Sassafraz Restaurant
The one time celebrity hot spot turned smoldering pile of ashes has returned. Located in the heart of Yorkville, this is a fine dining establishment that offers a vast array of delectable dishes and a beautiful interior design. Items like ricotta gnocchi in herb cream, chanterelle mushrooms and shaved winter truffles are sure to satisfy even the most difficult and finicky foodie…yet, that’s not really what the restaurant is all about. This is the one dining establishment in town that is guaranteed to cater to the stars on a nightly basis. So if you can’t properly digest a meal unless you’re ogling a movie star at an adjacent table, this is the only restaurant in the city worthy of your consideration. -P.B.
Winterlicious Menu


Senses Restaurant
Built with the intention of pampering their previous loyal and well-heeled patrons (and of course attracting additional ones) and featuring a menu with a reasonable price range, Senses is designed with long-term relationships, not short-term profitability, in mind. Henry Wu owns the whole Senses chain, but the name that matters to average diners, however, is new Chef Patrick Lin who has reinvented his predecessor's menu for a full sensual experience. The 36-seat dining room is done in pale and light, clean tones. The whole space (the restaurant and entire hotel) was created by local firm Urban Innovations. Senses will surely be packed before every performance at Roy Thompson Hall and it plans on doing a brisk post performance cocktail service as well. So get to your “senses” and make a reservation today. Bad pun…totally worth it. – J.R.
Winterlicious Menu


Spice Room & Chutney Bar
Yorkville is a-buzz with the opening of Greg Couillard's 43-seat Spice Room & Chutney Bar located within the new Manyata Courtyard Café. Primed as a private dining room, the Spice Room presents edible masterpieces executed by the ever transient Executive Chef Couillard, while chef David Ng'Ang'a, his former kitchen accomplice at Habitat, will prepare exotic cuisine for the adventurous palette at Manyata. It’s certainly an exciting culinary experience, but be sure to take the title seriously. This is not a restaurant for the Pepto-Bismol crowd. This is for spicy connoisseurs only. Beware. - E.J.
Winterlicious Menu


Thuet Bistro Bakery
Thuet Bistro Bakery is the first solo project from Marc Thuet - a fourth-generation chef from Alsace, France - who has honed his culinary skills over many years working for a variety of venues, globally and locally. While the decor has a hotel-ish innocence, it does nothing to frame the excellent French cuisine of the seasoned chef. With Thuet Cuisine, chef has found his utopia, which is to say each plate is as intricate and well prepared as humanly possible (with some dishes extending to inhuman levels). All the more credit belongs to the chef, who keeps the flavours strong and pure yet is not afraid to throw in a few Alsatian tricks to show what’s spectacular about the cuisine. A meal at Thuet Cuisine goes along at a leisurely pace (in epic proportions!), so be warned: a four-course meal, interspersed with champagne sorbets, you’re in there for three hours and onward. Going the Degustation (blind tasting) route? Add another hour. These are good, well-spent hours, as Thuet Cuisine is a restaurant to return to with alacrity. - B.J.
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Truffles
Located in the Four Seasons Hotel, Truffles stands as the only Triple A restaurant in Toronto. Fine service paired with even finer food, Truffles is a world-class experience to be reckoned with. Note: For best enjoyment, do not precede this meal by a trip to McDonalds. It’s not quite the same.– A.C.
Winterlicious Menu