Winterlicious is still a few months away, but in the meantime, Canada’s biggest airport is making pre-flight meals a headline event. Throughout November, Pearson Airport is running Pearsonlicious, a culinary event meant to elevate your airport dining experience (if anything, the promo makes a pre-departure meal feel more like dinner at a fancy restaurant rather than a layover necessity).

 

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All month long, the dining promo offers a two-course menu plus a drink for $35 to $40 at 20 restaurants across Terminals 1 and 3.

Menus are grouped by terminal zone (T1 Domestic, T1 International, T1 Transborder, T3 International/Domestic and T3 Transborder), so you can choose what to eat based on where you’re departing. Each menu includes appetizer and entrée options, plus your drink (soft drink, juice, coffee or tea). If you’d like some booze, many spots also offer a $5 add-on to upgrade to beer or wine!

Here are a few sample menus to tempt your gate-area cravings:

• Lee Kitchen (T1 International): Dine on creative Asian and French-influenced dishes from Chef Susur Lee. The menu offers dim sum (3 pieces) or a chef salad, with mains like Pad Thai, Udon Noodle Soup (veg/chicken/beef), the Lee Burger, or a grilled teriyaki chicken sandwich, plus your drink. It’s $35 plus tax, with the option to add wine or Henderson’s IPA for $5.
• Boccone (T1 Domestic) offers burrata or Brussels sprouts and bacon to start, then truffle cavatappi, chicken paillard, or a hot honey pepperoni pizza, as well as your drink for $35 (beer/wine +$5).
• Caplansky’s Delicatessen (T3 International & Domestic) offers soup or a chef salad, as well as classics like a smoked meat sandwich, the Rubenesque, BBQ brisket on a bun, or a crispy chicken sandwich, with your drink. Henderson’s IPA or wine is a $5 add-on.
• Twist (T1 Domestic) offers a chef or Greek salad, with mains like mussels, beef curry, a vegan taco or a fried chicken sandwich (again, it’s $35 plus tax, with Henderson’s IPA or wine available for $5).

That’s just a taste. If travelling through Pearson this month, make sure to browse the full Pearsonlicious menu by terminal on Pearson’s website before heading over!

Clandestino Food & Drink is celebrating its anniversary in a very unconventional way. The Toronto restaurant, known for its globally inspired menu  is hosting a “Pay What You Want” event for its Grand Opening anniversary on Friday, Nov. 7.

 

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Here’s how it works: diners book the Date Night Package, enjoy a multi-course meal, and at the end, each guest is handed a single dollar bill and invited to pay whatever they want. Yes, you read that right: every diner receives a single-dollar bill at the end of their meal, and the rest is up to them.

The response on Instagram has been immediate. One couple, visiting with their newborn, praised the team for handling the baby’s fuss with grace while delivering a standout oyster dinner and a “best mocktail ever.” Other diners called it generous, inventive and a perfect introduction to the Clandestino ethos.

The Date Night Package kicks off with a mini charcuterie for two, followed by a rotating selection of appetizers like wagyu carpaccio, tuna sushi tower, Hokkaido scallops, sangria-braised pork belly, bison meatballs, and oven-baked bone marrow. Guests then choose any two mains, including wagyu tartare, and finish with a choice of desserts like tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake, chocolate mousse, lychee panna cotta, or affogato di café.

Chef Deso, whose culinary journey spans Italy, France, Spain, Japan, the U.S., and Canada, brings over 30 years of experience to the kitchen. A Level 3 Sommelier, he pairs international flavours with precision, balancing globally inspired plates with locally sourced ingredients. At Clandestino, the result is a menu that’s ever-evolving, deeply personal, and unmistakably crafted by a team that treats hospitality as an art.

The “Pay What You Want” event is one part celebration, one part invitation: a way for the restaurant to give back to its community while reminding diners why it has become a favourite  Toronto spot.

Clandestino Food & Drink is located at 1183 Dundas St. W. Reservations are recommended via their website, Instagram DMs, or email at [email protected].

