As food prices skyrocket, the thought of a bill after a night out at an upscale eatery is more daunting than ever. Thankfully, if you are missing fine dining, a growing number of Canadian restaurants are taking a more relaxed approach to tasting menus, which help reduce food waste and cost for economically strapped restaurants, while offering a variety of options for the customer. Tasting menus have often meant spending more than $500, but newer culinary experiences are popping up with price ranges between $60 and $200 for a dinner for one with five to 10 dishes (not including drinks).
How the once-splurgy tasting menu became a more affordable night out
At these 10 restaurants from the West Coast to the East, you can sample tasting menus with impressive presentation, atmosphere and fine ingredients – without breaking the bank.
Burdock & Co, Vancouver
Sablefish-crispy salsify, perserved dill seed cream, and side striped shrimp at Burdock and Co,HAKAN BURCUOGLU/Burdock and Co
Chef Andrea Carlson won a Michelin star for this Mount Pleasant restaurant, becoming the first female chef in Canada to win the prestigious rating. The five-course menu features Akami tuna with pork hock and leek as well as a dish of slow-roasted lamb saddle with fermented potato, charred grain risotto, Rangpur lime and mountain huckleberry. $95.
Sauvage, Canmore
A roasted salmon mousse, bladderwrack, samphire, accompanied with a curly dock flour cracker at Sauvage Restaurant.Silckerodt Photography/Supplied
Using foraged ingredients, Chef Tracy Little creates plates such as pine flour sourdough bread, or bison with bone marrow and haskap berries. A separate vegetarian menu is available. $100 for five courses, $120 for seven.
River Café, Calgary
A salmon dish, part of the tasting menu at Calgary's River Café.Pauline yu/Supplied
Before sugar-shack season ends, visit this rustic spot, which made #10 on Canada’s 100 Best list in 2022. Chef Scott MacKenzie’s menu boasts a main course of Hillview Farm pork cheek. $35 for three courses, $120 for five courses.
Little Grouse, Saskatoon
Order the “Alla Famiglia” option for a sampling of the Italian menu, which includes a selection of appetizers and pastas, and main entrées of trout and striploin. $75 for four courses, $95 for seven courses.
Ten, Toronto
Kanpachi and cabbage tartare at Ten.Supplied
Chef Julian Bentivegna creates a “vegetable-forward” 12-14 course menu in a setting that only accommodates 10 guests per seating. Some highlights have included kanpachi tartare with red cabbage, scallops from Nova Scotia or duck sourced from a local farm. $140 with a 20-per-cent service charge added to each bill in lieu of tips.
MIMI Chinese, Toronto
Scallion and ginger soup at Mimi Chinese.Gabriel Li/Supplied
This Yorkville restaurant, which placed third on Air Canada’s 2022 best new restaurants list, presents around 13 scaled-down versions of main-menu items in The Chef’s Choice Menu, including scallion and ginger scallop, steamed sea bass and apricot sorbet. $120 per person.
Alice, Ottawa
A forest landscape with juniper and citrus sorbet pistachio ice cream lemongrass cookie crumbs, chestnut praline and dark chocolate cookie at Alice.Miv Photography/Supplied
This fermentation-focused restaurant offers an eight-course menu by the winner of this year’s Canadian Culinary Championship, chef Briana Kim. The Forest Menu includes sunchoke and pine-nut tarts; rutabaga and maitake tea; smoked and cured lion’s mane; cured daikon; toasted hay aioli; and pine-needle butter. For dessert: a forest-landscape plated juniper and citrus sorbet; pistachio ice cream; lemongrass cookie crumbs; chestnut praline; and dark chocolate cookie. $185.
Île Flottante, Montreal
Formerly known as Les Deux Singes de Montarvie, this French restaurant reopened with seasonal menus and was listed as one of Canada’s 100 Best in 2022. $110.
Smyrna, Halifax
You can explore Mediterranean cuisine – a variety of Greek and Turkish dishes – with the five-course Chef’s Experience in downtown Halifax. $65.
Oxalis, Dartmouth
P.E.I. Blue Dot Flank Steak with potato, spring vegetables and truffle jus at Oxalis Restaurant.Sophia Gruber/Oxalis Restaurant
The Chef’s Experience tasting menu includes German and Austrian cuisine such as brotzeit, glazed lobster, citrus cured salmon and duck breast, with ingredients from local foragers, fishmongers and farms. $125 oxalisrestaurant.com
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