Restaurants in Hamilton

At Sushi Boat, chefs send flotillas of delectable fish, noodles, and entrees sailing toward patrons’ mouths. Curry and fried rice accompany beef, pork, chicken, or seafood, while sushi rolls arrive in combinations such as salmon, kiwi, and honeydew.

The classically trained sushi chefs at Watami split their time between crafting familiar orders of maki and sashimi from seasonal ingredients and inventing their own signature dishes. The restaurant’s idiosyncratic creations include a roll of ginger and wasabi wrapped with salmon rather than traditional packing tape, as well as special rolls made with baked red snapper, diced tomatoes, or mango. Additionally, the kitchen's chefs can pan-fry or simmer hot Japanese entrees such as chicken teriyaki and seafood fried rice.

Bundt Cake Cravings' sage bakers create pans of their fluffy ringed desserts in a variety of sizes and seasonal flavours to suit individual hankerings and celebrations. Cakes ranging in size from cupcake-sized bundtminis to 10 inches are covered with cream-cheese frosting and festive decorations, including colourful bows and cardettes with messages such as "Happy Birthday" and "Sorry for Eating Your Car’s Air Freshener." Trays of cookies emerge from the ovens in chocolate-chip, oatmeal-raisin, and ginger varieties. The bakery also offers baking lessons for kids aged 5–14, allowing them to don aprons and learn a new skill in the sweet shop's own kitchen.

Though it historically fueled passing boats and trains, the converted coal silo now fuels a different sort of machine—one that runs much better on expertly grilled American cuisine than on carbonized rock. Within the cylindrical facility, which boasts 360-degree views of the Niagara River, cooks power up their patrons with hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and burgers grilled with grass-fed, never-frozen beef from local farms. Mindful of the environment, they also use compostable plastic cups made from plant resin and send their used vegetable oil to be recycled for use in grease-driven cars. Adam Richman featured The Silo Restaurant on his show Man vs. Food for the Haystack—a pound of steak smothered in molten mozzarella and crisp hash browns, all sandwiched within a locally baked hoagie roll.

At West Plains Bistro, chefs enhance classic European recipes with local, seasonal ingredients. They sprinkle salads and bruschetta with Woolwich goat cheese, for instance, and batter halibut in Niagara chardonnay. Dishes also showcase New World influences such as caramelized sweet potatoes and smoked bacon.

West Plains Bistro features a dining room steeped in European-inspired charm. Stained-glass lamps cast a warm glow on wrought-iron tables and bouquets of fresh flowers. The restaurant’s true gem is the outdoor patio, though, which has been modeled to resemble a quaint Parisian street, complete with flower boxes, street lamps, and Paolo Rossi juggling a soccer ball.

Blue Nile’s vibrant orange dining room hums with energy as the aromas of meat and spices waft in from the kitchen. Patterned tablecloths, flowers, and colourful art decorate the walls, just as colourful spreads of lentils, split peas, and collard greens decorate plates. Using a pancake-like bread called injera, guests scoop up earthy bites of Ethiopia’s national dish—a type of stewed chicken called doro wat—or other flavourful foods. They can can pair the hearty food with sips of a traditional pot of coffee known as jebena buna or with fruit juices such as mango or guava.