Twelve years to the day after the very first article published on Tastet (!), we’re crossing a new frontier. Today, Tastet officially arrives in Toronto, presented by National Bank.
I’ll be honest with you: I’d been dreaming about this for a long, long time. Plenty of people told me our formula wasn’t scalable, that what worked in Montreal couldn’t travel. I tried to raise funds, I failed. I tried again, I failed again. But there must be something broken in me, because I’m just not capable of giving up. I get up every morning, I work hard, and I love proving people wrong. This fall, National Bank said yes. And we jumped.
Not just to open Toronto. But to show that our formula is needed and useful in every city where culture is lived through food. We wanted to take the time to truly understand this city, to find the best people to explain its scene, its history, and the nuances only local experts know, all while keeping what makes Tastet, Tastet. And we did it.
A City That Deserved to Be Taken Seriously
Toronto isn’t a city you can sum up easily. It’s a metropolis of 2.9 million people, dense, diverse, in constant motion. A food scene that rivals the world’s greatest cities: ramen that takes you on a trip, bakeries with lineups around the block, bars tucked into back alleys, chefs reinventing cuisines from every corner of the world out of Kensington Market or Little Portugal. We couldn’t wait to dive in, and we did it seriously.
Our Method, Brought to a New City
At Tastet, we never show up empty-handed. Before publishing a single address, we did the legwork. We ate, we explored, we met people. More than 40 interviews with local insiders to find the right voices, people who know their neighbourhoods like their own kitchens. People we always ask the same question: if you were sending your best friend out to eat tonight, where would it be?
Every address was evaluated against our editorial grid: food quality, atmosphere, service, value for money, and what makes the place stand out, whether it’s the best in its neighbourhood, its category, or for a specific specialty. We didn’t cut corners, didn’t compromise, and applied the same rigour we’ve always applied in Montreal to a brand new city. And as always, we don’t stop at “it’s good.” We go further: good for whom, for what occasion, at what budget? Is it loud or intimate? Perfect for clients or for a first date? That’s our added value, and it travels well!
We met hundreds of restaurateurs, and we’re launching our content today. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a first list of lists and addresses you can trust, and above all, a list that will keep growing in the coming weeks and months.
To support this expansion, our website has been redesigned: you can now browse by city: Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, or explore every city at a glance.
A Local Team to Start Off Right
We wanted to say this from the start: arriving in Toronto doesn’t change Tastet’s DNA one bit. From day one, our golden rule has been one sentence long: we only recommend places we genuinely love. And since we can’t be everywhere at once, we found incredible people to help us with Tastet Toronto. For curation, we surrounded ourselves with two Toronto Taste Makers we admire for their curiosity and their intimate knowledge of the local scene. Hailey Burke, who you’ll find behind the bars at Bar Raval and Martine’s Wine Bar, and David Schwartz, one of the minds behind Linny’s, Sunny’s, Mimi Chinese, and Linny’s Luncheonette. Two figures firmly rooted in the Toronto scene, two palates we trust to point us toward what’s worth lingering over.
On the editorial side, we’re lucky to have Daniel Neuhaus, a gastronomy enthusiast and a familiar name in the industry, having spent 14 years at Toronto Life.
For the visuals, we handed the lens to Scott Usheroff (@cravingcurator), a photographer our Montreal readers know well, but who’s just as beloved in Toronto.
What This Means for You
If you’re planning a trip to Toronto: for work, for fun, for a long weekend, you now have a guide built to save you time and lead you to real experiences. Brunch in Leslieville. Lunch in the Distillery District. Specialty coffee in Roncesvalles. A memorable dinner in King West. A drink somewhere you’d never have found on your own. That’s the Tastet Toronto promise: taking you exactly where it’s worth going, whatever your budget, occasion, or craving. And one thing doesn’t change: we’re never paid by the places we recommend. Ever. It’s the foundation of everything we do.
A Huge Thank You to National Bank
This launch wouldn’t have been possible without National Bank’s trust, supporting Tastet through this expansion for months now. A partner who believes in our mission and our way of doing things: independent, rigorous, always in service of our readers. A partner who said yes when others were still hesitating.
What’s Next? Big Things.
Toronto is our first step outside Quebec, but it’s clearly not the last. Vancouver is coming this fall, and the ambition is to be in several more cities within a year. Our mission doesn’t change: to become the gastronomy reference for everyone who wants to discover a city like a local, with real, editorial recommendations, no disguised advertising, no matter the craving, occasion, or budget. Quebec’s restaurant scene will always be at the heart of what we do, but we also want to uncover the best of every city. We’re just at the beginning of something exciting. And we’re so glad you’re here to live it with us!
We’re starting Tastet Toronto gently, on purpose. About a hundred central addresses (the ones we consider essential to kick off the conversation) and a few editorial lists to give you bearings. We’d rather take the time to taste, to explore neighbourhoods one by one, to meet the teams behind the counters. Over time, we’ll widen our gaze toward areas like Scarborough and many more.
Tastet Toronto is now live on tastet.ca, presented by National Bank.
We hope you have as much fun using it as we had making it.
— Élise
Written by Jean-Philippe Tastet
Photography by Scott Usheroff
