'Michelin Guide' awards its first stars in Canada to 13 Toronto restaurants

The Michelin Guide has announced its first stars in Canada.

The lauded brand awarded 13 Toronto restaurants stars on Tuesday, with a total of 74 restaurants included in the guide.

Twelve venues received one Michelin star and one, Sushi Masaki Saito, was lauded with two stars. Michelin recognised 17 restaurants in the Bib Gourmand category.

Toronto now has 13 Michelin-starred restaurants. Getty Images

There are several categories awarded by Michelin. One Michelin star is given to restaurants for “high-quality cooking that is worth a stop", two stars are given for “excellent cooking that is worth a detour" and three Michelin stars are given for “exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey". Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list refers to restaurants that provide “value-for-money three-course meals”, that is, venues where diners can enjoy several courses under a certain amount (which varies depending on a city’s cost of living).

While the Toronto guide spans 27 different types of cuisine, it has been criticised for focusing its search in central Toronto and primarily awarding restaurants that serve set or tasting menus.

In the list of Michelin-starred restaurants, there are five Japanese restaurants, four contemporary, two Italian, one French and one Mexican restaurant. The Bib Gourmand list includes four Mexican restaurants, two Italian restaurants and one representative of American, Middle Eastern, Asian, Spanish, Thai, Indian, contemporary, fusion, deli, gastropub, barbecue cuisines respectively.

Middle Eastern cuisine is represented by Fat Pashas, a restaurant with communal tables and a sharing concept. "Sharing is paramount here," says the guide. "Though on your own you could make a meal out of the salatim platter, which samples excellent dips like creamy hummus and smoky muhammara, fantastic falafel and grilled pita."

Vice News social media manager Evy Kwong tweeted her frustration that the Michelin inspectors had neglected large parts of the Greater Toronto Area, saying they had clearly "skipped all of Scarborough, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham and Chinatowns".

SJC Media publisher Ken Hunt said it was hard to criticise the list without "disparaging the many fine restaurants" that were recognised, but described it as a "deeply weird list".

Full list of Toronto's Michelin-starred restaurants:

Aburi Hana, Japanese/kaiseki cuisine — one star

Alo, contemporary cuisine — one star

Alobar Yorkville, French cuisine — one star

Don Alfonso 1890, Italian cuisine — one star

Enigma Yorkville, contemporary cuisine — one star

Edulis, contemporary cuisine — one star

Frilu, contemporary cuisine — one star

Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto, Japanese/kaiseki cuisine — one star

Osteria Giulia, Italian cuisine — one star

Quetzal, Mexican cuisine — one star

Shoushin, Japanese/sushi cuisine — one star

Yukashi, Japanese/kaiseki cuisine — one star

Sushi Masaki Saito, Japanese/sushi cuisine — two star

Full list of Toronto's Bib Gourmand restaurants:

The Ace, gastropub cuisine

Alma, Asian cuisine

Bar Raval, Spanish cuisine

Campechano, Mexican cuisine

Cherry St Bar-B-Que, Barbecue cuisine

Chica's Chicken, American cuisine

Enoteca Sociale, Italian cuisine

Fat Pasha, Middle Eastern cuisine

Favorites Thai, Thai cuisine

Fonda Balam, Mexican cuisine

Grey Gardens, contemporary cuisine

Indian Street Food Company, Indian cuisine

La Bartola, Mexican cuisine

Puerto Bravo, Mexican cuisine

R&D, fusion cuisine

SumiLicious Smoked Meat & Deli, deli cuisine

Wynona, Italian cuisine

In June, 11 restaurants in Dubai were awarded Michelin stars and this month, it was announced the guide is expanding its UAE reach to include Abu Dhabi in November.

Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai — in pictures

How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries

• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.

• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.

• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.

• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.

• For more information visit the library network's website.

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Company name: Nybl

Date started: November 2018

Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence

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Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)

Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up

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1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.

The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.

Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.

'Michelin Guide' awards its first stars in Canada to 13 Toronto restaurants

The list spans 74 restaurants and 27 cuisines, but has been criticised for a lack of diversity across neighbourhoods and menu styles

Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai — in pictures

How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries

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