Restaurant Scene
Ottawa has a number of blessings that make for an interesting collection of restaurants. It has a strong immigrant community, it is home to many embassies, and its high-tech and civil service workforce are well-travelled, and exposed to many cuisines and culinary influences. His creates a demanding audience, attracting a number of innovative chefs and restaurateurs.
There are a number of areas that seem to attract more than their fair share of dining spots:
Byward market, eclectic Elgin Street, Bank Street & the Glebe, Preston
Streets' Corso Italia, and Somerset Heights' Asian corner.
Byward Market is known for its classic stone architecture and
turn-of-the-century wooden structures. There are many restaurants taking
advantage of the architecture and atmosphere in Ottawa's oldest neighbourhood.
The types of restaurants run from simple greasy spoons & bagel joints to very
toney restaurants serving the last blend of fusion cuisine.
The Downtown core, west of the Rideau Canal, has a number of restaurants that
cater to the office worker. Many are in office towers, and several are located in unique heritage
buildings that dot the area. The restaurants tend to be along the major
thoroughfares parallel to Wellington, or on the Sparks Street pedestrian mall.
Close to downtown, just west of the Canal, is the eclectic Elgin Street, which
runs from the NAC south to the Queensway. There are many restaurants and
boutiques in this neighbourhood, taking advantage of brick buildings that date
back to the 1910s and 20s. The area is residence to the city's arts communities,
being close to the core and very convenient to the city's two universities.
Also south of downtown, but a little further west, is the Bank Street and
Glebe area. While there are enough restaurants along the Bank Street Promenade
north of the Queensway, Bank Street's charm doesn't reach the peak of its
charm until it gets south of there. North of the Canal is the Glebe residential
area, and further south is the neighbourhoods of Riverside and nearer to Carleton
University.
Just north of Dow's lake and Carling is Preston Street, which is the heart of
Ottawa's Italian community. This neighbourhood has a number of Italian
restaurants, featuring various typical and unique Mediterranean dishes.
Somerset Heights is located on Somerset Street West, from Bay to Rochester
This is Ottawa's Asian village marketplace, with a great selection of
restaurants showcasing cuisine from China, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Hull (a specific subset of the larger regional municipality of "Gatineau")
is right across the river from downtown Ottawa, and is known for a number of interesting
heritage spaces, great French cuisine and wines and all the accoutrements that
go with that. The restaurants here cater to the many civil
servants working around Place du Portage by day, but by night they cater to the
businessmen, diplomats and other seekers of fine cuisine.
Use the pop-down list at upper-left to quickly find restaurants by cuisine. You can use the Restaurant Search Form to quickly filter the restaurants by community/neighbourhood AND by cuisine. You can even search by postal code, even by street to find all restaurants really close to you.
We appreciate your feedback and suggestions. Everyone can recommend a restaurant for our listings (please tell us why its "worthy") or you can
send us your themed Top 5 list!
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