NEW AND NOTABLE
The Western Fair District’s London Wine & Food Show returns from January 10 to 11, 2025. Who’s thirsty? Secure your tickets now and taste the difference! ldnwinefood.com
The winter version of London’s favourite restaurant festival, Londonlicious, returns from January 17 to February 9, 2025. londonlicious.ca
Some people are surprised to hear that when Heidi and Bill Vamvalis started Mykonos 50 years ago, it had been a fish and chip shop at the corner of Adelaide and Elias since 1951. In the mid-1980s I discovered Mykonos, and it immediately became one of my favourite restaurants. In those days, Mykonos had only a few tables at the entrance. We grew fond of the irrepressible and unpretentious proprietors, Heidi and Bill, and their hospitable staff. Our favourite menu items were crispy battered halibut and chips, pasticcio, moussaka and the theatrics of saganaki torched with flaming ouzo. Being hugged and feted by Heidi, having our coffee grounds intuitively divined, and fortunes prophesized by an in-house coffee reader was an added inducement. To this day, I enjoy Mykonos, and we especially love it when Ell is on hand to read our coffee grounds.
Jess Jazey-Spoelstra, owner of North Moore Catering and co-owner of Craft Farmacy and the soon-to-open Los Olivos, has opened another new restaurant, Bear and Frankie’s in Covent Garden Market. Most recently Olive R. Twists, the space was initially occupied by Chauncey Smith’s, the brainchild of serial restaurateur Mike Smith.
Chaunceys was just one part of the Mike Smith empire. Smith is tongue-in-cheek on the surface (his corporate umbrella motto: “Is this any way to run a restaurant?”), but he is seriously committed to the local hospitality scene. Smith owns the venerable Joe Kool’s restaurant and bar, the irreverent, popular landmark on Richmond Row (“celebrating 40 years of mediocrity”), Fellini Koolini’s (which pays homage to the surreal Italian film director and screenwriter), The Runt Club and Toboggan Brewing Co., where craft beers are brewed below the floors of the restaurant. The brewpub’s 519 Kitchen features a large wood-burning oven and BBQ smoker, and there is an enviable rooftop patio overlooking Richmond Street. tobogganbrewing.com
We are saddened to report that Mike William George Smith (known affectionately as Smitty), passed away in November. Smitty was born and raised in London and worked within Joe Kool’s group of restaurants for 35 years as Executive Chef.
Mike “Smitty” Smith
Photo by Alesia Robles, Forest City Cookbook
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
Restaurants Canada celebrated a significant victory for the food service industry when the federal government announced a temporary GST and HST holiday on all restaurant meals, among other goods, from December 14, 2024, to February 15, 2025. The initial proposal for a GST holiday excluded the hospitality sector, which would have put restaurants at a significant disadvantage compared to prepared foods from grocery stores, an important competitor of restaurants, according to Restaurant Canada. “The hospitality industry would not have been included if it hadn’t been for the months of pressure and impactful advocacy we have been putting on the federal government to provide accurate and meaningful relief to food service businesses. The inclusion of alcohol in the tax holiday was also not guaranteed and is a significant boon to our industry.”
Restaurants Canada’s Chief Economist estimates this move could boost foodservice sales by nearly a billion dollars over the two-month tax break. “The initiative’s timing is critical, aligning with a typically challenging time for restaurants. On average, January and February sales are more than 10% lower than other times of year, so giving Canadians a reason to go out in the cold of winter is an excellent support to our industry and increases the quality of Canadians’ day-to-day lives.”
Toboggan Brewing Co.
Fanshawe College is initiating the suspension of multiple program intakes, with new student enrollment to cease as soon as the winter semester. Although the College has not made a public announcement regarding which specific programs will be affected, sources from the Interrobang (the official Fanshawe College newspaper, published by the Fanshawe Student Union) indicate that 15 level-one programs within the School of Tourism, Hospitality & Culinary Arts (THCA), located at Fanshawe’s downtown campus, are likely to be phased out by Winter 2026. For the upcoming Winter 2025 semester, the College has already suspended level one intakes for Food and Beverage Management, Hospitality and Tourism Operations, Event Planning, and Baking & Pastry Management, with additional suspensions anticipated.
The federal government has implemented new field of study requirements for Post-Graduate Work Permits (PGWP) as of November 1, 2024. These changes restrict approved programs to agriculture, healthcare, science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), and trades. As a result, several programs, such as Food Processing — Product Development, Golf & Club Management, and Food Processing — Operations, no longer meet PGWP eligibility criteria. In contrast, programs like Nutrition & Food Services and Professional Butchery Techniques remain approved.
