Toronto is making a strong showing on this year’s Chinese Restaurant Awards list, with 10 Toronto and GTA restaurants landing among the 2026 Elite 30 Canada Top 50 honourees.
The list, released ahead of the awards’ September 23 ceremony in Vancouver, recognizes 50 restaurants across Canada selected by 21 Taste Advisors, including food critics, chefs, culinary media and well-travelled diners. While Vancouver and Richmond continue to dominate the national Chinese dining conversation, Toronto and the GTA have plenty of representation.
Toronto restaurants on the list include Mimi Chinese, Mott 32, R&D and Sunnys Chinese, while the GTA is represented by Miss Qu Barbecue & Restaurant in Scarborough and Richmond Hill, Nian Yi Kuai Zi in Markham and Scarborough, Northern Dumpling Kitchen in Richmond Hill and Wonton Hut in Markham.
The Toronto contingent also spans a pretty broad range of Chinese dining. Mimi and Mott 32 are known for their polished, modern interpretations, while R&D brings its modern Canadian-Asian approach. Sunny’s, meanwhile, has built a following around its rotating menu of regional Chinese dishes. Across the GTA, the list gets into everything from Sichuan and Chongqing barbecue to Northern Chinese dumplings, noodles and Hong Kong-style wonton noodles.
Several of the Toronto-area restaurants are also new additions to the Top 50 this year, including Northern Dumpling Kitchen and Sunnys Chinese, signalling some fresh faces in a list that has historically had a heavy Western Canada presence.
The awards were founded in Vancouver in 2008 and have since expanded into a broader platform covering Chinese restaurants across Canada, the United States and Asia. Rather than simply focusing on restaurants, the organization says its awards begin with the food itself, with Taste Advisors evaluating restaurants and recommended dishes.
For Toronto diners, the Top 50 list offers a useful national snapshot of where the city and surrounding suburbs stand alongside Chinese restaurants in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal.
The full Elite 30 Canada ranking will be revealed September 23 in Vancouver, so Toronto’s final position in the national lineup is still to come.
