The MICHELIN Guide selection in the Toronto area reflects the region’s diversity of cultures and talent, with distinctions handed out to casual local haunts and fine dining newcomers alike. The people leading these restaurants to international acclaim have honed their skills and passions over years. Four stood out to our Inspectors — the winners of this year’s MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region special awards.
Andrew Golden, the wunderkind pitmaster of Golden Horseshoe BBQ, studied barbecue in Texas and has grown his restaurant from a pop-up to a neighborhood favorite.
Sharon Chan of 156 ONEFIVESIX has created an exciting cocktail list that takes on Korean traditions.
In Collingwood, Eric Roell helps cultivate a nostalgic dinner party vibe at the front of house at LORE.
And in the financial district, Toni Weber studies the nuances of Restaurant 20 Victoria’s dishes to find the perfect wine pairings.
In interviews below, this year’s awardees share insight into the processes and philosophies that elevated them to the top of their fields.
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Young Chef Award winner: Andrew Golden of Golden Horseshoe BBQ.
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Young Chef Award winner: Andrew Golden of Golden Horseshoe BBQ
Andrew Golden, the owner and pitmaster at Golden Horseshoe BBQ in Seaton Village, became interested in Texas-style barbecue at a young age.
“I have clear memories of my father bringing home barbecue when I was a kid, sneaking downstairs, ripping open the butcher paper and having a midnight snack,” he says.
That he’s brought the smokey, juicy style of grilling up to frigid Toronto (see the restaurant’s Instagram page, where he shovels out his smoker from under six inches of snow) is a testament to his hard work and enthusiasm.
After learning the ropes at a classic barbecue spot outside of Dallas, Golden started Golden Horseshoe as a backyard pop-up with his mom, before moving it to its current brick-and-mortar location on Dupont Street. His cooking style and the menu — like Tex Mex-style charro beans simmered with bacon and pulled rib meat — draw inspiration from his time down south.
“Texas barbecue is fast, messy at times and very abstract. We cut and weigh the meat in view of the customer, something that screams Texas barbecue to me,” he says.
Texas barbecue platter. © Pat Ozols/Golden Horseshoe Barbecue
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Exceptional Cocktails Award winner: Sharon Chan of 156 ONEFIVESIX.
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Exceptional Cocktails Award winner: Sharon Chan of 156 ONEFIVESIX
The cocktail menu at 156 ONEFIVESIX, a Korean spot that reopened last year in Queen West, is filled with fun elements and preparations that take their cue from that country’s storied drinking traditions.
“Many of our cocktails are influenced by Korean ingredients and drinking culture, while still being approachable and familiar in style,” says Sharon Chan, the restaurant’s general manager and partner.
Chan started as a server at 156’s first iteration and developed an interest in cocktails in a turn working at the bar. Drinks like the Plum Somaek show her playful but elevated style. The cocktail is a riff on somaek, the popular Korean combination of soju and beer. At 156, ruby port and plum soju are mixed and finished with Sapporo Black beer, then topped with a chocolate beer foam.
“The goal was to create cocktails with distinctive flavors and personality, while keeping them balanced and food-friendly so they enhance what’s on the plate rather than compete with it,” she says.
Many of the cocktails at 156 ONEFIVESIX are influenced by Korean ingredients and drinking culture. © Daniel Neuhaus/156 ONEFIVESIX
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Service Award winner: Eric Roell of LORE.
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Service Award winner: Eric Roell of LORE
At LORE, two hours outside of Toronto in the bayside town of Collingwood, Eric Roell helps create a dinner service that feels like an evening at a friend’s home. The general manager teaches his staff to treat diners like a houseguest — greeting them at the door, guiding them through the space and never leaving them without something to eat or drink.
“Be attentive, generous and genuinely interested in them. Make them feel comfortable, make friends and give them a reason to want to come back to our house again,” Roell says.
The restaurant, from Chef Jeremy Austin, serves a tasting menu that pulls from the collective Canadian conscience, reinterpreting nostalgic dishes like poutine into foamy haute cuisine fantasies.
To help tell that story, the restaurant presents its menus inside cookbooks that belonged to Austin’s mother.
“LORE is rooted in stories, traditions and the ways recipes are passed from one generation to the next,” Roell says. “By presenting our menu through those books, we are adding our own chapter to that larger collection.”
With it’s welcoming dining room and nostalgic menu, LORE wants its diners to feel like houseguests. © Jeremy Austin/LORE
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Sommelier Award winner: Toni Weber of Restaurant 20 Victoria.
2026 MICHELIN Guide Toronto & Region Sommelier Award winner: Toni Weber of Restaurant 20 Victoria
When Toni Weber builds a wine pairing with the tasting menu at Restaurant 20 Victoria, she looks first to a dish’s sauce.
“[Chef Rafa Covarrubias’s] cuisine in particular is shaped by the sauces on the plate. They are incredibly layered and complex, and we have found that our best pairings are the ones that emphasize and amplify that complexity,” Weber says.
A recent duck course, served in a pool of sweet and smoky mole, led Weber to a Northern Rhone Syrah that complemented the flavors with its own roasted and fruit-forward notes.
“From a guest perspective, it hit that perfect, elusive point where the wine was made better by the dish and the dish was amplified by the wine,” she says.
Weber’s wine savvy and intimacy with the refined cooking coming out of 20 Victoria’s kitchen has produced a smart wine list that prizes depth over breadth. And as one of the city’s most treasured fine dining restaurants, big, celebratory appellations like Champagne and Burgundy often play a central role.
“We focus on styles and regions that we know will let the menu shine, and we prefer to invest in multiple perspectives from a smaller grouping of regions, as opposed to attempting to represent the entire world of fine wine,” she says.
The best wine pairings are the ones that emphasize and amplify the layers and complexity of Restaurant 20 Victoria’s dishes. © Scott Usheroff/Restaurant 20 Victoria | © Pat Ozols/Restaurant 20 Victoria
Hero image: The Winners of the 2026 Michelin Guide Toronto & Region Special Awards.
Written by
David Shortell
David Shortell is a contributing writer for The MICHELIN Guide, based in Mexico City. His news and travel reporting has appeared in publications including The New York Times, CNN, and Travel+Leisure.
Dining and Cooking