Restaurant Candide’s five-course menu changes every month, with just seven dishes on the menu at once. Chef-owner John Winter Russell said that means the restaurant can concentrate ‘on the dishes we like.’EDOUARD PLANTE-FRECHETTE/Supplied
In Montreal’s Little Burgundy, Restaurant Candide keeps it simple.
There’s a single, prix-fixe menu of five courses, changed monthly. Diners only choose the main and dessert. Everything else is left to the kitchen.
Chef-owner John Winter Russell is clear about why it all works. “The reason we chose a prix-fixe menu was very conscious,” he says. “Because we only have seven dishes on the menu at once, we can really concentrate on the dishes we like.”
Candide's flat beans with brown butter croutons and Alfred le Fermier cheese.EDOUARD PLANTE-FRECHETTE/Supplied
On a cool September night, one dish offered flat beans in a plush braise of tomato and pancetta tesa, texturally offset by brown butter croutons and Alfred le Fermier – the raw-milk Québécois cheese lending a honeyed woodsiness. On another, grilled broccolini and kohlrabi tangled with smoked yogurt and grilled onion oil vinaigrette. Crisp-fried wild rice and a full riot of herbs and flowers finished it off.
They credit Parcelles, a regenerative farm and destination restaurant in the Eastern Townships, as a supplier and the garnishes are plucked from Candide’s own garden.
A larger menu would cloud focus, asking too much from a kitchen in sourcing and preparation, and too much from the land. A keen edit frees time and allows for attention to details, as well as sticking with small-scale producers and farms.
Across the country, especially in the wake of the pandemic, inflation and tariffs, a growing number of restaurants are embracing what would have once seemed risky – fewer dishes, set menu formats and more restrained tasting menus.
For guests, the rewards are clear. The food is consistently strong, service is streamlined and it fosters a dining culture of discovery, nudging diners toward ingredients and techniques unexpected or overlooked. “We have hundreds of stories of people trying Brussels sprouts or carrots or peas,” Russell shares, “and tell us they are the best Brussels sprouts or carrots or peas they ever had and that they wouldn’t have ordered that specific dish.”
At Gary’s, a meticulous spot in Vancouver that opened in 2023, the printed menu is a single card. A couple of specials are on a blackboard above the kitchen pass, and that’s it. “It’s been beneficial to work with a smaller menu as it’s given us more time to source quality ingredients and build real relationships with our farmers and purveyors,” says chef and co-owner Mathew Bishop.
Their jalapeno-kissed chicken sausage is made from Rossdown Farms’ poultry. Athiana Acres grows the iceberg lettuce for a zippy Olive Garden-adjacent salad funkified by Castelvetrano olives and Pecorino Romano, and kept sharp by piparra peppers.
Mathew Bishop of Gary’s said having a smaller menu means the restaurant can take its time to source the best ingredients.Shayd Johnson/Supplied
Down Home is a hyper-local farm and restaurant in Markdale, Ont., with 16 seats and three services a week. “When Joel and I left traditional restaurants, it was to seek out food directly from farmers and it’s always been part of our mission to tell the stories of other farmers,” says beverage operator Hannah Harradine, who co-owns the space with chef Joel Grey. “A tasting-menu format suited our passions for the bounty that’s offered locally.”
They are farmers themselves, tending their land whenever they’re not serving and cooking. Down Home’s opening menu was seven courses; it’s now 10 small, considered plates. As the farm has grown and yields diversify – this year they doubled its size and added a greenhouse – the menu has diversified as well.
Down Home's beef tartare with smoked egg yolk and pickled garlic scapes, and a pea and bacon croquette.Katie Blackburn/Supplied
“This year we grew all sorts of new pepper varieties, 14 different types of tomatoes, tons of interesting herbs and our ever-expanding perennial fruit trees,” Harradine says. “We love not limiting ourselves and allowing expansion as the seasons ebb and flow.” When ingredients are seasonal and grown nearby, menus can be built around what’s abundant, like a bumper crop of sea buckthorn. It’s a more cost-effective practice both economically and environmentally.
The impact is not confined to what is served; it is reflected after the digestifs are sipped and the bill is paid. These menus are indulgent, yet with a price that doesn’t bite.
Restaurants Canada, a national trade association representing restaurants, bars, caterers and suppliers, shared in its 2025 trend report that Canadians are seeking “accessible luxury.” Despite rising costs, only one in six Canadians is switching to less expensive options. They want value, without forfeiting experience.
Candide has been at it for nearly a decade, earning a place on Canada’s 100 Best and a Michelin recommendation. A five-course meal costs $88, with an optional $12 supplementary course. Gary’s menu for the table lands at $74. In the Village neighbourhood of Montreal, chef Catherine Couvet Desrosiers opened Panacée last year with five courses for $80. Restaurant Capelin launched in St. Catharines, Ont., this summer; its seafood-centric tasting menu is $95, seven dishes long.
Reduced prep hours at Candide mean a 40-hour work week for staff, which is light for an industry where set day rates are still common. Much of a restaurant’s labour takes place when the dining room is empty – someone to receive deliveries, break down proteins, stir stocks, trim vegetables, bake bread and clean. The more expansive the menu, the longer the hours, and a higher cost for diners.
Smaller menus also benefit restaurant workers when they’re off the clock. “It allows the restaurant to budget food cost because we know that X amount of clients that come in bring X amount of money,” Russell says. “This stability allows us to offer our employee benefits that aren’t common in our field, such as paid vacation and dental insurance.”
Hannah Harradine of Down Home said a tasting-menu format suits the restaurant’s aim to use local ingredients.Pat Ozols/Supplied
While there are plenty of upsides, Down Home’s Harradine feels the self-imposed restrictions of the commitment and confesses working seasonally and locally has its drawbacks. “It can be hard to source consistent protein sources, the dead of winter offers challenges with storing vegetables and preserves.”
May to September is a stretch of particular alchemy. They are drying, blackening, fermenting, jamming, freezing vegetables and fruit, to extend the harvest’s impact through a smoked green tomato and chili paste that brings back summer’s campfires, twangy fermented plums and an umami-rich eggplant shio koji.
Other challenges do remain. “In Vancouver, you see a lot of allergies and dietary requirements,” Bishop says. “We want to do our best to accommodate everyone while retaining the integrity of each dish.” Not everyone embraces the edit. “Some say the menu is ‘limited,’” he admits. Still, the results speak for themselves. Gary’s earned a Michelin recommendation and service award in its first year, among other accolades.
These chefs aren’t doing less. They are choosing to only do what matters. In an industry long defined by hustle and overextension, having fewer choices is an act of generosity.