The hottest new restaurants in Toronto right now are the perfect places to go when you want to wow your circle with a saught-after reservation.
This is our first major update to this list since October and these new batch of restaurants are serving up everything from Hong Kong-inspired fare to sizeable steaks. They have captured the hearts, imaginations and, most importantly, taste buds, of Toronto diners over the last couple months.
Here are some of the hottest new restaurants in Toronto right now.
Jamil’s Chaat House
What began as a wildly popular pop-up that took over Toronto hot spots like Lake Inez has found a permanent home on West Queen West, where founders Jalil Bokhari and Emma Tanaka are serving up a casual fine dining menu of Pakistani-influenced dishes.
Think Samosa Chaat, Smoked Baingan Kachumar and Lamb Nihari, served alongside some similarly South Asian-inspired cocktails.
Ayla
The lovechild between Patois founder, Chris Wong, chefs Kevin Shawcross and Danvee Kwok and restaurateur Ivy Lee, this cozy spot transforms the space that was formerly home to Bar Mignonette into a love letter to Hong Kong.
Head to the second floor of the building that also houses Patois, and you’ll discover a charmingly nostalgic space and menu full of inventive takes on Hong Kong classics, including Dill Pickle Tofu and Caesar Salad made with chrysanthemum greens.
Yan Dining Room
This intimate Little Tokyo restaurant described by owners as a “secret supper club” offers an excuisite, eight-course tasting menu tucked away inside of Hong Shing.
Somewhere between a speakeasy and a fine dining restaurant, this collaboration between Executive Chef Eva Chin (Kojin) and restaurateur Colin Li (Hong Shing) serves up everything from scallop crudo to braised pork belly with more than a few surprises in between.
Louf
Located at the foot of Casa Loma, every detail of this Middle Eastern spot, from the light fixtures to, of course, the food, has been carefully curated by chef Fadi Kattan and entrepreneur Nicole Mankinen.
A bread lover’s dream, here you can tear off hunks of ka’ek al quds, zaatar bread or taboun and use them as a vessel for your meal, which may very well consist of Palestinian staples like Kibbeh nayyeh, Bandoura with halloumi and Sishbarak.
Maven
Eastern European cuisine can all too often get overlooked in Toronto, but this groovy Harbord Village spot is changing that.
Here, chef and founder Shauna Godfrey honours her Polish roots with charmingly wistful interiors inspired by her grandmother’s house and a menu replete with elevated staples such as Chicken Schnitzel and Spaetzle, all topped off with a heaping slice of Bubby Rose’s Cheesecake.
Animl Steakhouse
Hedonism is all the rage at this fresh-off-the-press King West steakhouse from INK Entertainment, the team behind equally hot Toronto spots such as Akira Back, Byblos and Kost.
Here, lavish interiors reminiscent of Studio 54 (think mirrored cielings, polished wood paneled walls,) meet an equally indulgent menu featuring the likes of supple pastrami, steak tartare, caesar salad that’s about 50 per cent crouton and, it should go without saying, a seriously impressive selection of dry-aged steaks basted with beef tallow.
Occhiolino
Everyone’s favourite carbohydrate (okay, or most people’s, at least,) gets its due flowers at this Little Italy pasta restaurant from former Bacchanal owner and private chef to Drake, Luke Donato and prolific Toronto chef, Nick Manzone.
Here, pasta is the name of the game, so it only makes sense that they do it absolutely right, cranking out a variety of shapes and textures of the stuff in-house daily and dressing it up with the likes of beef, pork and chicken liver bolognese, beef shortrib and mushroom Barolo sauce and Taleggio fondue.
aKin
A first of its kind on the Toronto culinary landscape, this lavish Colborne St. restaurant by MasterChef Canada winner Eric Chong and three-Michelin-starred chef Alvin Leung serves up 10-course blind tasting menus.
With an ever-evilving menu, you never quite know that you’re going to get at this fine dining establishment, but, with Chong and Leung at the helm, you can rest assured it’ll always be of the highest caliber.
Kensei Bar
Stepping into this cozy vinyl bar on Dundas West feels like a total blast from the past, and not just because of the records they’re spinning; nostalgic floral wallpaper and plush booths lining either wall also pay homage to Tokyo of the late 1980s.
Their cocktails and bites, however, are anything but old-fashioned, putting inventive and innovative spins on favourites like panko-breaded tiger shrimp, bruschetta (served with a hearty piece of Uni) and Galbi Burgers.
Bar Clams
Matty Matheson can’t open anything in Toronto without it being the talk of the town, so it’s only natural that his latest venture, a Maritime-inspired diner which took over the former Dundas West home of his shuttered Mexican venture, Fonda Balam, almost instantly had the city in a chokehold.
Here, you can load up on homestyle hits from fried clams to hot turkey sandwiches slathered in gravy to get a taste of the celebrity chef’s Nova Scotia upbringing.
