An intimate, 14-seat Montreal spot tops Air Canada’s annual list of the country’s best new restaurants. At Sabayon, chef Patrice Demers and sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin “welcome you as if you were at home,” offering tasting menus, afternoon tea and cooking classes according to a variable schedule — “like a theatre.”

Korean-Japanese Mhel in Toronto, headed by co-owners Seung-min Yi and Young Hoon Ji, and Édith Foliot and Didier Lortie’s farm-to-table Maison de Soma in Mont-Tremblant, Que., round out the top three.