward’s Gary’s to the third edition of its Vancouver guide as a new Bib Gourmand.

Air Canada announced its Top 10 list of the country’s best new restaurants at a Nov. 4 ceremony in Toronto. Cookbook author, Wall of Bakers judge and food writer Tara O’Brady was this year’s anonymous reviewer. She travelled the country for more than a month — covering 20,163 kilometres and eating 176 dishes — dining anonymously under the alias Leela Malhotra (a name inspired by her terrier, Leela).

“To be tasked with the pleasure and responsibility of introducing these places to the country is an enormous gift,” she told Air Canada in September. “I have long been the recipient of this industry’s hospitality, and it was nothing short of a joy to be able to thank them in this way.”

To arrive at the Best New Restaurants list, Air Canada crowdsourced restaurants that opened between late spring 2023 and May 31, 2024, from its national panel of culinary experts. For the 23rd edition of the annual ranking, O’Brady visited more than 30 restaurants in 16 cities and communities. She evaluated “all aspects of the dining experience, from culinary vision and quality of ingredients to service and overall team spirit” in whittling down the Longlist of 30 to the Top 10.

A couple of trends stood out among those O’Brady identified as she dined coast-to-coast-to-coast. Besides savoury pastry, large-format vegetable dishes and an “Italian love affair,” she noted variety — “The class of 2024 is as diverse as the country” — and close relationships between many co-owners.

“Every restaurant I visited told an eloquent story about its community, championing local ingredients and diverse culinary traditions,” O’Brady said in a statement. “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.”

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