Food festivals, restaurant weeks and other culinary events in Ottawa and beyond are fantastic opportunities to try new foods, get new recipes, meet producers and learn from chefs. If you love food, don’t miss these gourmet gatherings in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais, Montreal and beyond!
Photo by frogses production on Unsplash.
Restaurant promotions
Typically, these events showcase a number of restaurants in one town, city or region. To participate, each restaurant offers something special—often a multi-course meal for a reduced price, but sometimes a dish featuring a particular ingredient. They can last anywhere from a weekend to a month. Check the websites below for the latest information on dates, menus and prices.
- Kingstonlicious: A bit different from most of the other restaurant events listed here, this Kingston promotion is a series of individual events at local restaurants from January through March.
- Winterlicious: In Toronto, restaurants offer deals on meals in late January/early February.
- NYC Restaurant Week: This New York City restaurant event has winter and summer editions.
- Montréal en Lumière: While not solely a food festival, this multidimensional event in late February/early March has a large gastronomy program featuring local restaurants.
- Countylicious: This Prince Edward County event usually takes place twice a year, in April and November.
- Taste Ottawa: This event runs in May, at the same time as the Canadian Tulip Festival.
- Summerlicious: This is the July version of Toronto’s Winterlicious restaurant promo.
- MTLàTABLE: Not surprisingly for such a foodie town, Montreal’s November restaurant festival is usually a large and diverse affair.
Food and beverage festivals and events
These might focus on a particular product, a food category or a cooking method. I’ve included a few that are quite a drive from Ottawa because they have a unique theme, such as butter tarts or cranberries. Those might be fun to plan a longer road trip around!
- First Fridays food truck festival: Olympic Park, Montreal, first Friday of each month from June 2 to October 6, 2023.
- Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival: Midland, June 10, 2023.
- Vegans Who Snack Food Festival: Parkdale Market, Ottawa, June 16, 2023.
- Niagara Grape and Wine Festival: St. Catharines and area, June 16 to 18, and June 23 to 25, 2023.
- Toronto Food Truck Festival: Woodbine Park, Ottawa, August 4 to 7, 2023.
- JerkFest Toronto: Centennial Park, Etobicoke, August 10 to 13, 2023.
- Pickering Food Truck Festival: Esplanade Park, Pickering, August 11 to 13, 2023.
- Perth Lions Garlic Festival: Perth Fairgrounds, August 12 and 13, 2023.
- The Chef’s Table: A farm-to-table feast, Ottawa: National Arts Centre, select Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, August 10 to September 9, 2023.
- Athens Cornfest: August 19, 2023.
- Fête des Vendages, Magog, Quebec: September 2 to 4, and September 9 and 10, 2023.
- Canada’s Great Kitchen Party, Ottawa: Fairmont Chateau Laurier, September 21, 2023.
- Bala Cranberry Festival: October 13 to 15, 2023.
- La Grande Dégustation de Montréal: October 19 to 21, 2023.
- Orleans Cork & Fork Festival: November 2 to 4, 2023.
- Crave Food and Wine Festival: Shaw Centre, Ottawa, November 10 and 11, 2023.
- Canadian Culinary Championship: Ottawa, February 2 and 3, 2024.
- Corks & Forks wine festival: Kingston, April.
- Festival of the Maples: Perth, April 27, 2024.
- Rib festivals: There are so many of these that I’ve created a separate rib festivals post.
- Poutine festivals: Likewise, here’s a big roundup of local poutine celebrations.
- Beer festivals: Here’s my list of more than a dozen beer festivals and Oktoberfests.
Looking for more tips on things to see and do in Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais, northern New York state and beyond? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or order a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your Weekend Getaway Guide.
As the owner of Ottawa Road Trips, I acknowledge that I live on, work in and travel through the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg Nation. I am grateful to have the opportunity to be present on this land. Ottawa Road Trips supports Water First, a non-profit organization that helps address water challenges in Indigenous communities in Canada through education, training and meaningful collaboration.
