Oakville restaurant named one of Canada’s top 100 places to dine

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Published May 31, 2022 at 11:39 am

Downtown Oakville restaurant Hexagon has been named one of Canada's 100 Best places to dine. FACEBOOK IMAGES

Oakville is home to one of Canada’s top restaurants.

Hexagon, located in downtown Oakville on 210 Lakeshore Rd. E., has been named one of the country’s best places to dine in 2022 by Canada’s 100 Best magazine.

The upscale Oakville restaurant placed 42nd in the seventh annual edition of the much-anticipated list which was revealed on Monday.

Top spot on the list went to Published in Vancouver, while popular Toronto restaurant Alo, which took top spot the four previous years, ranked second.

St. Lawrence restaurant in Vancouver rounded out the top three.

Of the top 100 spots on the list, 22 are in Toronto.

Amid chic decor, Hexagon is a modern upscale French restaurant offering multicourse dinners.

Here is the review of Hexagon given by Canada’s 100 Best magazine:

When, five years ago, Oakville restaurateur Artur Koczur shut down his successful café, The Green Bean, in order to relaunch it as an upscale restaurant, he went all out.

The space became sleek and modern, with a floating fireplace, plenty of wood and marble surfaces, hexagonal overhead lights, an open kitchen and floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on Town Square, keeping everything airy and bright.

The food aimed high, with long French-accented tasting menus, but veered to gimmicky (miniature prawn hot dog en brioche, deconstructed tournedos Rossini, etc.).

In the years since, the Instagram-preoccupied opening chef was succeeded by his former sous-chef. And Rafael Covarrubias — one-time North American finalist in Milan’s S.Pellegrino Young Chef competition — has grown into the role, and then some.

The original French aspirations have grown increasingly discreet, restrained to the occasional torchon of foie gras or potato pavé. Instead, Covarrubias is building on classical training with his own Mexican heritage to arrive at something successfully original.

The latest variation on the dish he rode to Milan — dry-aged Muscovy duck, roasted on the crown with Mexican chili and mole — is always a must-try.

So is the gnudi with sea urchin and bottarga (fish roe), sweetened with miso and spiked with chili.

Note that this summer, Hexagon’s adjoining café will be swapped out for a wine bar named Bar 8 (“Octagon” was presumably taken).

This marks the first post-pandemic restaurant list for Canada’s 100 Best magazine.

The list was selected by chefs, food critics, restaurateurs, industry experts and “food-savvy restaurant goers.

As well, a dozen new judges were selected from the enthusiastic respondents to the magazine’s contest back in 2020.

Changes to voting this year included asking the judges to simply vote for great food wherever they found it as opposed to asking them to vote on the complete dining experience.

Because of the lockdown, judges were also allowed to assess restaurant quality based on takeout.

 

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