Tickets + Travel
Restaurant Guide
Guelph's downtown offers an abundance of choice. Per capita, the inner streets are laden with everything from high-end dining to blues bar pub food. Here's a dining and drinking guide from a frequent traveler to Guelph's eating establishments.
Pictured above: Red Brick Cafe and Bin 23. For detailed Guelph Visitor information, click here.
Diverse Dining.
You can travel the world with food from afar, including sushi restaurant Fuji Japanese, 78 Carden Street, 767-3133 across from the train station or veteran of cultural collision cuisine the Carden St. Café, 40 Carden St., 837-2830, across from the new city hall (Caribbean, Asian, African fusion). Diana Downtown, 141 Wyndham, 836-3460, offers South Asian dining par excellence, a few blocks away at 51 Cork St is the equally refined Bollywood Bistro, 821-3999. If South American spice is the accent you seek, stroll to the corner of Norfolk and 10 Paisley to sample Latino's where the front patio is also a feature, 836-3431. If it is a quick burrito you prefer, Salsateria, 33 MacDonnell is open until 3am on weekends. Check Guelph Caribbean Cuisine at 45 Cork if roti and and jerk is your spice of life.
Upscale Dining.
You will want to savour the flavour if you visit Bin 23, 6 Carden St., 780-2246, (elegant nouveau continental), or Yasser Qahawish's delicate and distinguished Artisanale Café & Bistro, 37 Quebec St., 821-3359 (beside The Bookshelf). Also of note is Babel Fish on MacDonnell, La Cucina on the same street and Other Brothers on Yarmouth.
Beyond Pub Grub.
The "Wooly" or Woolwich Arrow 176 Woolwich, 836-2875 sets the standard of pub food and beverage with a solid local menu and micro-beer nirvana. The Neighborhood Group opened a remarkable new location that features fresh and local food at Gordon and Arkell called Borealis Grille and Bar that is now a must stop in Guelph (341-9752).
On the Run.
If you find yourself at St. George's Square you can grab something quick at Capistrano. Just up narrow Douglas Street is the charming Red Brick Café, 836-1126 where coffee, desserts, sandwiches and beer / wine combine. Newly expanded, the long time fair trader Planet Bean is another fine caffeine source at 51 MacDonnell St, 823-9253.
Healthy Habits.
The tiny but tasty organic food Meals That Heal is a short walk up to 297 Woolwich St. at the corner of London. Across the street at 294 Woolwich is With the Grain café, 827-0008, where baked goods tantalize and more seating is on offer. The landmark Cornerstone combines an all vegetarian original menu with pints or espresso depending on your engine, 1Wyndham (at Carden) across from the train station.
Hipster Heaven.
Euro thin crust pizza in a cool stone environment shapes the long thin Atmosphere Cafe, 24 Carden (across from City Hall), 824-0430. Around the corner in the land o' martini and tapas is NV Lounge, 16 Wyndham, 827-1064, which is not far from the cozy Green Room inside the eBar, above The Bookshelf, 41 Quebec Street, 821-3311. The landmark Albion Hotel, 49 Norfolk, 821-7125, at the bottom of ‘Catholic Hill' features a historic piece of limestone architecture coupled with live music and a wide ranging menu. Hopefully you'll run into the ghost of Al Capone's mistress on your late night pub crawl.
- Derek Andrews, Executive Director, Guelph Jazz Festival.
Also see:
Guelph Vegetarian Restaurants
Foodlink: Making the Food Connection
The Guelph Outstallations
The 2009 Guelph Jazz Festival included three "outstallations" – innovative improvisations in the streets and parks of Guelph. You can catch the flavour of two of these events in the videos below. Three Parades was the conjunction of three marching bands, in unison with the carillon at St. George's Church downtown; the full nine-minute event is shown in the video below. Percussion in the Park was a free improvisation on playground equipment, of which you can see an excerpt from one of the two performances below.
Three Parades • Percussion in the Park
