Seven Vancouver restaurants nominated for enRoute magazine’s list of Canada’s best new restaurants

Air Canada’s enRoute magazine unveiled the shortlist for its annual Canada’s best new restaurants program today (August 9), and seven of the 35 nominees are located in Vancouver.

Ancora Waterfront Dining and Patio (2–1600 Howe Street), Kissa Tanto (263 East Pender Street), Mission (2042 West 4th Avenue), Nightingale (1017 West Hastings Street), Osteria Savio Volpe (615 Kingsway), Royal Dinette (905 Dunsmuir Street), and Torafuku (958 Main Street) all made the cut.

Vancouver had the second-strongest showing on the list. Montreal led the nominations with eight restaurants while Toronto followed up with six.

Whistler’s tapas-style Bar Oso and Victoria’s Agrius also received nods.

The nominations were determined by a panel of Canada’s top food professionals, including local chef David Hawksworth, Vancouver-based TV personalities Anna Walker and Kristina Matisic, and cookbook author and Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks owner Barbara-jo McIntosh.

Eligible restaurants must have opened between June 2015 and June 2016. The top 10 will be chosen by enRoute’s food writer and revealed in the magazine’s November issue.

Readers may vote online for their favourite restaurant from the top 35. The restaurant that receives the most votes will receive enRoute’s People’s Choice Award.

Last year, Kitsilano’s AnnaLena landed the sixth spot on the magazine’s coveted top 10 best new restaurants list. The casual, West Coast–inspired eatery—and our Golden Plates 2016 winner for best new restaurant and best Pacific Northwest—also nabbed the most public votes to receive the People’s Choice Award.

Meanwhile, Galiano Island’s wildly popular Pilgrimme took the number-two spot on last year’s list.