06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
No. 1 in Canada: Niagara restaurant wins coveted top spot on country's top-100 list
Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson didn't open Restaurant Pearl Morissette with the intention of becoming the best restaurant in the country.
Or at least, not exactly.
When they opened the doors to their Jordan Station dining room in 2017, the idea of being named the best restaurant in Canada and earning Michelin stars felt more like a distant ambition than a concrete goal — a necessary motivator in a challenging business often considered novel.
And though they did not sit around talking about it every day, 'it would be false to say that there isn't that hope.'
'We want to really push ourselves and we want to be really creative, and we want to be a better partner for the community that we work with,' said Hadida.
'It's an outcome — it's not a purpose, but it's a useful thing to push against.'
Nevertheless, it became a goal achieved.
After several years bouncing around the top 10 of the best restaurants in Canada list,
Restaurant Pearl Morissette
earned the coveted No. 1 spot on the
Canada's 100 Best
restaurants in 2025.
St. Catharines Fat Rabbit also earned a spot on the list at No. 97.
1. Restaurant Pearl Morissette — Jordan Station, ON
2. Mon Lapin — Montreal, QC
3. Alo — Toronto, ON
4. Edulis — Toronto, ON
5. 20 Victoria — Toronto, ON
6. Eight — Calgary, AB
7. Beba — Montreal, QC
8. Quetzal — Toronto, ON
9. Published on Main — Vancouver, BC
10. AnnaLena — Vancouver, BC
The announcement was made at Canada's Best 100 magazine event Monday evening — an annual celebration honouring Canada's best newcomers, iconic establishments and celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of Canada's culinary scene.
In an interview ahead of the ceremony, Hadida and Robertson said they don't fully understand the significance of an honour like this, but for them, 'the morale that comes from it is really the best part.'
'Especially because we're rurally located. We're in the middle of a very small, little town that is literally a one-street town, so that's definitely a cool thing,' said Hadida. 'I just felt quite excited and proud of, and for, the team as a whole.'
The top 100 list is decided by 160 judges and the support for Restaurant Pearl Morissette was 'overwhelming,' said Jacob Richler, editor-in-chief and publisher of Canada's 100 Best. Since the day it opened, the restaurant has always been good, but Richler said it has only got better upon each visit.
It has now reached a point where the quality of every ingredient on the plate is 'superb' and the experience feels more relaxed. 'They're just doing delicious, wonderful things and people responded to that.'
'They're doing a brilliant job. They're super passionate about what they do. I couldn't be more pleased also to have a place that so emphatically puts its little part of Canada on the plate so recognizably,' said Richler.
'It doesn't happen very often where you go to a restaurant and you think, 'Wow this place is just hitting it out of the park right now.''
Scallop, daikon, apple, shiso Restaurant Pearl Morissette.
And in a year when Canadians are looking to stay local and travel within the country's own borders, 'it's great to be able to promote not just RPM, but so many restaurants across the country that are doing a wonderful job of expressing their region in their food and in their experience,' he said.
The Jordan Station restaurant now exists as an 'extremely evolved and refined version of what we initially set out do,' said Hadida. Its carte blanche menu is rooted in a holistic approach — one which embraces regenerative practices and processes, partnerships with regional purveyors and food and wine that reflects the local ecosystem and land.
But in the beginning, Pearl Morisette was a winery and farm, featuring about 60 pigs, 15 cattle, ducks and chickens raised on pasture. Hadida assisted with special food events, before suggesting an on-site restaurant.
Robertson came on as a partner — later joined by gardener, forager and florist Deidre Fraser — and Hadida credits him for his encouragement to be ambitious and take risks. It was those relationships which helped hone the vision for Restaurant Pearl Morissette, ultimately forming the building blocks of the Michelin-starred, fine dining tasting experience on the Niagara Greenbelt.
A Nightshade Vesper cocktail at Restaurant Pearl Morissette.
After Restaurant Pearl Morissette won best new restaurant, it shifted the goalposts, building out its offerings to give diners 'an unforgettable experience that hopefully they will come back to for years and years,' said Robertson.
Then the pandemic hit and for an 'esoteric, niche business in a novel location with a lot of expectations,' the restaurant showed its resiliency. Hadida said it farmed and preserved ingredients, supported vulnerable communities across Niagara and eventually evolved into an outdoor dining project over three summers.
It did what it had to do to stay relevant, but Robertson and Hadida wanted to return the restaurant to its roots, cut down the work day and 'really focus and refine and push the level of what we were trying to execute with the restaurant.'
'Being in that point of reckoning effectively and having to decide, OK, everything that brought us here, what do we want to carry with us and what do we want to let go of? I'm super proud of the decision we made during that time and where it's led us to now,' said Hadida.
For Robertson and Hadida, Restaurant Pearl Morissette was always about highlighting distinctive ingredients of Niagara and Ontario and with their own experiences in top kitchens around the world, and never saw Canada as playing catch-up.
Daniel Hadida, left, and Eric Robertson, co-chef and co-owner of Restaurant Pearl Morissette, are photographed in Jordan.
'You don't have to put France, Italy and Japan on these pedestals of great food region. They are deserved (but) we have equally great ingredients and farmers and growers here in Canada,' said Robertson.
'We really wanted to have a spot where we could showcase that … I hope that we can provide a little bit of a blueprint (for young chefs and cook) moving forward.'
After learning the news their restaurant had earned the top ranking, there was a moment of celebration between Robertson and Hadida, with hugs and high-fives before getting back to work. Excitement will continue as the chefs enjoy the moment with their collective team.
But Robertson said it was on the ride home that first evening when the achievement 'really sunk in.'
'We are in a place now where we're representing this style of cooking, or this level of dining and restaurant experience in Canada. And with that, there's a little bit of responsibility to uphold the level that we're working at,' he said.
'It's motivating to just continue to push.'
