Toronto Dining Trail Runs From Michelin-Starred Counters to Chinatown Custard Buns

Destination Toronto highlights five contrasting food experiences as the 2026 Michelin selection recognises 111 restaurants across the city and surrounding region.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The 2026 Michelin Guide Toronto & Region selection includes 111 restaurants spanning 33 cuisine types and five new Bib Gourmand recipients.
• Newly recognised Antylia combines Latin American cooking with Ontario produce, while Michelin-starred aKin centres its current menu on Asian barbecue.
• Destination Toronto’s featured dishes also include Lee Restaurant’s 24-ingredient slaw, Prime Seafood Palace’s Palace Bacon and Rol San’s custard buns.
• The selection illustrates how Toronto food experiences range from chef-led tasting menus to established Chinatown dim sum.

Toronto’s 2026 Michelin Guide selection is bringing fresh attention to a restaurant scene where creative fine dining sits alongside established neighbourhood favourites. The new Toronto & Region selection covers 111 restaurants representing 33 styles of cuisine, with five new Bib Gourmand recipients. Yet a recent dining spotlight from Destination Toronto makes a broader case for exploring the city through individual dishes, rather than awards alone.

The destination organisation has singled out five contrasting experiences: a vegetable dish that links Latin American technique with Ontario produce, a Michelin-starred Asian tasting-menu counter, two inventive signatures from prominent Toronto chefs, and a sweet dim sum favourite. Taken together, they offer a practical illustration of how local ingredients and the city’s international food traditions meet at different kinds of table.

Michelin recognition puts local ingredients in the frame

Among the new Bib Gourmand additions is Antylia, the Latin American restaurant run by chef-owners Aldo Camarena and Ashley McKay. The couple draw on Mexican and wider Latin American food traditions while working with Ontario farmers and producers. Their charred cauliflower with prairie mole and maple sunflower crumble is a particularly clear example: a Canadian-grown vegetable becomes the centre of a dish shaped by Latin American flavours. Michelin also recognised the chefs through its 2026 Mindful Voices initiative, drawing attention to their relationships with local farmers and Indigenous growers.

Elsewhere, the one-Michelin-star aKin presents another interpretation of Asian cuisine under chef Eric Chong. The restaurant builds themed, seasonal tasting menus around ingredients sourced from across Canada. Its current menu explores Asian barbecue traditions, including the techniques and flavours of cooking over fire. As dishes change with each theme, Destination Toronto’s particular recommendation is not a fixed plate but a place to sit: the four-seat chef’s counter, where diners can observe the kitchen at close range.

Signature dishes give long-standing favourites their identity

At Lee Restaurant, Susur Lee has made the Singapore-style slaw a lasting calling card. The dish combines 24 ingredients with a salted plum dressing, reflecting the chef’s approach to blending French culinary methods with Southeast Asian flavours. For a visitor navigating Toronto’s many dining choices, it offers a recognisable signature rather than a tasting menu that changes with the season.

Another chef-led destination, Prime Seafood Palace, is associated with Matty Matheson and is listed among the Michelin Guide’s recommended restaurants. Although its menu places considerable emphasis on seafood and substantial cuts of meat, the smaller Palace Bacon has developed an identity of its own. According to the dining spotlight, the pork is cured, smoked, marinated, rendered and finished with a char siu-style glaze. Its place on the menu demonstrates how a side or starter can become as closely associated with a restaurant as the headline dishes.

The fifth stop is less formal. Rol San, a long-running Chinatown dim sum restaurant, serves the steamed custard buns that Destination Toronto highlights as a sweet finish after savoury dumplings and shared small plates. Unlike the elaborate menus at some of the city’s award-winning kitchens, the appeal here is the familiar rhythm of choosing dishes for the table and finishing with a traditional dessert.

A dining itinerary with more than one definition of excellence

These restaurants are not directly comparable in price, format or style, and a Michelin star, Bib Gourmand and Michelin recommendation describe different forms of recognition. The 2026 selection nonetheless gives travellers one useful starting point, while Destination Toronto’s dish-led approach suggests another: build an itinerary around particular flavours, chefs and neighbourhood experiences rather than seeking only the most decorated addresses.

For Toronto’s visitor economy, the combination matters because a food-focused stay need not revolve around a single high-end booking. A chef’s counter, a distinctive vegetable preparation, a celebrated salad, char siu-glazed bacon and a plate of custard buns each tell a different part of the city’s culinary story. Menus and availability can change, so travellers should check directly with the restaurants before visiting.