This year’s Michelin Guide to Toronto and its surrounding regions largely maintained the status quo from last year, with no restaurants gaining or losing stars.
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restaurants → surround → stars
However, the biggest change in the 2026 guide is a new crop of recommended and Bib Gourmand restaurants, the former signifying a place that has no stars but is still worth dining at, and the latter being Michelin’s designation for getting a bang-for-your-buck meal.
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latter → recommend → meal
- Chris Nuttall-Smith,Karon Liu,Jake Edmiston,Angelyn Francis,Janet Hurley,Akrit Michael
Sure, the Michelin Guide’s top honours usually go to restaurants synonymous with stuffy, fine-dining that probably don’t match the tastes (or wallets) of the average diner, but there are some gems in its annual list that the Star’s own critics agree are worth checking out.
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critics → go → list
Here are seven spots from the Star’s Top 100 Under $100 guide that are also Michelin-approved.
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that → approve → guide
Cuisine: Canadian
Address: 81 Bay St., fourth floor (at Front St. in CIBC Square)
Technically it’s Aloette’s original location at 163 Spadina Ave. that held on to its Michelin recommended status from last year, but we’re counting it as an overlap with the Star’s praise for the Aloette that’s right across from the Scotiabank Arena.
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that → ’ → Arena
Our chief critic, Chris Nuttall-Smith, had this to say about his visit.
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critic → have → visit
“Aloette Mini Martini $10,” it reads.
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it → read → ?
Maybe you only came for the $29 pre-game burger, fries and beer special or for the superlative calamari fritti and a couple of snacks.
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you → come → snacks
Maybe it’s a splurgy steak you’re after (Aloette goes both low and high) or the best-in-show — best in any show, anywhere — lemon meringue pie.
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Aloette → ’ → show
It’s served on a gold tray, with an olive, a pickled onion and a lemon twist.
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It → serve → olive
It comes with a perfectly shucked half-shell oyster, also, on a miniature bowl of pebbled ice.
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It → come → ice
It’s an affordable actual luxury, which is pretty much the ethos of the place.
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which → ’ → place
That burger is excellent, the meat properly pink in its middle, deeply beefy, on a house-baked bun.
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meat → bake → bun
Sure, there’s a Dubai chocolate sundae for dessert, but the lemon meringue pie is the can’t-miss.
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pie → ’ → dessert
It is impossibly tall, silky and sunshiny sweet-sour; its torched meringues explode as you eat them, like mini campfire marshmallows, the perfect ending to a three- or four-mini-martini meal.
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you → torch → meal
It’s recommended by Michelin as well as Nuttall-Smith, who described it this way.
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who → recommend → it
The joy around this well-run little room is half the show: the after-work aperitivo-seekers and fresh-faced couples drinking sunny white wine by the glass, the pre-theatre quartets just happy to be some place nice.
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quartets → run → glass
Chef Roberto Marotta’s Sicilian cooking provides the other half and then some — it’s as close as you’ll find here to the flavours of southernmost Italy.
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you → provide → Italy
They seem understated at first, and then they take your breath away.
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they → seem → breath
Marotta’s pastas are exquisite: rich, sweet, deep-tomatoey, stracciatella-topped pomodoro sauce, say, on noodles he sources from Sicily, their manufacture so rigorously pre
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manufacture → top → Sicily
In cooking this simple (big asterisk there), ingredients mean a whole lot.
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ingredients → cook → lot
Or take the squid-ink-stained conchiglie special late this winter, tossed with pistachio-mint pesto, crunchy house sourdough pangrattato, and delicate, candy-sweet shrimp, the sort of dish you hope will never end.
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you → take → dish
For dessert, there’s house cannoli — they even make their own candied orange peel.
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they → ’ → peel
Cuisine: Fried chicken, American
Address: 2853 Dundas St. W. (at Keele St.)
While I wasn’t the one who wrote the entry for this Nashville-style hot chicken restaurant in the Junction, my tip is to go at least medium-hot for the best experience, provided you can tolerate at least three chilies from Salad King (unspicy hot chicken just feels wrong).
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chicken → fry → King
Also, go for the fried pickle slices as the side because the portions for that are huge.
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portions → go → that
The old-school vibes at this simple, celebrated Nashville hot chicken spot are hard to miss.
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vibes → miss → spot
The former diner space has ancient faux-wood panelling, a Formica counter, seen-better-days bar stools and Mulroney-era ceiling fans; it’s either charming or grotty, depending on your take.
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it → have → take
(We’re on team chotty.)
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We → ’re → chotty
The chicken, meantime, is dry-brined for juiciness and fried strictly to order.
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chicken → brine → juiciness
It comes crunchy, chili-stained, deeply seasoned and almost awkwardly juicy, in spice levels from none to mild to what the kitchen calls Hot AF.
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kitchen → come → what
(Medium is where most postpubescent mortals will start to feel the burn.)
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mortals → start → burn
You can get wings and tenders, also, in a variety of sauces.
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You → get → sauces
The chicken bites, for what it’s worth, are just OK: with bits that small, the batter starts to get in the way.
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batter → ’ → way
But Chica’s sandwiches, made from boneless thighs, are breathtakingly tasty, particularly the versions served on tender toasted brioche and topped with the creamy house slaw.
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sandwiches → make → slaw
The sides include skin-on waffle fries and freakishly delicious fried pickle slices.
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sides → include → fries
NB: fried-to-order whole chicken pieces can’t be rushed; order ahead or be prepared to wait.
Cuisine: Caribbean, International
Address: 838 College St. (at Ossington Ave.)
Below is my review from when I visited the Bib Gourmand-endorsed Conejo Negro earlier this year with a colleague.
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I → fry → colleague
The one thing I would add is to make a reservation because walk-ins were getting turned away by the time we finished our meal.
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we → add → meal
The intimate front room is pure date night, with flickering tea lights just barely illuminating tables for two.
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lights → flicker → two
But walk through the hidden hallway to the rear dining room and it’s brighter, more casual, fitting for after-work drinks and a dinner hang.
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it → walk → drinks
Either way, the Caribbean, Latin and Creole menu, with its blackened fish, jerk chicken and mango-sweetened ceviche, unifies the spaces: familiar favourites sized for sharing.
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menu → blacken → sharing
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