One of Hong Kong’s most celebrated noodle shops has landed in the GTA! Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle is a Michelin Bib Gourmand pick in Hong Kong, and the brand opened its first international location in Markham. Kwan Kee is known for jook-sing (bamboo-pressed) noodles, a Cantonese style of egg noodle made the old-school way: a chef uses a thick bamboo pole to knead the rich dough in a seesaw motion before slicing springy strands.

 

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Kwan Kee’s technique emphasizes an egg-forward dough and careful kneading, instead of relying on strong alkaline agents. This ensures that the noodles maintain their elasticity and prevents any unpleasant aftertaste some alkaline noodles can have. The result is a snappy, sort of elastic bite and a clean, egg-forward flavour.

In Hong Kong, Kwan Kee’s market-stall shop in Cheung Sha Wan earned long-running Bib Gourmand recognition for these very noodles. And if you’ve never seen bamboo-pole noodle-making in person, the Markham location offers live, kneaded-dough noodle production right in front of customers, bringing a rarely seen Hong Kong culinary tradition to GTA diners!

The Markham menu leans into Kwan Kee’s greatest hits: shrimp wonton noodles, beef brisket noodle soup, dumpling lo mein, and “big bowl” combos packed with wontons, pork feet, brisket and fried fish skin. There are also tasty snacks like deep-fried wontons and flounder fish soup, as well as classic Hong Kong café drinks, like milk tea and soy milk (Soya Soy). For dessert, indulge in mango pomelo sago with grapefruit or green tea sago pudding.

If you’re in a hurry, take-home packs of dry and raw bamboo noodles, soup bases and sauces are also available, so you can recreate the Kwan Kee experience at home!

Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle is located at 9390 Woodbine Ave. (King Square) in Markham. Follow @kwankeecanada on Instagram for updates.

For years, smash burgers have ruled Toronto’s burger scene — the thin, crispy-edged patties
seared on a griddle and stacked in paper wrappers became the city’s go-to comfort bite. But
lately, there’s a new (well, old) shape on the horizon: the thick, juicy, knife-and-fork burger.
Even as Bobby Flay announces plans to open around 50 locations of his smash burger chain
across Canada, Toronto’s chefs seem to be quietly heading in the opposite direction — away from the smash and back toward the stack. Maybe the pendulum is swinging, maybe we just missed a little pink in the middle. Either way, here are nine thick-cut burgers proving the tide is turning.

Susie’s Rise & Dine

The Little Italy darling that made pancakes cool again has boldly entered its dinner era — and the new menu is a full-on must-try. Front and centre is the Cheeseburger Royale, a thick, dry-aged beef patty cooked perfectly rare in the middle, topped with charred white onion and a melt of American cheese. It’s served with a side of burger sauce for optimal dip control and stacked on a sesame-seed bun.

Matty’s Patty’s

Yes, Matty built his name on the smash. But his new Italian burger proves that he’s not afraid to change things up: a thick, seven ounce patty on brioche, cooked rare and buried under Rizzo’s House of Parm marinara with a mozzarella pull you can practically measure in metres. Even “the Matty” leans hefty — seven ounces of 100 per cent AAA beef, expressly cooked to medium (pink at the centre), with mustard sauce, American cheese, white onion and pickles.

Dotty’s

Tucked on Dupont and as walk-in-only as it gets, Dotty’s runs on a tiny hand-written menu and a very large reputation. The cheeseburger is a brisket-and-chuck blend, ground for tenderness, cooked to a blushing medium-rare and layered with both cheddar and American. The toppings are classic — mayo, ketchup, mustard, sliced pickles. No secret sauce, no pyrotechnics, just a proudly thick patty that tastes like the diner of your dreams, with vanilla soft serve or a brownie for curtain call.

Bear Steaks

From a backyard pop-up in 2021 to a College Street home (and a spot at The Well), Bear Steaks builds sandwiches on big-shouldered backs. The burger follows suit: a medium-rare chuck patty, American cheese, white onion and thick-cut pickles on a sesame bun, with sauce on the side for the purists.

