Montreal fares better than last year in the Michelin Guide Quebec 2026, but still not good enough compared to Toronto and Vancouver.
On the bright side, two superb Montreal restaurants — the long-standing Hoogan et Beaufort and the upstart Sushi Nishinokaze — get full marks for snagging single Michelin stars in Wednesday’s release of the second Michelin Guide Quebec. The three spots that received one star in last year’s inaugural edition — Jérôme Ferrer Europea, Mastard and Sabayon — have hung on to them.
Quebec City’s Tanière3 holds its two Michelin stars and is still the sole restaurant in Quebec to have this designation.
Quebec City’s Le Clan and St-Mathieu-du-Parc’s Auberge Saint-Mathieu are the only other Michelin one-star additions in the 2026 selection.
Also holding on to one star earned in Michelin’s inaugural 2025 list are Quebec City’s Arvi, Kebec Club Privé, Laurie Raphaël and Légende as well as Rimouski’s Narval.
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That makes for a new total of 13 Michelin-starred restos for the province: six for Quebec City, five for Montreal and one each for Rimouski and St-Mathieu-du-Parc.
Swell, but that still pales in comparison to Toronto and Vancouver.
As of 2025, the Greater Toronto area boasted 17 Michelin-starred spots: 16 with one star and one two-star, Restaurant Pearl Morissette. Vancouver also does splendidly with Michelin: the 2025 guide lists 12 restos with one Michelin star.
In Jacob Richler’s list of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants 2026, released Monday, Montreal dominated with 28 selections, including Mon Lapin at No. 2, Beba at No. 6 and Le Violon in eighth place. Incidentally, the single-Michelin-starred Mastard came in 63rd on Richler’s top 100 list while other star recipient Sabayon finished 44th and Jérôme Ferrer Europea, which is in the process of being sold, didn’t place at all. Toronto received 23 nods on the same list. Overall, Quebec and Ontario each received 32 mentions.
Patrice Demers, co-owner of Sabayon, prepping in the kitchen. Sabayon held on to its one star in the updated Michelin Guide Quebec. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette
In the first-ever North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list, released last September, Montreal placed five fine-dining spots, with Mon Lapin leading the way in second place. Also on this list are local faves Montréal Plaza (22), Le Violon (29), Alma (43) and Beba (50).
It is worth noting that chef Vincent Gee’s intimate Mile End eight-seater Sushi Nishinokaze holds the fifth spot on Richler’s top 10 new restaurant list and 31st on his 100 Best roundup. And while Hoogan et Beaufort didn’t make the cut on either the Richler or North American lists, its veteran chef Marc-André Jetté has long been making magic in the kitchen.
Chefs Harrison Shewchuk and Cédric Larocque’s funky French bistro Limbo, which finished third on the Richler top 10 new resto list as well as 23rd on the top 100 chart, received the only new “great value” Bib Gourmand for Montreal in the new Michelin guide.
There are also six new Michelin “recommends” for Montreal in the new guide: Bar St-Denis, Hélicoptère, Juliette Plaza, Kitano Shokudo, Oncle Lee Kao and Sofitel Le Carré Doré’s Renoir.
Chefs and co-owners Charles-Antoine Crête and Cheryl Johnson learned that their restaurant Juliette Plaza was among six new Michelin “recommends” for Montreal in the new guide. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette
So what gives here with Michelin? Why are the likes of Mon Lapin, Beba, Le Violon, Montréal Plaza and Alma and so many others snubbed when it comes to stars? Yes, they might get Michelin “recommends,” but the coveted stars consume restaurateurs and diners much more.
Lesley Chesterman, former Gazette fine-dining critic and cookbook author, sees the situation from another perspective.
“As much as we say we might have been swindled here, I see this differently now,” she says. “A lot of people say that Michelin doesn’t understand Montreal, but the truth really is that Montreal doesn’t understand Michelin, because most cities that have had a big Michelin presence for a few generations have been brought up in that system. A lot of chefs either want to play that game or they don’t.
“Stars for Hoogan et Beaufort and Sushi Nishinokaze are well deserved. But I just don’t understand why Montreal has so fewer one-stars than Vancouver. I think that fine dining has to be reborn a little for us to see more Michelin stars.”
Chesterman points out that Montreal is top-heavy with high-end casual restos, but they are not in the Michelin mould.
“So, either these chefs are going to say they’re doing gangbusters without Michelin or they’re going to change their format to fit the Michelin style. But the reality is we don’t have multi-generations of chefs who grew up in that system.”
Geneviève Cantin, CEO of the Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec, has a different take, preferring to dwell on the positive impacts the Michelin Guide Quebec has for the province.
“I’m very happy about this year’s selection. Last year Quebec had 102 restaurants (including starred, Bib Gourmand and recommended spots) and now we have 121,” says Cantin, whose group works with the Quebec Tourism Ministry in promoting the province around the planet.
She doesn’t feel Montreal is under-represented on the star front compared to Toronto and Vancouver, with the city now having earned two additional one-star selections to go with the previous three plus a new Bib Gourmand.
Cantin is also quick to point out that Michelin has deals specifically with the cities of Toronto and Vancouver, while here it covers the entire province.
“I think Montreal does have a good representation of varieties,” she says, “but the (Michelin) mandate is to cover restaurants here in Montreal and Quebec City as well as in seven other regions across the province.
“These selections will put a gastronomic star on all the province, which will bring tourists here looking for something different in these wild geopolitical times.”
