Brownstein: Montreal punches ‘way above its weight’ on 2026 lists of best restaurants and bars
Take note, Michelin Guide: Montreal matters — as is much evidenced in Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants 2026 and Canada’s 10 Best New Restaurants 2026 lists, revealed Monday night in Toronto.
Montreal foodies and fine-dining restaurateurs have to be most apprehensive as they await news on the second Michelin Guide Quebec, expected to be unveiled Wednesday. Last year’s inaugural guide left many Montrealers feeling justifiably snubbed as the Michelin Guide team awarded only three city restaurants — Jérôme Ferrer Europea, Mastard and Sabayon — with one star, while giving its only two-star designation in the province to Quebec City’s legendary Tanière3. Michelin also doled out one-star rankings to four other Quebec City restos.
Not to detract from the worthy dining establishments of our provincial capital, but many here felt thoroughly rebuffed that no such recognition was given to a bevy of worthy Montreal spots like, among others, Mon Lapin, Beba, Le Violon, Montréal Plaza, Au Pied de Cochon, Toqué! and Joe Beef. Yes, many received Michelin recommendations and others snagged “great value” Bib Gourmands, but those honours are hardly the same as the much-coveted Michelin stars.
Well, fret not, folks. Montrealers should be feeling the love once again with the release of Jacob Richler’s 12th annual Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants and Canada’s 10 Best New Restaurants lists. The city placed 28 restaurants on the 100 Best list and four on the 10 Best New list.
Our chests — and livers — can also swell with pride with the news that the city’s Cloakroom Bar has taken the No. 1 spot on Richler’s Canada’s 50 Best Bars 2026.
No surprise that Vanya Filipovic and Marc-Olivier Frappier’s much-loved, much-lauded Little Italy eatery and wine bar Mon Lapin came second for the second year in a row, after finishing first in 2023 and 2024 on the 100 Best list. Chef Ariel Schor’s Verdun gem Beba, a perennial Top 10 finisher here, came sixth while veteran Danny Smiles’s fast-rising Le Violon landed in eighth position.
Richler, a former National Post restaurant critic, had dispatched 162 judges across the country for this year’s edition.
“I don’t think it’s all that surprising that Montreal continues to perform so well,” Richler says. “The cuisine is different and distinct and very assertive for its particular style. You have such great ingredients and there are just so many great things going on here.”
Of note, Quebec City’s Michelin two-starred Tanière3 finished third on the list, behind Mon Lapin. It’s also worth pointing out that the single Michelin-starred Mastard came in 63rd on this top 100 list while other star recipient Sabayon finished 44th and Jérôme Ferrer Europea, which is in the process of being sold, didn’t place at all.
On the other hand, it’s double the pleasure for the Filipovic/Frappier tandem as their latest Little Italy offspring, Rôtisserie La Lune, an homage to old-school barbecue chicken spots, finished second on the best new resto list. It also came in 21st on the 100 Best list.
Chefs Harrison Shewchuk and Cédric Larocque’s French bistro Limbo finished third on the best new restaurant front as well as 23rd on the top 100 chart. It was followed by chef Vincent Gee’s intimate Mile End eight-seater Sushi Nishinokaze holding the fifth spot on the best new list and 31st on the 100 best.
Delighted to see the no-nonsense Little Italy eatery Pasta Pooks as the No. 8 best new spot and 47th overall in the best 100. Also cited on the 2025 Air Canada list of best new restaurants, Pasta Pooks is helmed by brothers Luca (Pooks) Labelle Vinci and Victor-Alex (Coach) Petrenko; and it’s not for nothing that Pooks has been hailed as the Michelangelo of manicotti.
Montreal placed 28 restaurants on the 100 Best list, which compares rather favourably to Toronto’s 23. But overall, this province and Ontario finished in a tie, with 32 selections each.
British Columbia is next with 19 restaurants on the list, followed by Alberta with seven, Manitoba with three, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador with two, while Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick each have one.
For the record, as of 2025, the Greater Toronto area boasts 17 Michelin-starred spots: 16 with one star and one two-star, Restaurant Pearl Morissette. And for the second year in a row, Pearl Morissette — also a farm, bakery and winery — emerged as the No. 1 dining spot in Canada on this Richler list.
