The Most Unique Restaurant in Every Province
Updated: May 30, 2022Ready to expand your dining horizons? These incredible eateries serve up one-of-a-kind menu items in truly unforgettable surroundings.
Unique Canadian Restaurants Worth Trying
No matter where you go in this country, a tasty meal is usually never far away. But dining out is about more than good food—we’re also looking for exceptional service, magical ambiance, and a heaping serving of fun to make a memorable experience. Whether you want to be immersed in nature, get a taste of local history or take a walk on the wild side, these unique Canadian restaurants offer incredible food and unforgettable experiences in equal measure.
The Table Culinary Studio
New London, Prince Edward Island
If you want to learn more about Prince Edward Island’s delicious history, there’s no better place to start than The Table Culinary Studio. The restaurant, housed in a beautifully-converted church in rural New London, offers experiential culinary classes and intimate dining experiences that honour the history, food and culture of the island. Make sure to check out the Chef’s Table: a 7-course tasting menu of dishes crafted using ingredients fished, farmed, foraged and produced in P.E.I.
Dishes include bar clam chowder with quahogs (hard-shell clams), mirepoix and seaweed crumble as well as malted sweet clover cheesecake with rhubarb curd, caramelized milk and honey meringue. “Our cuisine is as unique as the place in which it is served,” says executive chef Hunter Guindon. “We have created our own Canadian cool-climate cuisine by eliminating all non-Canadian ingredients from our menus, and focusing our time and energy on truly expressing the terroir of P.E.I. by showcasing the best ingredients the province has to offer.”
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The Diner Entre Ciel et Terre
Montreal, Quebec
This might be one of the most thrilling restaurant experiences of all time. With Diner Entre Ciel et Terre, a Quebec-based dining adventure, guests are strapped to a table with safety belts (along with two waiters and a “sky” chef”) and are hoisted 50 metres into the air by a crane to enjoy an expertly-prepared five-course meal “between heaven and earth.” With palms sweating and feet dangling, this is one meal that’s fit for an amusement park. Not heading to Quebec anytime soon? No problem. Diner Entre Ciel et Terre offers pop-up (and we truly do mean pop-up!) experiences across Canada and can be booked for festivals and special events.
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The Eatery
Vancouver, British Columbia
With more than 600 sushi restaurants crammed into 2,883 square kilometres, good sushi is never hard to find in Vancouver. So what has kept people coming back to The Eatery, Kitsilano’s famed Japanese restaurant, for 39 years? The good vibes! From the creative and playful food, like the Salmon L. Jackson (salmon katsu, cucumber and avocado topped with crab meat, smoked salmon and tobiko) to the upbeat music and decor, which features model underwater creatures bathed in black light and dangling from the ceiling, The Eatery feels like it was plucked directly from a half-remembered dream.
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Dutch Drive In
The Pas, Manitoba
What’s the easiest way to make your vehicle feel like a flux capacitor-powered Delorean? Pull up to the Dutch Drive In in The Pas, near the Saskatchewan border. The old-school 1950s-style drive-in restaurant will make you feel like you’ve travelled back in time. This Manitoba institution opened more than 60 years ago, back when drive-ins were still the bee’s knees, and never stopped delivering tasty fast food to customers’ car windows. The menu features everything you’d expect from a drive-in, including homemade cheeseburgers, “Dutch” fries (hand-peeled, deep-fried potato slices), footlong hotdogs, and, of course, milkshakes. You can either eat your meal in the car (for an authentic experience) or take it to one of the nearby picnic tables.
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Wild Caraway
Advocate Harbour, Nova Scotia
People travel from all over Nova Scotia to visit Wild Caraway. It’s not hard to see why. This coastal cafe offers seasonal, hyper-local food—using many foraged ingredients—and beautiful views of the driftwood-strewn beach of Advocate Harbour, a small protected fishing harbour opening on the Bay of Fundy. Open seasonally from May to November, Wild Caraway serves up some of the best food in the province, including dishes like seaweed popcorn, sunchoke chips, sumac pork crackling and weir-caught mackerel tartare with applewood smoked sour cream, corn lilies and sweet cicely. Make sure to plan your visit around their annual wild foraging dinner, where they gather wild produce to create a tasting menu inspired by nature.
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Savour the Sea Caves: Ocean Floor Culinary Adventure
St. Martins, New Brunswick
What’s more magical than walking on the ocean floor at low tide? Try walking on the ocean floor at low tide and sitting down for a five course meal prepared by Atlantic Canada’s culinary ambassador. The Ocean Floor Culinary Adventure in the St. Martins‘ sea caves, part of the UNESCO Fundy Biosphere Reserve, is a once-in-a-lifetime experience from “The Kilted Chef,” Alain Bossé. Seated at the communal table, diners feast on Bossé’s locally-inspired culinary creations, as well as his fascinating stories of the region’s natural and cultural history.
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Altitude Restaurant
Jasper, Alberta
An ice field glacier discovery centre might not be the first place you’d think to go for a delicious meal, but Altitude Restaurant, perched at the edge of ancient ice and the towering peaks of Jasper Provincial Park, offers outstanding feasts for mouths and eyes alike. The Canadian-inspired, locally-sourced menu features dishes such as the Alberta bison burger topped with applewood smoked cheddar and green peppercorn aioli and local charcuterie to share including cured bison, wild boar paté, smoked duck breast, artisanal cheese and Saskatoon berries. Or you could always just sip your Athabasca Falls cocktail (made with gin, elderflower, lemon and thyme) while gazing out at the majestic Athabasca Glacier.
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Trestle Brewing Company
Parry Sound, Ontario
What was once one of the largest train stations in Northern Ontario has been transformed into a beer-, food- and nature-lover’s paradise known as the Trestle Brewing Company. Grab a seat on the scenic patio (overlooking the waterfront where the Seguin River meets the Georgian Bay) or settle into one of this Canadian restaurant’s heated outdoor dining bubbles—originally introduced during COVID-19 lockdowns—and enjoy a seasonal (and often beer-infused) meal made from locally-sourced ingredients. Take your pick from menu items such as a sharing platter of Georgian Bay smoked trout served with grébiche, Wasauksing maple syrup jellies, crackers, crudite and pickles, or a vegan burger made using local organic beans, Thai peanut sauce, carrot slaw, pickled red onion and spicy aioli, served with house cut fries and a pickle.
Looking for something sweet to cap it off? Follow Ontario’s famous butter tart trail.
The Railway Ave. Pub
Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan
With departure and arrival signs, railcars and a train crossing, you wouldn’t be faulted for showing up at The Railway Ave. Pub in Hudson Bay with a suitcase. Despite its old-school appearance, however, this “train station” only dates back to 2020, and was built entirely from salvaged, thrifted and reclaimed materials. The Railway Ave. Pub is now a great adults-only place to enjoy a locally-brewed beer (like a Back Forty Brewery Peach Cobbler fruit beer), delicious comfort food (like chorizo nachos or cheeseburger poutine) and desserts (like waffle berry smores).
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The Great Viking Feast
St. Anthony, Newfoundland
The Great Viking Feast, offered seasonally from June until late September, is one part theatre and one part culinary adventure. First, guests feast like (vi)kings, dining on everything from cod tongues and salt capelin to moose stew and rhubarb crumb cake. Then, they’re treated to an entertaining depiction of a viking court of law where they get the chance to put their fellow diners on trial. If vikings aren’t your thing, be sure to check out sister restaurant, Lightkeepers Cafe, located next door—it’s a great place to see icebergs and whales and watch fishing boats come in and out of the harbour.
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