For the ninth straight year, the World's 50 Best Restaurants survey does not feature a Canadian representative. And for the second straight year, no Canadian restaurant is in the next 50. The results were announced on April 30 in a live streamed event across the globe, with 500 attendees at London's Guildhall in a pomp-and-circumstance ceremony that crowned Rene Redzepi's Noma as the number one restaurant in the world for the third consecutive year. New York's Per Se was the best in North America, finishing sixth, while its owner, Thomas Keller, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
There were no Canadian restaurants though, and here are five reasons why I think our nation continues to languish in the rankings (Note: I'm a judge for World's 50 Best and started the Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada List in order to spotlight the great things happening on the Canadian culinary scene).
1. Toronto's dining scene underwhelms.
If you're in Toronto, the best dining experiences, in my opinion, are an hour outside of it. Langdon Hall and Eigensinn Farm (where a prix-fixe dinner is $300 per person) offer outstanding dining experiences and extraordinary creativity. Within the city, The Black Hoof, the top restaurant in Toronto according to the inaugural Vacay.ca restaurants survey, comes closest to a unique experience you can't find anywhere else. But too many of the city's most noted restaurants and chefs play it safe, in part because it's expensive to do business in Toronto. Menus need to appeal to the masses in order to assure solvency. So, you'll find steak and potatoes, chicken breast, and grilled salmon offered at many places where chefs have the talent to be more innovative. The Black Hoof, located on Dundas Street, away from the Financial and Entertainment Districts, and not in the middle of Queen West or Little Italy, is able to save on real estate costs and can let its chef de cuisine, Brandon Olsen, have plenty of creative freedom. A visitor would expect the nation's largest and most visited city to also be home to Canada's most dynamic and exciting food scene. That's not the case in Canada. When judges for the World's 50 Best come to our nation, they're going to come to Toronto and they may not be wowed. That experience reinforces the notion that our cuisine is still developing and it prevents our restaurants from making the cut.
2. Lack of promotion.
Culinary travel has exploded throughout the world and it brings in big dollars. Canada should be taking better advantage. If tourism boards hosted culinary-focused travel writers and judges, then word might get out about our strengths and we might improve our reputation.
3. More food tours needed.
Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador have such distinct flavours that foodies around the world would certainly be amazed if they explored these provinces. If they did, they might come across a Raymond's in St. John's, or an Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. Also, chefs will often say you're only as good as your product, and few places in the world have better product than Canada's west coast. Vancouver and Vancouver Island have dining experiences that are mind-blowingly phenomenal. I'm sure The Pointe Restaurant at the Wickaninnish Inn would impress many of the 837 judges on the World's 50 Best List if they were able to make it to Tofino.
4. Canadian inferiority complex.
Canadians continue to undervalue our country when it comes to its merits as a cultural and travel destination. Truth is, few, if any, nations have managed to integrate so many different cultural influences into their cuisine and lifestyle. Whether it's at Vij's, the number one restaurant in Canada, or Bao Bei, a Chinese fusion restaurant also in Vancouver, or Toronto's Origin, whose menu features flavours from around the globe, the blend is evolved. Our palates are more adventurous and accepting than most. While French cooking techniques will always reign, the influence of Asian, African and Caribbean recipes is strong, and more and more restaurants are turning to our First Nations for ideas, too. There's lots to celebrate here and we should all aim to tout our culinary stars when we venture around the world.
5. A "safe" reputation hurts Canada's restaurants.
As mentioned, Canadian chefs, especially in Toronto, play it "safe," and judges and foodies want to see restaurants being inventive and risky, and pushing the limits. To hit the World's 50 Best List, a Canadian chef will need talent, big money to back that talent, effort from supporters to get the word out and resolve. It's a bold risk and the restaurant business is tough enough without stretching for lofty goals whose achievement you can't control. Luckily, we have our own list now, and it was created to celebrate how well Canadian chefs are doing, not to focus on where they might fall short.
Follow Adrian Brijbassi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AdrianBrijbassi
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We simply aren't on the radar of the rest of the world.
How about a server who understands that he/she is not doing me a favour by getting me a glass of
water without me asking for it. Water placed on the table is a sign of respect for the customer.
How about a server that takes my Bill payment without ever saying ; DO WANT YOUR CHANGE ?
Basically , service overall would be a nice change.
Second pretentiousness. Prices are outrageous and those who pay them go to be seen and leave bigger than 20 percent tips to show theyve got it. Third the tv show chef rather than somewhere one would go to have lunch.
All restaurants in France, and I mean this almost without exception, offer pleasant ,edible understandable meals with reasonable quantities at fair prices( although Mulcairs Dutch disease may expexplain why Prices are cheaper, much cheaper, in Paris than in Toronto
Second, pretentiousness. Only people who care about the give-and-take of human judgement impulses and can't stop thinking about and are bothered by "pretentiousness". In other words, your judging those people who you think are judging you. Who knows who started it? All we can know for sure in fact is that you engaged in it by your own admission.
Third, France. Canada is a massive place and we import most of our food. The restaurants that do truly local sourcing (not just a few mushrooms in the salty, bland "Vegetarian Mushroom Rissotto" that unscrupulous restaurants dump on ill or misinformed diners) usually have lower prices than you would expect.
I am a world traveller, eating in the best restaurant I can find when I visit a city. Canada has great food and chefs, although sometimes not venturing into the creative, which is sometimes just weird in many of the "top" listed. There are not half a dozen restaurants in the whole of the US that can compete with an average top end restaurant in Toronto.
In fact, in my small home town of Moncton there are more top end restaurants within an hour than the whole of New York city. But the difference is, you will get the owner/chef come to your table that is in a converted house with warped floors and glasses bought at the local Costco as opposed to over priced interior decorator using one of a kind items and a surly waiter who expects at least $35 for a $150 meal.
The best eating experience are in Canada because more people eat good food in restaurants as a proportion of the population. Food in the US is simply cr$%^$p, everywhere. French restaurants are pretentious to the nth degree with no value compared to quality, Germany doesn't know what spice is, England is myopic, etc etc. There are some countries with quality and value as some on the list.
But Canada is ignored, as just demonstrated, as politicals not food is supreme.