Big news for up-scale dining lovers: Toronto is about to get a Michelin restaurants guide!
The Michelin series of guide books – that have been published by the French tire company Michelin since 1904 – have never been produced for Canada. Toronto will be the inaugural Canadian collection.
The news was announced at a press conference on May 10th attended by Mayor John Tory, Honourable Randy Boissonnault – Minister of Tourism, Chef’s Daniel Boulud and Alvin Leung and others in support of the program. The initiative is a partnership between Destination Toronto, Destination Ontario and Destination Canada.
The guides award restaurants stars based on subjective reviews of inspectors sent out to restaurants in a partner destination. “Our team conducts research first before deciding on a selection of restaurants to visit. The research comes from all sources such as suggestions by our readers, emails, social media, review sites and publications. Each team member can also nominate restaurants that we deem interesting or possessing distinctive qualities such as chef’s skills, tastes, ingredients, uniqueness and consistency” said one of their anonymous Thai MICHELIN Guide Inspectors in a recent article.
In the chef world, a single star is coveted. Many restaurants will only ever get one – but a restaurant can actually get anywhere from zero to three stars, with the highest rated ones attracting food tourists from around the globe. Restaurants with multiple stars are consider to be one of the world’s best restaurants by the guide and it’s loyal followers.
View this post on Instagram
This is a big deal for Toronto’s food identity and reputation internationally. The program has the potential to attract thousands of new visitors to the city. It also provides our dining establishments and the talent who works there with global recognition. It suggests the caliber of our experiences is on par with some of the best on the planet. As proud Ontarians, that’s something we can definitely get behind!
