The Best Poutine
in Canada
The winners and losers when it comes to Canada’s favourite dish
Ready your taste buds for a mouthwatering study as we dive into the wonderful world of poutine, where fries, gravy, and cheese curds collide.
Want to know where poutine was invented? Legend has it that in 1957, in the dairy-farming town of Warwick, Québec, a hungry customer's rush led restaurateur Fernand Lachance to toss cheese curds and fries together, dubbing it "poutine" Québécois slang for a messy mix. The dish is now so famous that it has its own “national poutine day” every April.
Québec may be known as the birthplace of poutine, but did it step up to the plate? Find out below.
The team at LuckyDays wanted to find out where you can find the best poutine in Canada so we delved into reviews and prices as well as vegan and gluten-free options.
The Best Restaurants to Visit
Searching Google Maps for ‘poutine near me?’. There was a five-way tie for the best poutine restaurant in Canada. Five restaurants scored 80 points out of a possible 100 and shared the spoils when it came to being crowned the best restaurant in the nation.
The province of Québec is home to three of the top five restaurants in Canada, meaning it has the best quality poutine nationally. Montréal is the home of two of the top five restaurants, and Québec City boasts the third. Vancouver and Halifax are the final two poutine providers in our top five.
These restaurants claimed their place in the top five due to the quality and quantity of their reviews on Tripadvisor. They are also award-winning establishments that cater for all dietary requirements, alongside being reasonably priced for the quality of their poutine.
The Most Inclusive Dining Spots
Halifax (NS), has the most inclusive restaurants serving poutine in Canada. If you’re vegan or gluten-free and you’re looking for dairy-free cheesy fries then Halifax is the place to be. An impressive 80% of its restaurants cater for these major dietary requirements, which would normally count you out of eating the famous dish.
Toronto (ON) and Vancouver (BC) also scored highly in this metric, with 70% of their restaurants serving poutine suitable for vegans and gluten intolerances. However, the poutine in Québec City is extremely traditional; only 30% of their restaurants have branched out to cater for dietary requirements when changing their traditional dish.
Which City Takes the Crown for Best Poutine?
Vancouver is officially the best city in Canada to eat poutine! The Rain City had the perfect balance of amazing food to fit a variety of budgets. Poutine eaters in the city are extremely impressed with the food quality, as the average positive review percentage in Vancouver is a staggering 80%.
Montréal (QC), finished second in the study with a very respectable score of 76 out of 100. The city scored a whole host of amazing reviews on Tripadvisor and had two of the top three rated restaurants that served poutine in the country! This was paired with some incredibly inclusive restaurants, with 70% catering to vegans and gluten intolerances.
Surprisingly, Québec City could only manage a third-place finish in the overall ranking, despite being the home of poutine! Québec City is let down by the lack of inclusivity in its poutine, as only 30% of its restaurants cater for vegans and gluten intolerances. This impacted the city's overall score, meaning it could only finish third with a respectable 65 out of 100.
