Dining in Toronto at the Winterlicious Festival

A Part of Toronto’s WinterCity Festival

Jan 14, 2009 Allison Anthony

Dine at Toronto's finest restaurants while paying a fraction of the cost during Winterlicious at The WinterCity Festival. Running from January 30 until February 12, 2009.

More than one hundred downtown restaurants offer a three course, prix fixe meal from a menu that is created specifically for the yearly festival. Originally designed to entice people out of hibernation after the busy holiday season, Toronto's Winterlicious is now celebrating its seventh year.

Reservations can be made at all participating restaurants starting January 15th and are not just recommended but quite often seemingly impossible to get.

It is hard to ignore the $15/20/30.00 lunch and $25/35/45.00 dinner prices, especially when many of the participating restaurants are a great deal more expensive than that.

Canoe, incidentally, remains the eternal brass ring of Winterlicious reservations due to the fact that American Express card holders can secure a table a full two days before the rest of the city.

Tips for a Great Experience

Not every Winterlicious meal is the perfect, well-priced experience. Quite often one can encounter surly wait staff and food that has been haphazardly slopped on the plate. There are a few ways to stop this from happening.

Try making a lunch reservation a little later than usual and stick to the smaller, less popular restaurants on the weekends. Remember, restaurants that are new to the Winterlicious list are eager to secure repeat business at their regular prices.

The best example of this is a major highlight from last year’s festival. Flow Restaurant + Lounge, which opened in 2005 and is located in Toronto’s chic neighbourhood of Yorkville.

Impeccable service, location and swanky décor help to keep this restaurant at the top of the list for a dining destination but it’s the culinary creations of Chef Richard Andino that will ensure a regular clientele. His menu includes traditional European dishes but with an Asian flavour and this year’s Miso Lime Cornish Hen and pan seared Dorado sound deliciously promising.

Best Bets

Crush Wine Bar, originally a French bistro, is now serving fancy British pub food with their extensive wine list. The new design concept, Welsh rarebit and braised chicken and neeps (a root vegetable) may be too good to pass up for many locals.
Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill is including the spicy, shellfish broth on the lunch menu. The saffron combined with shrimp, mussels and sweet potatoes is an ideal way to warm up after wandering through the shops and galleries in The Distillery District.

Think Twice

Courtyard Café at The Windsor Arms is visually stunning and the epitome of exclusive hotel dining, but they already know that. Instead try the Sunday brunch. Here it is worth every penny.
Drake Hotel Dining Room is still the place to be seen and perhaps the coolest hotel in the city but last years Winterlicious lunch was only okay. Salmon substituted the fish special and the wine cellar was inadequately stocked. In their defense this lunch did happen during a particularly nasty snow storm.

The whole point of Winterlicious and The WinterCity Festival is to get outside and have fun. Toronto is a great eating city that is filled with innovative chefs and fascinating menus. Take advantage of this and try Winterlicious 2009.

The copyright of the article Dining in Toronto at the Winterlicious Festival in E Canada Travel is owned by Allison Anthony. Permission to republish Dining in Toronto at the Winterlicious Festival in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.