Sample a huge menu of tempting culinary adventures – sumptuous dining, award-winning wines and wonderful cooking schools.

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Ontario offers an incredible variety of ways to tempt your taste buds; from farmers’ markets to award-winning wineries and restaurants, delicious regional fare, fabulous cooking schools and our sweetest claim to fame – maple syrup.

Ontario’s cosmopolitan cities are foodie favourites. They say variety is the spice of life, well it is in Toronto. More than 7,000 restaurants celebrate culinary styles from around the world, whether it be formal or informal…Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mexican, fast food, slow food, hot food, cold food…. The list continues but you’ll find it in Toronto.  Don’t miss the historic St Lawrence Market.

Ottawa’s rich ethnic diversity is evident in more than 1200 restaurants. There’s always something happening in the historic ByWard Market where you’ll find a host of charming sidewalk cafés and elegant dining rooms. Or learn how to create your own French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute – also home to the exquisite restaurant, Signatures, a recent CAA/AAA Five Diamond Award recipient.  At Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro, aboriginal owned and operated, discover aboriginal traditions and artistic expressions - and experience seasonal menus that follow the ancient paths of North America’s Aboriginal peoples!

 

As you travel throughout the province, seek out farmer's markets and farmer's stalls for the freshest local produce and regional specialities.    Discover hidden gems along the Apple Pie Trail, near Blue Mountain Resort.   Taste traditional Mennonite delicacies at the St Jacobs Farmers' Market.

 

Resort dining is all about the fusion of ingredients, art and cooking styles. Resort chefs pride themselves on working with what’s around them locally to create savory dishes. With every bite from the courses brought before you, your taste buds come alive. Resort dining is a sensory experience which will leave you wanting more.

 

Wine enthusiasts will delight in Ontario’s three internationally acclaimed wine regions. In the Niagara Region, sip and savour at more than 60 wineries, some with their own restaurants. Sample scrumptious gourmet fare using local ingredients, perfectly matched with VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) wines. Finish with our acclaimed Icewine – winner of many International awards. It’s our most precious wine—luscious and concentrated—creating memorable experiences and stimulating all of the senses.

For more vintage pleasures, tour the Lake Erie North Shore & Pelee Island Wine Region in Southwestern Ontario.  Or follow the Taste Trail in Prince Edward County just east of Toronto – Ontario’s rising star wine region.   The route takes you on a delicious discovery of award-winning wineries, organic farms, artisan cheese makers and other specialty producers.    The County is also dotted with historic towns and ringed by glorious sandy beaches.

Whether you are a real ale fanatic, or just enjoy a good pint, Ontario is perfect for fans of good beer. Here, small is beautiful. The 30 members of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association produce 170 different ales and beers, some year-round, many seasonal. All are made in small batches, using natural ingredients, with no additives or preservatives. More and more of Ontario’s real ale fans are searching out ‘live’ cask-conditioned ales that ferment a second time in the barrel.

One of the best ways to feast your way around our delicious province is to visit one of the many foodie festivals in Ontario. The Niagara Wine Region comes alive during the Niagara Wine Festival in September and the Niagara Icewine Festival in January where Ontario’s vintages are showcased. You can be the judge at Ottawa’s Winterlude Stew Cook-Off, the annual event where twenty ByWard Market restaurants compete.  Come spring, maple syrup is celebrated at festivals across the province; tuck into a plate of pancakes at the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, the world's biggest.

Visit Gluten-Free Ontario for a list of restaurants/bakeries in Ontario that offer gluten-free food.

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More about Ontario’s wine

 

Ontario has a comparatively young wine industry that is expanding rapidly. Ontario is renowned for its consistent and unique ice wines. It is also gaining increasing recognition for its world-class premium table wines.

Its wine regions are right in the middle of the northern grape-growing belt – between 41° and 44° north. That puts southern Ontario just south of the famous Bordeaux Region in France, and parallel with northern California wine regions. Ontario is considered a "cool climate region" – which means at harvest time grapes are blessed with more concentrated flavours and balanced acidity which makes them wonderfully food friendly. That's why cooler climate wines typically have a livelier flavour than those from hotter climates.

The Vintners Quality Association (VQA) is an association of wineries that provide insight into the quality of Ontario wines. When purchasing wine made in Ontario, look for a "VQA" logo on the bottle - this tells you the wine has been approved by the association. Keep in mind that there are still many wines that are not certified, but lack of certification does not necessarily mean a poor wine.

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