Winnipeg’s food scene has always punched well above its weight, and that trend continues. The city currently has three restaurants on the Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants (C100) list, while many of our charming rooms have recently received national accolades.
Here's what's hot right now in Winnipeg to accompany your next business event.
Super popular new spots
Chef Renée Girard, who was singled out by The Globe and Mail in 2019 as one of Canada's next top chefs, finally has a space to call her own. Named after her beloved grandmother, Shirley’s (135 Osborne) dazzles with a tight menu that runs from unexpected dishes like perhaps the city's best fries (brined before frying and served with a mussel aioli), to handmade pastas that will have your table singing their al dente praises. Reservations are a must for the dining room, while the walk-in only bar top also serves colourful craft cocktails and the best martini in town.
Right next door, the team behind Clementine — which was the only brunch restaurant on the Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants guide (2024) — has opened the equally popular Baby Baby (137 Osborne St; no reservations, so show up early or put your name at the door). People who grew up in the 90s will love the restaurant’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness aesthetic, while owners chef Chris Gama and Raya Konrad have assembled a talented kitchen headed by culinary power couple Daly Gyles and Nick Gladu, who have plenty of big-name experience in London, UK and Vancouver, BC. Best of all, these two new rave-worthy spots feature an adjoining courtyard-style patio — the hottest spot to dine this summer.
For a relaxed spot with just the right amount of elegance, check out Né de Loup (1670 Corydon Ave), a French restaurant by acclaimed chef Scott Bagshaw. The small room (which once housed his flagship restaurant Enoteca) has been redesigned as ode to Parisian bistros with textured booths and ruffled half curtains––a fitting setting for dishes likea sensational torched baby gem salad, alongside Bagshaw classics like beef tartare with foie gras, and fried chicken with crème fraîche and caviar.
If you’re looking for the city’s newest authentic Japanese spot, Isekai Ramen (1039 Cathedral Ave) will bring you to a whole ‘other world.’ It’s by Yasuko and Takekuni Akimoto, who previously created a devout following with their whimsical yōshoku restaurant Dwarf no Cachette. After briefly returning to their home city of Tokyo for inspiration, the couple’s newest venture has been packing its castle/RPG-themed setting with ramen-focused dishes destined for your Instagram.
The newest live music and barbecue joint in town is Belle’s Kitchen + Music Hall (1212 Nairn Ave), which has been packing in crowds since opening in late-2024. It's by local family operation Princess Auto Group––whose culinary portfolio includes Empty Cup Collective, La Belle Baguette, and Trans Canada Brewing––offering fast counter service featuring a Southern menu of smoked meats and sides, along with plenty of local beer and worldly whisky options. There’s live music every night, too.
National acclaim
Canada's 100 Best Restaurants
Chef Mandel Hitzer’s deer + almond keeps climbing the C100, currently sitting at #34. The chef, who was also award the 2025 Community Leadership Award from the publication, has put the city on the international culinary map with both this playful tasting menu restaurant and his famed RAW:almond winter pop-up. RAW:almond itself is one of Canada’s most internationally noted dining experiences, as Hitzer brings some of North America’s chefs to Winnipeg to cook multicourse meals set on the frozen Assiniboine, all in an incredible structure that changes every year from co-founder, architect Joe Kalturnyk.
Yujiro Japanese Restaurant continues to prove that the Prairies can reel in acclaim for sushi, with the River Heights room moving up 27-spots to #65. Run by chef Ed Lam, Yujiro is equally known for its ramen at lunch, while they also have a fast casual spot in Hargrave Street Market.
Saint-Boniface’s Nola, which was previously named by The Globe and Mail as the #1 new culinary concept on the Prairies in 2022, made its first C100 appearance at #86. Here, dishes come courtesy of celebrated chef Emily Butcher, whose cooking CV includes winning bronze at the Canadian Culinary Championships in 2020 and making an impressive run on television's Top Chef Canada the following year.
And that’s just on the C100, which last year also included Clementine, as mentioned above.
Air Canada's best new restaurants
In 2024, the dual concept Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch was the 10th best new restaurant according to Air Canada, a major coup for a counter service restaurant –– but no surprise to Winnipeggers, as everything at this pastry, fresh pasta and sandwich shop will blow your tastebuds away.
The year before, Petit Socco took the #5 spot, the highest-ever placement for a Winnipeg restaurant. The intimate two-person operation by chef Adam Donnelly (formerly of Segovia and Clementine) and Courtney Molaro seats just 10- to 14 dinners, offering a new Mediterranean-influenced prix fixe four-course menu every week. Given its tiny size and national acclaim, be sure to make your dinner reservations one month out, which is when tables open up on Tock.
