10 of Canada's Best—and Most Uniquely Canadian—Restaurants

You know those clichés about Canada? About it being big and wild and really, really cold? Honestly, they exist for good reason. With a population that’s smaller than California’s but spread over an area 24 times its size, much of the land is quite wild, and the entire top is true blue arctic. But one cliché—that Canadian food is poutine, and poutine alone—needs to go. Because when you look a little closer, you’ll realize that despite their relatively small numbers, Canadians represent an overwhelming variety of histories and landscapes, making the food of every region a unique and cultural experience. This combination of space and diversity makes travelling around the country an inevitable adventure, a weird and wonderful odyssey that includes everything from deserts and rainforests to towns only accessible by plane, train, or boat. (Take it from us, we know.) And while there are plenty of exceptional fries covered in curds and gravy, there is a lot more waiting to be eaten.

To get you started, here are 10 uniquely Canadian dining experiences worth travelling north of the 49th parallel for. —Lindsay Anderson and Dana VanVeller

Wolf in the Fog: Tofino, British Columbia

In the small town of Tofino, British Columbia, this laid-back restaurant serves up some of the best food on the west coast. Not far from the waves, which draw surfers from all over the Pacific Northwest, the restaurant casually occupies two stories—there are surfboards on the wall, cedar sours on the bar, and ingredients like locally-harvested gooseneck barnacles on the table. Inspired by the land and sea surrounding it, Chef Nicholas Nutting’s menu reflects a commitment to refined, local comfort food, with dishes like Bamfield seaweed salad and an earthy beef tartare with matsutake mushrooms and black garlic mayonnaise. wolfinthefog.com

Keenawaii's Kitchen: Haida Gwaii, British Columbia

From her home on Haida Gwaii, a large but remote island off the northwest coast of British Columbia, Chef Roberta Olsen (whose Haida name is Keenawaii) cooks for guests from around the world. In a room filled with coastal First Nations art, those at Roberta’s table are brought food and stories, the first usually inciting the latter. Common ingredients include fish she smokes in a wooden hut out back; mushrooms collected from the island’s densely green forests; hand-harvested herring roe on kelp; wild cranberries; and octopus she wrangles from below the rocks at low tide. Roberta has been at this for decades; she’s a cook so respected she’s even fed Prince William and Kate. facebook.com

Klondike Kate’s: Dawson City, Yukon

Those interested in southern-style barbeque and/or time travel should go north, way north, to Dawson City, Yukon. A former gold rush mecca with much of its past still living in the present, Dawson’s streets remain unpaved, and old historic wooden buildings—former brothels and miners’ cabins among them—become more crooked with each passing year. Within this historic town is Klondike Kate’s, a popular restaurant specializing in barbecue made with ingredients from the boreal forest. That means caribou sausages with wild blueberries and spruce tip aioli; Artic char tacos; and grilled, braised, and smoked meats sweetened with specialties like birch syrup and haskap berry jam. klondikekates.ca

Bullocks’ Bistro: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Bullocks’ is legendary Canadiana—a small wooden shack renowned for its rough and tumble service and giant portions of fried fish. Options include northern pike, Arctic char, and Great Slave cod, as well as muskox or caribou steaks for those after red meat. It’s located in Yellowknife on Great Slave Lake, capital of the sparsely populated Northwest Territories; the city is small, but its mix of industry, history, and art have made it a destination for people wishing to experience some eclectic northern culture and see the Aurora Borealis. facebook.com

RAW/Almond pop-up: Winnipeg, Manitoba

If you know nothing more about Winnipeg, Manitoba, you should know this: despite having some of the most intense winters in Canada, Winnipeggers are game to throw a party at any time, in any weather. For proof, just look to RAW/Almond, an annual dining event that pops up in a less-than-traditional place: atop a frozen river. Conceived by Deer + Almond chef Mandel Hitzer and Joe Kalturnyk of RAW:Gallery, each year a temporary dining tent is constructed where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet, a historic former meeting point for First Nations and fur traders. For 21 nights, at a time when temperatures can drop to -10 degrees Fahrenheit, chefs from around the city and Canada feed guests bundled up at a long wooden table. Toques are worn by servers and diners alike, some of whom even choose to skate up to the restaurant for their meal. Last year, the RAW team ambitiously took their project even farther north. raw-almond.com

