Canadian celebrity chef Chuck Hughes is dishing on Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants List and opening up about the “electric” Canadian food scene.
Air Canada released its 2025 list of Best New Restaurants earlier this month, featuring 31 finalists, including five restaurants from Toronto.
The list is the longest running ranking for new restaurants and culinary talent in Canada
Hughes will be hosting a celebratory event in Toronto to reveal the top 10 finalists, looking at the list he says Canada’s culinary scene has “upped its game.”
“I don’t think we’ve ever had such a vibrant, diverse, eclectic, talent,” Hughes told Now Toronto. “I look at the level of craftsmanship that there is now in restaurants, it’s unparalleled.”
Hughes says Canada’s culinary talent has changed a lot in the 20 years that he first opened up his Montreal-based restaurants, but working alongside Air Canada keeps him up to date.
“The future of food in Canada starts with this list, right? It starts with these people, these chefs, these restaurateurs,” he said.
“Whether it’s the long list, the short list, you know, it’s just a great list to be on, you know, restaurant business has never been easy… A little bit more visibility could never hurt,” he added.
While the list features six restaurants from Ontario, it also features nine from Montreal.
Hughes, who has spent much of his career exploring the country’s different foods and restaurants, says he once would have considered Montreal to have the best food in Canada, but now is not so sure.
“Toronto has a real mix of fine dining… I feel that Toronto has got a little bit of everything, and there’s more and more amazing restaurants and so much cultural diversity,” he said.
Hughes jokingly said he’s sure people in Montreal are going to “kill him” for not picking Montreal as an obvious favourite, but says he can’t deny that Toronto is a food leader in Canada.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Montreal is still one of the top places to eat food, in 2025 Quebec became the third region in Canada to be included in a Michelin Guide, with Montreal restaurants earning stars in the inaugural guide.
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While he respects the Michelin guide’s importance and history, he says he personally still prefers the “lowkey” restaurants and isn’t too concerned with receiving stars.
“Never once in my cooking career since day one have I thought of a star, it’s really all about the love of cooking and making people happy, and to this day, it’s still the ultimate high,” he said.
Despite sharing his love of cooking with countless people over the years, he says he hopes one day he can also share it with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, the province’s first Indigenous premier.
Hughes’ latest works involves him travelling to Indigenous communities for his show “Chuck & The First Peoples Kitchen,” where he explores the foods and traditions of Indigenous communities in Canada, and says he wants to bring the premier on the show.
“There’s probably a lot we can connect on… I’d love to cook for him and pick his brain and just meet the guy. Because obviously, to be the first, is kind of a big deal. And he seems like a pretty stand up guy,” he said.
Air Canada will announce the top 10 best restaurants on Nov. 17.
