The Ottawa Citizen’s Best Bites of 2022

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Picking my favourite dishes of 2022 turned out to be a harder exercise than in recent years, because this year, something resembling normal life resumed.

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While we began 2022 in the grip of Omicron, and then Ottawa’s downtown restaurants (and residents) were hit by the “Freedom Convoy” occupation, dining rooms eventually reopened, capacity limits disappeared and masks became optional.

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At that point, although COVID-19 did not and still has not disappeared, I and many others ate inside restaurants with renewed enthusiasm. Indeed, I ate better, period, in 2022 than in the past two pandemic years.

Below are my faves in a dozen categories, which include more ties and honourable mentions than usual, to reflect the bounty on my plates.

But first, a few caveats. My selections are not the absolute tops in Ottawa in their categories, but they are drawn from the several dozen eateries I visited this year. Second, the dishes, as good as they were, are not full-on endorsements of the restaurants that made them. Finally, some seasonal or even momentary items left menus long ago.

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Best breakfast and brunch:

I wish I could bound downstairs each morning and find the creamy, meaty, crunchy, salty, sweet goodness of Tirweka’s fatteh with beef on my table.
Honourable mention: Brunch at Grey Jay Hospitality, which sadly is to close at the end of 2022.

Best appetizer:

I visited Korean House three times this fall and each time I could not resist starting with its perfectly executed and massive seafood pancake.
Honourable mentions: Flank steak anticuchos at Raphael Peruvian Cuisine, devilled eggs at Parlour, smoked roe at Stolen Goods Cocktail Bar

Best rice dish:

It’s a tie between the divine duck biryani at the poshly renovated Coconut Lagoon and the humble yet irresistible nasi goreng at Djakarta Taste, a hole-in-the-wall in Gatineau’s Hull sector.
Honourable mentions: The paella at Cadena Restaurant & Tapas Bar and the bibimbap at Korea House.

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Best sandwich:

Either quintessential Vietnamese (the grilled pork banh mi in a perfect baguette from Banh Mi Yes) or a must-eat from Nashville (the chicken sandwich from Holly’s Hot Chicken).

Best pizza:

I declare another tie, this time between the direct and earthy indulgence of Retro Gusto’s butter-poached mushroom pizza and the more diverse and surprising vegetarian pizza at Lil Z, which loaded its zucchini, ricotta, garlic, red onion, chili flakes and more on an everything-bagel crust

Best soup:

During a year when Ottawa raised its ramen game, my biggest soup craving was Ramen Isshin’s chicken ramen.
Honourable mentions: the Beast Ramen, and ongoing project at Paper Tiger Noodle Bar, and the crab ramen at the now shuttered Akachan.

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Best fish or seafood:

For inventiveness and commitment, my nod goes to the seafood charcuterie at Le Poisson Bleu.
Honourable mention: Chili crab at Dhruvees.

Best poultry:

At Perch on Preston Street, a slab of duck breast, koji-aged, seaweed-wrapped and then roasted, was a refined, contemporary hit – and that’s not to mention the red wine sauce, caramelized beets, sauerkraut croquette, confit salsify, charred scallion and pickled pearl onion on chef Justin Champagne-Lagarde’s plate.
Honourable mentions: the multi-course Peking duck splurge at Peking Duck and the rustic but delicious charcoal-grilled chicken at Safari Grill.

Best red meat:

At L’Orée du Bois in Chelsea, they’ve perfected red deer medallions cooked over the backyard fire. Also, the pork belly carapulcra at Raphael Peruvian Cuisine will have you pondering a trip to Lima.
Honourable mentions: Two unique-in-Ottawa dishes, the lamb rendang at Dhruvees and the Iskender kebab at Iskender Doner Kebab House.

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Best dessert:

The Ottawa-Brest served at Cocotte Bistro in the Metcalfe Hotel was a luscious riff on the classic Paris-Brest dessert.

Best cocktails:

The ingenious, cutting-edge concoctions at Stolen Goods Cocktail Bar, and not only its drink inspired by Ottawa shawarmas and garlic sauce.

Where to find Peter Hum’s favourite dishes of 2022: 

Banh Mi Yes
Cadena Restaurant & Tapas Bar
Coconut Lagoon
Cocotte Bistro
Dhuvees
Gray Jay Hospitality
Holly’s Hot Chicken
Iskender Doner Kebab House
Korean House
Le Poisson Bleu
L’Orée du Bois
Parlour
Paper Tiger Noodle Bar
Peking Duck
Perch
Ramen Isshin
Raphael Peruvian Cuisine
Safari Grill
Stolen Goods Cocktail Bar
Tirweka