Vancouver also does well with Michelin. The 2025 guide lists 12 restos that earned one Michelin star.
Clearly, we have some catching up to do here.
Among the other local restaurants cited on Canada’s 100 Best are: Montréal Plaza (13); Bar St-Denis (22); Alma (34); Pichai (36); Salle Climatisée (43); Cabaret l’Enfer (45); Joe Beef (51); Parapluie (56); Lawrence (57); Monarque (61); Grille-Nature (66); Toqué! (70); Gia Vin et Grill (71); L’Express (73); Au Pied de Cochon (78); Elena (93); Chez Jean-Paul (95); Claire Jacques (99); and Casavant (100).
Apart from Quebec City’s Tanière3, the three other selections from this province are Mirabel’s La Cabane d’à Côté (49), Austin’s Parcelles (79) and St-Mathieu-du-Parc’s Auberge St-Mathieu (98).
There are new local additions like David McMillan and Derek Dammann’s recently opened West Island hotspot Grille-Nature and Emma Cardarelli and Ryan Gray’s ever-packed Elena in St-Henri. Then there are favourites like Nora Gray — also owned by Cardarelli and Gray — and Damas that are no longer on the list.
“Everybody is excited by change and they get hyper-interested by new arrivals,” Richler says. “But, of course, for every new arrival, another must go. Places fall out of favour. Some places just get too familiar and cease to excite the judges. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the quality is bad. I find the food offerings here to be much diversified from when I started this project.
“The bottom line is that Montreal continues to punch way above its weight.”
Makes perfect sense that a Montreal cocktail lounge would land in the No. 1 spot on Jacob Richler’s Canada’s 50 Best Bars 2026 and that our city would place eight watering holes altogether on this list.
For reasons too numerous to disclose — from potholes to pucks — few people in this dominion have been more driven to drink than Montrealers.
But few would argue against the much-heralded Cloakroom Bar finishing first. There are few more intimate hideaways anywhere in the country, or on the continent, than this swank de la Montagne St. spot, hidden away behind the tony Maison Cloakroom clothing boutique-cum-barbershop.
For those who have yet to indulge here, the Cloakroom Bar — which finished second in Canada’s Best Bars 2025 and has been featured on an array of Canadian and North American lists since its launch in 2015 — doesn’t resemble any place where someone might check a coat or cloak.
Another city favourite, the exquisite and much-revered Atwater Cocktail Club, whose entrance is hidden away on an edgy, graffiti-lined lane on Atwater Ave. just north of Notre-Dame St., came in seventh.
The other Montreal spots cited are Bar Numéro (17); Bisou Bisou (24); Bar Bello (30); Coldroom (32); Bar Dominion (37); and Le Majestique (40).
The Cloakroom Bar would never have come into being had it not been for the fact that Maison Cloakroom had some dead-end space to fill in the place.
Louis Ialenti, co-owner of Maison Cloakroom, figured that extra space might well serve as a spot for parched clients and friends. But he credits his Cloakroom Bar partners Andrew Whibley and Diego Iovino, well-known figures on the city bar scene, for taking the concept to a whole other level. Whibley and Iovino are co-owners of Bar Dominion, also on this exclusive list.
“We were close a few times to landing in the first spot, so it kept us pushing to be stronger, to keep the service level, preparation and qualitative element of the drinks higher — to make it to first place,” Ialenti says.
“We serve thousands of drinks a week and it’s our consistency along with our artisanal cocktails that work so well for us. Andrew and Diego are always there keeping such a watchful eye on everything that goes on here. There’s also a uniqueness to the spirit of the place. But we take particular pride being recognized for something that gives Montreal consideration for being among the best in the country.”
As for Ialenti’s favourite cocktail?
“No question: the Corpse Reviver No. 2.”
True to its name, this Prohibition-era concoction was apparently created to wake the dead. And with equal parts gin, Lillet Blanc, Cointreau and lime juice with an absinthe spray, it just may work.
The post Brownstein: Montreal punches ‘way above its weight’ on 2026 lists of best restaurants and bars appeared first on Montreal Gazette.