Twelve new restaurants and bars you’ll want to try now
From high-end Asian eats to destination burger joints, it was the summer of new spots
Nobu Toronto
25 Mercer St., 365-922-8800, noburestaurants.com/toronto, @nobutoronto
With TIFF around the corner, it’s no surprise that Torontonians want to score a table at Nobu’s second-storey restaurant. While some may be going for the world-famous miso black cod, others are likely stargazers hoping to spot their favourite celebrities. (Kyle Lowry was spied dining there during opening week, and Drake has also made an appearance.) Luckily, even if you don’t manage to snag a table upstairs, Canada’s first-ever Nobu accepts walk-ins at the bar—and what a bar it is. Occupying its own floor on the ground level, Nobu Bar is an opulent, vamp-chic space done up almost entirely in black, with an illuminated back bar that glows gold.
Le Lert
The best Thai dishes are the perfect balance between salty, sweet, spicy and sour. At Le Lert, a new Thai fusion spot from the team behind Savor and the Michelin-recognized Koh Lipe, executive chef Chatchalit Chuayruk is taking this approach with pasta, burgers and steaks (think beef pot pie flavoured with lemongrass or tender pork belly on mashed potatoes and gravy). Co-owner Phanom Suksaen has also brought on Daan Go Cake Lab’s Christopher Siu, who is known for his imaginative desserts, including a next-level mango sticky rice: a bottom layer of thickened coconut milk coloured with butterfly pea followed by a mound of coconut sticky rice covered in spheres of mango and topped with coconut, berries and edible flower petals.
Read more: What’s on the menu at Le Lert, a new Thai fusion restaurant from the team behind Koh Lipe
The Berczy Tavern
69 Front St. E., theberczy.com, @theberczy
This piano bar and bistro from the team behind Amano Trattoria is bringing modern bistro vibes to Old Toronto. Try the gochujang-spiked margarita followed by a whole grilled octopus and a stacked strawberry cake. “I wanted to do riffs on things that wouldn’t be out of place in a classic bistro or tavern,” says co-owner Michael Angeloni. “The food is south of France and north of Italy with a touch of Spain and a kick of Scarborough. It’s a little bit of everything.” The cocktail menu is divided into updated classics and original creations, and the growing wine list offers something for various tastes and price points, from an easy-drinking Niagara gamay to a budget-busting Perrier-Jouët champagne. Beers are equally international, spanning local favourites like Longslice Brewery and European staples like Peroni.
Pho Le
324 Hwy. 7, unit 7, pholecanada.com, @pholecanada
Richmond Hill is now home to the first North American outpost of Phở Lệ, a Vietnamese chain born in 1970 in Ho Chi Minh City (where it received Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition). Phở Lệ specializes in southern Vietnamese–style pho, which has a distinctly sweeter broth than the northern kind. That’s due in part to the selection of particularly collagen-rich bones as well as a higher proportion of vegetables like onion and carrot in the broth. There’s no liquor licence, but a killer seasonal zero-ABV beverage program more than makes up for it. There’s fresh-pressed sugarcane juice with a touch of kumquat, house-brewed Thai iced tea and a downright dangerously delicious Vietnamese iced coffee that only the very brave—or very caffeine-tolerant—should order after noon.
Lyla
60 Sudbury St., lylatoronto.com, @lylatoronto
This swanky new Mediterranean restaurant from the team behind Cano serves up sharing plates featuring Greek and French flavours with Asian and Portuguese twists. Octopus gets the sous-vide treatment for 12 hours before being char-grilled, finished with ’nduja crumbs and plated on a bed of romesco sauce with double-fried potatoes and dollops of olive tapenade and salsa verde. And the salmon crudo is kombu-cured using sheets of kelp and mixed with orange segments and pickled pepperoncini, then dressed in a gochujang-based chili citrus sauce. The cocktail menu features timeless classics as well as Lyla’s signature mixes, which often incorporate the ingredients used in the food menu.