Gypsy’s: Churchill, Manitoba

Unlike the communities in Canada’s south, Churchill, Manitoba is only accessible by train and plane. Located on a polar bear migration path, it draws thousands of tourists each year—people who, for the most part, want to spend their days watching bears on the Arctic tundra and their evenings warming up with a hot meal. The food at Gypsy’s, run by a Portuguese family that is now a Churchill institution, is beloved by locals and tourists alike. The menu is an endearing mix of Manitoban and Portuguese specialties, like locally caught pickerel, Portuguese-style chicken, and chorizo sandwiches. The one thing you have to get at Gypsy’s, however, is the apple fritter. Fried up fresh throughout the day, they’re studded with soft, caramelized chunks of apple and have a crunchy, cinnamon-rippled exterior that perfectly catches the glaze. gypsybakery.ca

Canoe: Toronto, Ontario

Led by Chef John Horne, Canoe serves unapologetic and elegant Canadian cuisine, the menu being one complex and multi-layered answer to the question, “What is Canadian food?” Horne is curious, friendly, and ambitious in his exploration of this cuisine, utilizing ingredients from around the country—like wild rabbit, cattails, and seabuckthorn—and often naming menu items for their places of origin. His efforts to establish a sense of place extend even beyond the food; his New Year’s menu opened with the phrase “sii.ngaay ’laa,” a common greeting in the First Nations’ Haida language meaning “good day.” canoerestaurant.com

Cabane à Sucre Au Pied de Cochon: St-Benoît- de- Mirabel, Quebec

In the Canadian culinary scene, Quebecois chef Martin Picard is something of a legend, and his take on sugar shacks, the sites where maple trees are tapped and their sap boiled into maple syrup, holds a folklore all its own. Given Picard's infamous love of foie gras, meat, and fat, things get crazy here. Very crazy. Once they’ve made the snowy trek to this cabin in the woods, guests settle in for one of the heaviest meals of their years (perhaps lives). Dishes sent from the kitchen, a dozen or more in total, are large, whimsically creative, and celebrate the historic cabane à sucre traditions of Quebec. This is a place to get cozy, be entertained, and to absolutely wear your stretchy pants. cabane.aupieddecochon.ca

The Bite House: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Located in an old wooden farmhouse on sweet Cape Breton Island, this 12-seat restaurant features the seasonal food of Acadian chef Bryan Picard. Though he’s from the nearby province of New Brunswick, Picard beautifully represents the quiet, kind hospitality of Cape Breton, a place that at times could be mistaken for Scotland in both landscape and culture. His ever-changing menus take advantage of what’s harvested locally, including from his own backyard garden, and he’s fond of foraging for garnishes and other ingredients. Reflecting his own nature, Picard’s dishes—like his ‘haddock, pear cider, fennel tops, and crunchy bread’ main—are thoughtful and soft-spoken, highlighting the absolute best of the island’s food. He’s also a master of plating, and does so on ceramics so handsome you’ll wish they were included with the meal. thebitehouse.com

Mallard Cottage: St. John's, Newfoundland

Several years ago, renowned chef Todd Perrin took over an 18th century cottage in Quidi Vidi, an impossibly quaint fishing village on the outskirts of St. John's, Newfoundland. In one of the coziest, most historic restaurants in the country, he and his team serve unpretentious food from ‘The Rock' (as the hardy province is known), with dishes like corn-fried cod cheeks, beef liver and heart terrine, and salted baked turnips. There’s a chalkboard menu that changes daily, and the wooden rafters are lined with colorful jars of pickles and jams put up each fall. On Sundays, the restaurant fills up for brunch, which is accompanied by the stuff of dreams—a big, old-fashioned 'cake table.' mallardcottage.ca