BRYAN’S TASTING NOTES
Ironwood Kitchen and Bar’s menu, curated by Chef Nck Vialin and his skilled culinary team, focuses on locally and sustainably sourced ingredients that highlight the rich flavours of Southern Ontario. The menus feature small and large plates designed to promote a shareable culinary experience. ironwoodkitchenandbar.com
Reverie is an intimate restaurant offering an ever-changing multi-course tasting menu with curated biodynamic, natural wine pairings. Chef and owner Brian Sua-an and his wife Jerrah Reville operate Reverie and Saisha’s Patisserie
(classic French-inspired pastries, croissants, cakes and great coffee from Norway). Sua-an is staged at NOMA and 108 Restaurant in Copenhagen, and his focus at Reverie is inventive and intelligent cuisine based on simple, high-quality ingredients and traditional techniques. Everything else is secondary. By keeping things simple, from the pared-down equipment (dishes are hand-washed) to the minimalist interior, the environmental footprint is bare bones. The focus is on innovation and creativity in a casual, relaxed setting. reverierestaurant.ca
Chef and restaurateur Angela Murphy possesses a skillful grasp of the tenets of terroir and sustainability, and her cooking is flawless. With its farm-to-table philosophy and culinary repertoire, Grace Restaurant is a master class in modern Canadian cooking. The seasonally changing prix fixe dinner tasting menu is unique by London standards — something that few chefs/restaurateurs could execute with Murphy’s success— while maintaining a commitment to social responsibility and industry fairness. gracelondon.ca
Idlewyld Inn & Spa is a grand Victorian mansion at 36 Grand Avenue in a quiet Old South neighbourhood. In the Idlewyld restaurant, the passion for food translates into updated classic cuisine showcasing local and seasonal ingredients. The 70-seat dining room offers a striking menu of contemporary and traditional favourites, complemented by a curated selection of award-winning vintages, draughts and ales on tap. The elegant ambiance creates a welcome retreat for diners. idlewyldinn.com
London has several notable restaurants serving globally inspired immigrant cuisine from the African diaspora, notably Yaya’s Kitchen, a curated culinary space hosting weekly Afro-vegan dinners. Maryam and Malvin Wright provide an opportunity to delve into vegan culinary history within the Global Black Experience. yayaskitchen.ca
T.G. Haile of T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant is another skillful chef and longtime restaurateur at the top of her game. Her signature Ethiopian dishes include permutations of sweet, bitter, sour, salty, hot, and fragrant. Refined flavour contrasts are the hallmark of T.G.’s excellent cooking and superb palate.
OBSERVATIONS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS
As an ardent observer and practitioner of food culture in its innumerable forms — including food writing and criticism, restaurants, diners, home cooking, cookbooks, media and the unanticipated places where food and culture meet —
I’m interested in what gastronomy says about us and how it underpins the various ways we interact.
After five decades of working in the spectrum of restaurant and other culinary businesses, I continue to be inspired by innovative indie entrepreneurs who embrace building community engagement through food and drink experiences. It is a privilege to work with colleagues at something you feel passionate about while having a platform to be helpful and mentor others. After all, the restaurant business should be about hospitality and generosity of spirit.
Suppose an inexpensive meal in a restaurant is only attainable on the backs of workers toiling away in the kitchen without proper remuneration. In that case, you should patronize a restaurant that charges patrons enough to sustain employees with a living wage. Historically, there has been significant wage inequality and substantial occupational segregation by gender and ethnicity in the restaurant business. Everyone needs and is entitled to equal protection in the workplace and a living wage.
Many of us turn to online reviews for recommendations when deciding where to dine out. How would you react if you discovered that the sublime review you just read was written by an employee of the restaurant or by a reputation management consultant retained to post it, rather than by a genuine customer? Posting phony reviews can be part of a dedicated effort to boost ratings or compromise competitors. Some businesses encourage employees to write reviews, incentivize customers (financially and with discounts) to leave positive feedback, and even engage social media influencers to generate biased reviews and testimonials. Consumer reviews are often central to a diner’s decision-making process, as they typically trust that these reviews come from genuine sources. More than just someone else’s assessment of a restaurant is required for prospective diners to evaluate a restaurant. The natural way to do a restaurant justice is to eat there.
Despite evolving restaurant etiquette, lethargic customer service and unfriendly reservation policies are disappointing. I recently had a disagreeable experience in a restaurant when an oblivious and uncouth server asked one of my seated dining companions to move so he could fill a water glass instead of reaching around my guest.
On the other hand, attentive service fosters loyalty, leading to repeat business and positive word of mouth. Whenever I visit certain restaurants, I am reminded how much I dislike uninterested service, even if the food is excellent. Once you have worked in both a chef and server capacity, you understand the importance of viewing things from
different perspectives.
Looking back over 2024, no one misses those ambitious, impervious, self-absorbed, and over-priced restaurants with their complacent amateurism and culture of oblivious mediocrity.
Thank goodness the customer entitlement mentality has subsided, which was at an all-time high after COVID-19 and persisted for a while. Yet, it is still common practice for some
advantaged patrons to make unreasonable demands and post mean-spirited reviews, jeopardizing the livelihoods of many to feed their egos.
Some restaurants dare to add a luxury or ambiance tax to the customer’s bill. Another lamentable practice is to charge excessive debit and credit card use fees without prior agreement or acknowledgement on their menus.
Social media influencers are a prominent subset of digital content creators defined by followers, brand personalities, and relationships with corporate and commercial sponsors to promote conspicuous consumption. Despite widespread contrast in influencer practices across platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook, most influencers earn revenue by promoting branded goods, experiences and services to a large community of followers. There is a constant demand for social media influencers and culinary content creators to feed on new ideas that give them fresh sound bites and street cred. No reader wants influencers, reviewers or tourism boards to pile unrestrained acclaim on every restaurateur, chef, brewery, distillery or travel destination. The goal of any top ten list is its use as a marketing tool, and the conceit that every meal is seminal is tiresome, implausible and subjective.
I feel disillusioned when I read lazy listicles by writers who possess cursory knowledge but feel entitled to inflict unnecessary hyperbole on the rest of us. A credible reviewer or influencer can’t simply be a euphoric advocate, serving innocuous platitudes. We must remember that a thoughtful and intelligent negative review has its merits. We do not need to airbrush everything to make it more palatable to readers or visitors to our neck of the woods. •
Bryan Lavery has decades of experience as a food writer, chef, restaurateur, gourmet food retailer, caterer, consultant and award-winning tourism experience facilitator. He always champions local culinary heroes and operates Blackfriars Bistro, Blackfriars Emporio and Forest City Culinary Experiences.