Baby’s Cabaret
563 Queen St. W., Toronto, babyscabaret.com, @babyscabaret
Nightlife gurus Reza Abedi and Chris Solhi (Goldie, Lavelle, Lobby), the partners behind Baby’s Cabaret—Queen West’s scene-y new dance club and lounge—wanted to offer partiers something a little extra on the strip that started it all. Inside the intimate space—brazenly filled with plush leopard-print carpet—DJs spin present-day anthems and pop classics while go-go dancers perform old-school burlesque and bartenders sling retro drinks that hark back to the ’90s. High rollers who order bottle service get to lounge in velvet booths wearing complimentary slippers. For the rest, a solid selection of beer and wine meets a list of high-octane cocktails that takes its cues from those nuclear-coloured ’90s concoctions (hello, blue curaçao!). With a 10 p.m. opening time, the food is decidedly snacky: think charcuterie, cheese plates and salty noshes.
Yaffa Shawarma and Falafel
2313 Yonge St., yaffashawarma.com, @yaffa.shawarma.falafel
This casual Middle Eastern spot from the team behind the Haifa Room is the place to go for flavour-packed wraps, bowls and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Yaffa—named after the Israeli port city of Jaffa, known for its abundant orchards, markets, and large population of both Arab and Jewish residents—churns out satisfyingly large meals in either puffy Israeli-style pita, thin Lebanese-style flatbread or North American–style bowls, each bursting with thrillingly disparate flavours and textures.
Mott 32
190 University Ave., mott32.com/toronto, @mott32toronto
This buzzy Hong Kong brand has taken over the old Momofuku space at the Shangri La Hotel. The cuisine at Mott 32—named for the first Chinese convenience store to open in New York, on Mott Street in 1891—is a reflection of the way Cantonese food found its way out of Hong Kong and returned home changed by globalization. Modern touches, like the lobster-oil injector that comes with the lobster har gow, share space with more traditional dishes like marinated jellyfish, aged black vinegar, and garlic or pea tips that float in a pleasantly umami fish broth with sweet-and-sour goji berries and starchy lily bulbs.
Elijah’s Automatic Flame Broiled
821 The Queensway, Etobicoke, elijahsautomatic.com, @elijahsautomatic
Seven years after selling the Burger’s Priest, Shant Mardirosian is back in the burger business. While he’s arguably the guy who ignited Toronto’s smash-burger era, this time he’s going all in on flame-broiled. Elijah’s patties are made from AA Canadian beef that’s ground on-site with 45-day-aged prime rib fat added to the mix. “We’re basically grinding steaks,” says Mardirosian. Perfectly crispy fries are cooked in beef fat, milkshakes are whipped up with a house-made soft serve machine and lines are already out the door.
Old loves, new locations
These Toronto spots all spread their wings this summer with new outposts.
Mandy’s Gourmet Salads
Mandy’s, the little Montreal salad shop that could, continues to spread its mantra of bougie greens and extremely Instagrammable decor to what is perhaps its most appropriate location yet: a 1,600-square-foot dine-in and takeout location in the heart of Yorkville, right in front of “the rock” (IYKYK). Come for the Cactus Cowboy Salad and Aloha Bowl, stay for the bottled salad dressings, cookbooks and cute kitchenware for sale.
J’s Steak Frites
What’s that old saying? Do one thing well? At J’s Steak Frites, they take this mantra very seriously. In 2022, they launched their Queen West location serving one thing and one thing only: a prix-fixe menu of salad, steak and all the fries you can eat (and trust us, you’ll want to eat a lot). Now, they’ve expanded to a second spot, on College, which is bringing the Parisian bistro vibes with a shady back patio. While steak is still the main event here, make sure you leave room for a rotating menu of freshly made desserts.
Cactus Club Cafe
This Vancouver-based chain first brought its version of power lunching to the Financial District in 2015, followed by a Sherway Gardens location in 2018. Now North Yorkers can get in on the action at its latest outpost in the Sheppard Centre. Maintaining its unofficial “bigger is better” ethos with this new 14,000-square-foot space, diners can order everything from Thai red curry to London fog crème brûlée from its globally inspired, something-for-everyone menu.
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