Top restaurant lists for 2012!

Part of my obsession with restaurants all started when a friend in London told me about her dream to eat at 40 of the World's 50 best restaurants by the time she's 40. She then proceeded to introduce me to the San Pellegrino top 100 restaurants list. And I was hooked.

I've only had the chance to eat at one of the restaurants on the San Pellegrino list (Chateaubriand, in Paris), but was amazed at how varied the list actually is in terms of style and price points for the various restaurants. This isn't the Michelin starred restaurants that all cost an arm and a leg...there are some actually accessible restaurants on this list! In the last few weeks, the new list came out for The Worlds' top 50 restaurants for 2012...check it out here.

When I moved back to Toronto in 2009, I started looking for a 'best of Toronto' restaurant list, given that none of the Toronto restaurants make the SP list. That's when I found Joanne Kates' top 100 restaurants in Toronto list. Perusing it, I realized a bunch of my favourite restaurants were on her list in 2010...so I figured we might have similar criteria, and started to make my way through it. I found her 2012 list as well today, take a look here.

I was in Toronto for a quick weekend getaway to visit friends and have fun, and managed to visit two of the establishments on the list...one of my all time favourites, Starfish (#73), and Khao San Road (#30). I personally feel that Starfish is underrated, while Khao San Road is way way too high on the list...but they're both great meals. I also enjoyed my first bbq of the season...Cumbrae's ground beef and chef Chris' burger mastery hit the spot perfectly.

I'll keep you posted if I visit any of the restaurants on the San Pellegrino top 50 list...enjoy!