Michelin has awarded a star to four new restaurants in its Toronto guide — but three of them aren’t in the city at all.
The tire-maker-turned-tastemaker has expanded the bounds of the guide to cover “Toronto and Region” two years after its first foray into the city in 2022.
New star recipients include The Pine in Creemore, Ont., which a Michelin inspector characterizes as a “distinct dining experience that is informed by the chef’s years working in China.”
Hexagon in Oakville, Ont., also received a star, with the inspector’s notes calling its dishes “refined, original and substantial.”
The restaurant’s executive chef, Rafael Covarrubias, who won a special Michelin award for the Toronto region’s young chef of the year, told CBC News it was a “surreal” evening.
“The fact that we were up there on the stage with these massive culinary figures in our industry, it just means the world to us,” he said.
Asked what it meant to represent Oakville in the first Toronto Michelin guide to include restaurants outside the city, Covarrubias thanked the community for supporting Hexagon through the pandemic, and said he hoped a Michelin star restaurant would help draw visitors to town.
Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Niagara Region received both a Michelin star and a green star to recognize its leadership in sustainability, for initiatives that include sourcing ingredients directly from local farmers and a 0.8-hectare regenerative garden.
The sole new star recipient within city limits is DaNico, a restaurant in a former bank building that the guide says offers Italian food with a global influence.
Food outside city limits didn’t change quality: Michelin inspector
In an email interview, the anonymous chief inspector for the Michelin Guide North America said expanding the search outside Toronto city limits didn’t significantly change the type or quality of cuisine they encountered.
It’s typical for Michelin to extend the geographical region covered in a guide as the years pass, the inspector said.
The expanded region stretched as far as Collingwood, Hamilton, Cambridge and Niagara Falls, the inspector said, noting that just because the inspection team conducted field work in this area, that didn’t guarantee restaurants there would be under consideration.
Toronto and surrounding regions now have 15 restaurants with one Michelin star, and one restaurant with two stars: Sushi Masaki Saito.
Alobar Yorkville and Yukashi have lost their stars, while Nordic restaurant Frilu closed its doors in July.
Four more restaurants have also received the Bib Gourmand, a designation for eateries with good food at a moderate price.
They are Berkeley North in Hamilton, Guru Lukshmi in Mississauga, and Rasa and Conejo Negro, both in Toronto.