OpenTable is a site that helps you book a reservation at that restaurant you really want to try out, but they’ve also been keeping track of what sort of food is popular in Ottawa, not to mention other major Canadian cities, and the results for Ottawa may surprise you.
It’s no surprise that Canadian restaurants are diverse, with over 136 different styles of cuisine represented on OpenTable’s booking service, which is astounding considering there are 195 countries on earth, and some have a lot of culinary overlap.
Matt Davis, the Country Director for OpenTable believes that Canadians are getting more adventurous with their tastebuds. Davis says, “Canada’s cultural diversity is one of the country’s greatest assets, and it’s incredible to see the impact to the already-rich culinary mosaic.”
Ottawa has 35 different types of cuisine represented on the OpenTable app, not as many as Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal, which each has over 50, but a respectable number, nonetheless. In the nation’s capital, the French-English diversity that has always made our region unique also represents the popular cuisines when it comes to the food scene.
If you plan to head out to a French-American restaurant in Ottawa, make sure to reserve a table in advance. Bookings for the enormously popular cuisine rose by 503% as compared to pre-pandemic (2019) numbers. And who can blame us for wanting some Quebecois culture when we have restaurants like Gitanes on Elgin Street to go to.
Italian food is the next most popular cuisine for residents of the nation’s capital, with a 19% increase in bookings since pre-pandemic 2019 and Ottawa has some great options like North and Navy. This swanky Italian restaurant in Centretown locally sources ingredients to create Northern-Italian classic dishes.
Toronto seems to be following a similar trend, with Persian food taking the cake across the city for reservations, and contemporary French food coming in second.
Canadians from coast to coast are also getting more in touch with their British roots. English food seems to be the quickest growing trend, with reservations nationwide leading the pack with an 89% jump.
Thai, Mexican food and Middle Eastern food are also taking top spots, and have tasty dishes from Pad Thai to burritos and kebabs. Ottawa has a variety of options and it’s also the shawarma capital of North America!
Ottawa wouldn’t be Ottawa without Indian food, and if you haven’t been to an excellent sit-down Indian restaurant before, then you should consider trying Vivaan on Preston Street in the heart of Little Italy. The restaurant cooks up delicious Indian street food, curries, and deserts.
To explore different cuisines you can download the OpenTable app for Apple ISO or Google Play and navigate to ‘cuisines’, then book a table and head out for a wonderful meal.
