The Top 5 Places to Eat and Drink Near Naagen
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Rank 1. Naagen
Indigenous
In Owen Sound, Zach Keeshig cooks from the land around his Nawash First Nation home, sourcing foraged ingredients, hunted game, and specially raised proteins. His tasting menu moves through smoked lake fish, bison tartare, and charcoal-roasted squab with the rigor of modern technique and the philosophy of Indigenous stewardship, each course a deliberate argument about what food can mean.
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Rank 2. Down Home
Modern Cuisine
A farmhouse restaurant in Grey County where chef Joel Gray cooks within view of diners while co-owner Hannah Harradine curates Canadian wines; the 10-course menu follows what grows on their land. Whole grilled Arctic char stuffed with spruce tips and a family molasses cookie anchor meals that feel like intimate gatherings.
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Rank 3. The Gate
Mediterranean
In a restored brick house upstate, Jonathan Gushue cooks spare Mediterranean food that depends entirely on the quality of what arrives at his door. The 44-seat dining room whispers rather than shouts, letting each plate—and each ingredient—speak for itself.
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Jonathan Gushue works a compact kitchen in Collingwood, turning out pastas and salads that taste as though each element arrived at the plate through deliberation rather than habit. Everything is made in-house, including the gluten-free options, which arrive with the same care as the rest. It's the kind of place where simplicity and rigor reinforce each other.
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Rank 5. The Pine
Contemporary Chinese
In a converted garage on Creemore's main road, Jeremy Austin channels his years cooking across Asia into precisely calibrated tasting menus built around Canadian seafood and produce. A tea-cured egg crowned with caviar, Sichuan boiled fish made with B.C. albacore, and a Shanghai crepe stuffed with snow crab signal a chef translating international technique through local ingredients.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Chinese Cuisine Restaurant
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #11 · Best Restaurants