Top 50 Restaurants in Canada, Vancouver has four in top 20

Four of the top 20 restaurants in Canada selected by a panel of the country’s best chefs and the public are based in Vancouver.
For the third year in a row, Vacay.ca, the Canadian travel destination site, held their Top 50 Restaurants in Canada competition.The top restaurant was a little-known restaurant called Raymonds in St. John’s. But Vancouver was well-represented with three in the top ten.

Vancouver tied with Montreal and Toronto as having the most restaurants in the Top 20.
The best restaurant in Vancouver, according to the Top 50 Restaurant list, is the Farmer’s Apprentice in Kitsilano, which placed fourth. It was followed by Vij’s at number five and Hawksworth at number 6. L’Abbatoir placed 13 in the top 20.

One of the judges was Vikram Vij, chef and owner of Vij’s in Vancouver and a member of CBC’s “Dragon’s Den”

In all, there were 54 voters who determined the rankings and several of them also vote for the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants List. None of the judges could vote for restaurants they own or are employed by.

Montreal led all cities with 12 selections in the Top 50. Toronto had 10 restaurants in the list while Vancouver placed seven and Calgary landed six.

For a compete list and details on how restaurants were selected, check out Vacay.ca
In 2013, the Vacay.ca vote was determined by a mix of public and judges’ selections. More than 10,000 people voted for their favourite restaurants and when the judges’ votes were added in, Montreal’s Joe Beef ranked No. 1.

For 2014, Vacay.ca decided to turn the judging over to the nation’s top chefs and the results are significantly different than previous editions.

There are 26 restaurants in this year’s Top 50 list that have not previously appeared on the ranking. Of them, 14 are restaurants that were either not open when the judges’ picks were submitted in 2013 or were less than three months old at the time, including three restaurants that ranked in the top five.

Written by Peg Fong, a founding editor at Vacay.ca. She can be reached at peg[at]vacay.ca.

Featured Image: Farmer’s Apprentice