Food & Drink in Ottawa

Hintonburger bolsters appetites with classic North American eats and signature burgers handmade from local beef. The archetypal Hintonburger saddles a 6-ounce patty with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, and a specialty barbecue sauce (a $7 value). Customers can sauce their beefcakes with banana peppers, garlic sauce, and pickled turnips. Slurp down a refreshing drink (a $1.25 value) and embellish the towering steaktuary with a side of value fries and a delicately placed pink bow (a $2 value). All three are available in a combo (a $10 value). Hintonburger also hosts outdoor seating where diners can consume unlimited oxygen and Sasquatch sightings.

Host India serves up an extensive menu of subcontinental fare, with an abundance of plant-based plates for hungry and starved herbivores. For a spicy starter, summon a serving of the fried shrimp koliwada ($9) before conquering the main course. Chicken, beef, lamb, and seafood curries pepper the menu and are served alongside vegetarian fare and tandoori specialties. Wrestle a marinated morsel off the chicken tikka kabab ($14) or heat up a chilly dinner date with an order of the blazing-hot lamb vindaloo ($14). More than 15 meat-free entrees draw vegetarians like professors to tweed, with cubes of tender house cheese headlining in such entrees as muttar paneer, served with peas in a silky sauce ($11).

Groupon is a combination of the words group and coupon. Each day, we offer an unbeatable deal on the best of Ottawa: restaurants, spas, sporting events, theatre, and more. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won't find anywhere else. We call it "collective buying power." If you want to get the deal, just click BUY before the offer ends at midnight. If the minimum number of people (25 for today's deal) sign up by the end of the day, you'll be emailed a gift certificate the next morning. You can print your Groupon or redeem it with one of our mobile apps. Use it whenever you want until the deal expires—today's expires in 180 days. If not enough people join, no one gets the deal (and you won't be charged), so invite your friends to make sure you get the discount!

• For $20, you get $40 worth of traditional Greek cuisine during dinner. • For $10, you get $20 worth of traditional Greek cuisine during lunch. Kallisto Greek Restaurant rouses dormant taste buds with an authentic menu of savoury Mediterranean dishes sporting robust flavours and complex herb and spice marinades. Diners can jump-start meals with rice-and-herb dolmades, cocooned in hand-rolled grape leaves ($6), or can help pita rafts negotiate garlic-infused, moon-controlled tides of hummus ($6). Charbroiled lamb souvlaki, flanked by a salad and Greek-style potatoes, stands at the ready to quell carnivorous cravings ($10 at lunch, $16 at dinner). Seafood lovers, meanwhile, can find more surf-derived proteins than at a pelican potluck, with offerings such as seafood linguine, which cradles shrimp, scallops, and mussels in a pasta hammock ($22). Entrees pair agreeably with palate-pleasing selections from Kallisto's substantial wine list.

Nando's Flame-Grilled Chicken, founded in South Africa in 1987, brings Portugal's peri-peri flame-grilled chicken to the Vancouver area with only the bare minimum of laser lights and smoke-shrouded, two-way mirrors. Discovered by Portuguese explorers in Africa in the distant days of maritime exploration, peri-peri is a fiery chili pepper that adds a kick of capsaicin to any cuisine, clucker-related or not. Nando's fresh chicken breasts luxuriate in their peri-peri marinade for 24 hours, resulting in dishes with a slate of Scoville-scale-scorching spice levels—mild lemon and herb, medium, hot, and the daredevil-only extra hot. Step up to Nando's counter to order from the menu of sandwiches, pitas, wraps, salads, and peri-peri chicken. Enjoy a grilled-to-order peri-peri half-chicken with a side ($11.39) such as spiced rice or hearty coleslaw, or bite around basted bones with a dozen peri-peri chicken wings with a side ($9.99). Nando's also sports peri-peri chicken breast sandwiches or pitas ($8.49–$10.79), chicken or veggie whole wheat wraps with a side ($8.49–10.79), and veggie burgers or pitas ($8.49–$10.79), as well as salads and salad meals ($3.99–$9.99) for lovers of leaves of lettuce.

Voted one of the 10 best restaurants in Ottawa by Ottawa Magazine, this rural eatery in the heart of Ottawa Valley grows, forages, prepares, and presents fare straight from organic Castlegarth Farm Gardens and other local producers. The menu reflects the season's finest bounty, and everything in the restaurant is homemade, from the bread to the ice cream to the elf-crocheted tablecloths. Though vittles vary daily, past appetizers have included a homemade charcuterie plate and fresh Prince Edward Island oysters ($6–$14). Former main courses, such as roast chicken breast with summer-vegetable ratatouille and roasted potatoes, and the Castlegarth grilled beef flank steak with sautéed artichokes and porcini mushrooms ($20–$28), have been served alongside desserts that included a dark-chocolate tart with peanut-butter mousse and peaches ($6–$14). Diners can discuss alternate endings to their Winston Churchill fan fiction while perusing the vast wine menu, which features both Canadian and international wines ($25–$150 a bottle).