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You could easily travel across Canada devouring bacon, bison, berries and buckets of maple syrup. Look beyond the country's culinary clichés, though, and you'll find star chefs, winemakers, distillers and bartenders doing exciting things with surprising ingredients.
1. BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS
When Air Canada's enRoute magazine announced its best new restaurants for 2015, they weren't where you might expect. Calgary's Pigeonhole took out top honours for dishes such as nori crumpets with shrimp butter, and lamb tartare with burnt onion. Second place went to Saint John's Port City Royal for dishes such as ployes (French buckwheat pancakes) with butter, brown sugar, molasses and sour cherries while reaching Pilgrimme, tucked into the woods of Galiano Island between Vancouver and Victoria, is an adventure in itself.
pigeonholeyyc.ca, portcityroyal.com
2. LOCAL IS WHERE IT'S AT
The 100-mile food movement was born in Vancouver (local couple Alisa Smith and J.B MacKinnon published The 100-mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating in 2007). Live the concept and graze your way around Granville Island's weekly farmers' market or dine at Edible Canada's bistro, showcasing local fare. The Fairmont Waterfront hotel's ARC restaurant uses honey,herbs and edible blossoms from its rooftop garden and apiary. Forage celebrates the best of British Columbia – even its cocktails include local fruit. granvilleisland.com, ediblecanada.com, fairmont.com, foragevancouver.com
3. BESIDE THE SEASIDE
Tuck into seafood hauled straight from the cold waters off Canada's Maritime provinces. Nova Scotia's Chowder Trail features 61 varieties – try Salt Shaker Deli's smoked seafood chowder in Lunenburg on the south shore. The Lobster Shack's signature ingredient is served every which way, including lobster nachos. In Halifax, lobster-stuffed scallops come with a side of ghosts at Five Fishermen (the building served as a morgue after the Titanic disaster). New Brunswick's Saint John Ale House dishes up periwinkles with wild onion mayo.tasteofnovascotia.com, lobstershack.ca, fivefishermen.com, saintjohnalehouse.com
4. TASTE ICEWINE
Canada's icewine has been described as a "luscious luxury borne of patience and sub-zero bravura". As you sip a glass of the sweet liquid gold, think of workers who must pluck the frozen grapes from vines in temperatures below -8 degrees Celsius. Inniskillin, on the Niagara Peninsula, is an icewine pioneer with varieties that include a pink cabernet franc, and sparkling. Take an icewine tour or head to Niagara's The Ice House Winery for one of its famous icewine slushies. inniskillin.com, theicehouse.ca
5. CANADA- FLAVOURED GINS
Thanks to the efforts of innovative distillers, you can now taste Canada in a long tall glass. Gin-makers have turned to the vast landscape to source intriguing aromatics to flavour their small-batch spirits. Quebec's Ungava gin draws on Arctic botanicals such as cloudberries, crowberries, rosehips and Labrador tea; parsnips are used in Piger Henricus gin from the province's The Subversives Distillers. Stump Coastal Forest gin tastes just like the rainforest thanks to British Columbia-grown fir tips. ungava-gin.com, subversivesdistillers.com, fermentorium.ca
6. RAISING THE BAR
Try thrilling cocktails. Ritz-Carlton's TOCA Bar in Toronto mixes liquid nitrogen creations such as the Flatiron Flash, which includes flash-frozen maple syrup. TOCA's martinis are served in a rare Baccarat crystal glass. The Hawksworth Bar, within Vancouver's Rosewood Hotel Georgia, does a neat line in vintage cocktails while Clive's Classic Lounge, in Victoria, pours classics such as the 1950s-era Vancouver cocktail. Try Calgary's The Nash for pisco shaken with prairie flowerscordial and cranberry bitters. ritzcarlton.com,hawksworthrestaurant.com, clivesclassiclounge.com, thenashyyc.com
7. BOOK AHEAD FOR …
Joe Beef is the famous Canadian restaurant you've probably never heard of – yet this cult eatery in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood has hosted the likes of Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts for dinner. The restaurant's playful take on French classics might include truffled beer-can chicken or profiteroles filled with rum-flavoured soft-serve ice-cream. There's an unpretentious air, with food presented on mismatched floral plates and the menu scrawled on a blackboard. In 2015, it placed at Number 81 on the World's Best Restaurants list. joebeef.ca
Getting there
Taste icewine in a Niagara winery's centuries-old log barn as part of Trafalgar's nine-day Best of Eastern Canada and Toronto tour or have lunch with a New Brunswick lobster fisherman during an 11-day Enchanting Canadian Maritimes tour. Worldwide Cruise Centres' Cowboys & Glaciers tour in July includes free time to eat and drink your way around Calgary and Vancouver. See trafalgar.com, worldwidecruisecentres.com.au
Four more cool things about Canada
CULTURE Want to hang with the cool kids? Head out for the night and you could find yourself squeezing into a tiny jazz club, a country-music bar or a much-loved rock venue.
HOTELS Stay in a bold island inn that's singlehandedly reviving a local economy or snuggle into a cosy nook within a boutique Toronto hotel that's a magnet for the neighbourhood.
DESIGN Browse avant-garde designs in Canada's only Monocle magazine store in Toronto or pick up a piece of bold statement jewellery fashioned from bison horn in Yellowknife.
ARCHITECTURE See cutting-edge projects such as the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg or Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry's contribution to his home town.
photo credits: Ways to taste: Nova Scotia's chowder (main), The Hawksworth Bar, Vancouver (top), Edible Canada's salmon (middle), Joe Beef (bottom), Canada-flavoured gin (below).
Tip: Craft beer fans can sip award-winning microbrews at Montreal brewpub Dieu du Ciel!
This article brought to you in association with Destination Canada.
