Restaurant 20 Victoria

On a quiet stretch of downtown Toronto, Chef Julie Hyde is making her talents known in this tiny-but-mighty restaurant that captured the city’s heart the day it opened. Top-notch local produce, pristine seafood and refined sauce work make for a delicious trifecta on a seasonal tasting menu that boasts originality in spades. Recent highlights included smoked beets with oyster cream as well as grilled fish with beurre blanc and eel crumble. The dimly lit dining room is elegantly easy-going, as Hyde and her small team work with laser-like focus from a kitchen that’s simultaneously always in use and always pristine. Service mirrors the kitchen’s unpretentious approach, offering a warm, often jovial sense of hospitality that doesn’t miss a beat.

Female-led Michelin-starred kitchen

• Julie Hyde leads the kitchen, and Restaurant 20 Victoria is noted as the only Michelin-starred Toronto restaurant headed exclusively by a female chef.

No-tipping policy with service included

• The restaurant operates as a no-tipping establishment, with service included in the bill.

Dual dining formats: tasting menu in dining room vs. à-la-carte at the bar facing the open kitchen

• It offers a seven-course tasting menu in the dining room, while the bar seating facing the open kitchen provides an à-la-carte menu option.

Signature Ingredients

• Swordfish: A central element in Restaurant 20 Victoria’s tasting menu, featured in the Swordfish & Habanada course. The dish presents meaty swordfish crudo complemented by a creamy buttermilk sauce and a pungent habanada oil, underscoring the restaurant’s emphasis on pristine seafood and refined sauce work.
• Habanada oil: A distinctive oil used in the Swordfish & Habanada dish, contributing heat and aroma that highlight the kitchen’s precise, elevated approach to seafood flavors.
• Buttermilk sauce: The creamy adjunct for the swordfish, exemplifying the restaurant’s skill in crafting luminous, elegant sauces to elevate seafood courses.
• Striped Bass: Represented in the Striped Bass & Asparagus course, featuring NB striped bass gently cooked in butter with a chive and garlic sabayon, peppery chive flowers, and a tartar-like mustard/oyster component, illustrating the delicate seafood focus and sophisticated sauce pairings.
• Lobster: Central to the Lobster & Sweetbread course, using poached lobster in butter alongside cumin-spiced, battered veal sweetbreads and veal jus, showcasing luxurious seafood ingredients and complex flavor layering.