Where to eat in Ottawa. Seriously good.

Antheia

Chef-owner Briana Kim, a Canadian Culinary Championships winner, serves a nine-course vegetarian tasting menu built on fermentation. The flavours are so deep and savoury that you'll forget there's no meat. Think house-made sesame tofu with seaweed mole, or beets blackened in ancho paste.

It's one of Canada's 100 Best Restaurants, and one of the most original meals you'll have anywhere in the country.

Go for: A special night out, and to see what vegetables can really do. Don't skip the house-made non-alcoholic pairing.

Atelier

Ottawa's original modernist tasting menu, and still its most theatrical. Led by a Canadian Culinary Championships winner, Atelier serves a seven-course menu over about three hours where the line between cooking and art gets very blurry. Expect surprises on every plate.

Go for: Anniversaries, birthdays, or any night you want a meal to feel like an event.

Supply and Demand

The neighbourhood restaurant every city wishes it had. Chef Steven Wall runs a lively food and raw bar with oysters, crudo, fresh pastas and shareable plates, all coming out of an open kitchen. It's warm, busy and consistently excellent.

Go for: Oysters and a glass of wine at the bar, and the famous fried Brussels sprouts.

Gitanes

French cooking with a Montreal accent, served in a lovely historic building on Elgin Street. Chef Mitch Lacombe leans into classical technique, whole-animal butchery and bold, generous flavours. It's polished without being stuffy, and nobody leaves hungry.

Go for: A seat at the chef's counter if you can get one.

1 Elgin

The National Arts Centre's restaurant sits right on the Rideau Canal, a short walk from Parliament. It serves seasonal, contemporary Canadian cooking with local ingredients, and it's the easy answer for dinner before a show.

Go for: A pre-show dinner, or a lunch break between sightseeing stops. Reservations recommended.

Stofa

"Stofa" is Norse for hearth, and that's the feeling here. Chef-owner Jason Sawision calls it approachable fine dining: creative, beautifully made food in a warm room that never takes itself too seriously. Choose three courses à la carte, or let the kitchen add two more.

Go for: A fine-dining meal that feels like dinner at a very talented friend's house.

Raphaël Peruvian Cuisine

Chef Lizardo Becerra brings Peru's coast, mountains and jungle to Elgin Street in a lush, green dining room. Start with the ceviche, then move on to dishes like ají panca–marinated suckling pig. It's refined, bright and full of flavour you won't find anywhere else in the city.

Go for: Ceviche and a pisco sour, just a few blocks from Parliament.