Richmond Station

Downtown’s perennial pit stop gives the thick burger a proper brasserie dress code: pasture-raised beef, aged cheddar, pickled onions, beet chutney and garlic aioli flanked by
rosemary fries. If you prefer plants, the grilled-leek-and-chickpea number is just as substantial— a rarity in burgerland. Either way, this is a knife-and-fork tallboy that proves “refined” and “juicy” can be in the same sentence.

General Public

Geary’s glam-gritty newcomer reads like a high-end English pub crossed with an American
brasserie and powered by a steakhouse heart. The cheeseburger blends brisket and chuck with a sly thread of bone marrow, then sets it on a house-made McDonald’s-style bun slathered with Branston pickle and drenches it in a red Leicester sauce.

Atomic Burger

Leslieville’s retro-futurist diner goes big on design and bigger on beef. Think mid-century
modern curves, creamsicle orange dreams and burgers that stand tall on technique, not trend. While their staple thick cut Space Cadet burger speaks for itself, the real story is the method: in-house butchering, dry-aging and grinding before a griddle sear and a generous stack of fixings. This futuristic spot takes you on a trip to our future, big bites, bigger Jetsons vibes, and the biggest Flintstones appetite.

Rasa Burger

Their website says it loud: “WE DON’T SMASH.” After a decade of quiet cult status, Rasa has
proved the true testament of time. What’s the secret? The intensely unique Rasa burger featuring a black sesame bun with provolone, caramelized onions, kimchi, pickles, cabbage and gochujang aioli. It’s thick, juicy and deeply seasoned — less an homage to diner culture more a love letter to the burger as a proper composed dish. “Some burgers are born to be smashed—ours was born to stand tall” says their slogan. Consider us convinced.

There’s no shortage of buzz around Lai Wah Heen’s reopening, and with good reason: The iconic restaurant on the second floor of the Doubletree Restaurant has long been a Toronto institution, and renovations kept the doors closed for years.

Now under new management, Lai Wah Heen is reopened, and its dim sum game is stronger than ever. The three-decade history of the restaurant remains preserved, but modern updates take its legacy to the next level. Vincent Lin and his ownership group saw an opportunity when the doors shuttered and the original owners didn’t renew the lease in February 2023, and, knowing that Toronto has the largest Chinese population outside of Asia, decided to jump at the chance. After two years of renovations with materials sourced from around the world, he’s excited to unveil the updated Lai Wah Heen to the city.

“Guests can expect a fully reimagined space blending understated luxury with modern elegance — think opulent yet restrained interiors inspired by the sophistication of Shanghai and Hong Kong,” Lin says. “The design features contemporary touches like sleek furnishings, ambient lighting, and an atmosphere perfect for intimate dinners or lively dim sum brunches. It’s farm-to-table focused, sourcing from our very own organic Ontario farm for ultra-fresh ingredients. The result is a serene oasis in downtown Toronto’s hustle.”  

So far, Lin says, guests have flocked to try Lai Wah Heen’s unique dishes like koi-shaped dumplings and mozzarella-stuffed shrimp siu mai, alongside classics such as Guangzhou Chow Mein — a tower of crispy noodles with prawn, scallop, crab, and grouper — Peking Duck, Wok-Seared Canadian Prime Rib-Eye, and Sweet & Sour Lion’s Mane Fritters.

“We’ve preserved the legendary legacy — the New York Times once called it the ‘best dim sum in North America’  — by staying true to refined Cantonese roots,” Lin says. “Think white-tablecloth service and iconic dishes like Peking duck. The modern twist? Young chefs Heyden Sin and Huang Zhenging reimagine classics with dramatic presentations, local Canadian ingredients including Ontario farm produce, and innovative techniques. It’s heritage meets haute cuisine — traditional flavours, 2025 flair.” 

Lai Wah Heen is located on the second floor of the Doubletree Hotel at 108 Chestnut Street.