12 Toronto Restaurants Serving Special Menus for TIFF 2025

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When the Toronto International Film Festival takes over the city, it’s not just about the movies. The local food scene also gets in on the action, with many restaurants creating special, limited-time menus to mark the occasion. From multi-course meals to dishes inspired by specific films, here’s a look at 12 Toronto restaurants serving special menus for TIFF 2025.

12 Toronto Restaurants with Special TIFF Menus

Sotto Sotto

This well-known Yorkville Italian restaurant has a special menu that starts with octopus carpaccio. For the pasta course, there are two types of linguine, one with zucchini flowers and caviar. The main is a 60-ounce grilled porterhouse.

The Carbon Bar

Photo Courtesy of The Carbon Bar

This Queen East BBQ spot is offering a three-course tasting menu with film-themed names. It begins with East Coast oysters and moves to a main pitmaster platter with brisket, ribs, and fried chicken. The meal finishes with a caramel popcorn ice cream sundae.

Alo

Chef Patrick Kriss’s team at Alo is offering a four-course tasting menu. It starts with canapés of bluefin tuna and foie gras, followed by a rice dish with wild mushrooms and truffles. The main course is New Zealand lamb, and dessert features Ontario strawberries. An Irish whiskey pairing is also available.

Fairmont Royal York

Photo Courtesy of Clockwork

The hotel’s main restaurant, Reign, is presenting a four-course menu called “A Journey Through Cinema’s Greatest Stages,” with each course referencing a film setting. For a smaller bite, the lobby lounge, Clockwork, is serving a tuna tartare dish with uni and caviar.

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Shangri-La Toronto

The hotel’s lobby lounge is offering a cinema-themed afternoon tea. The menu includes savoury items referencing films like The Last Emperor and La La Land, and sweet items inspired by movies such as Slumdog Millionaire.

Lyla

Photo Courtesy of Lyla

At this Sudbury Street restaurant, Chef Michael Medeiros is focusing on a lobster caviar pasta. The dish features a whole Atlantic lobster, with the shells used to make a dashi for the sauce, which is finished with butter and Veuve Clicquot.

Ayla

This Dundas West spot is paying tribute to Wong Kar-wai’s film Chungking Express. The chefs have created a dish inspired by the movie’s recurring pineapple can symbol, serving char siu and crispy rice with pineapple inside the tin.

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Mimi Chinese

Photo Courtesy of Mimi Chinese

This Davenport restaurant is offering a multi-course menu for TIFF. The meal begins with a curry beef tart and stuffed lotus root, followed by lobster e-fu noodles. The main course includes braised beef short ribs and stir-fried pork.

St. Regis Toronto

Photo Courtesy of the St. Regis Toronto

At Louix Louis, the hotel’s 31st-floor restaurant, they are featuring a 50-ounce Australian Wagyu tomahawk steak plated with gold and flambéed tableside. For dessert, they have created a 50-layer version of their signature King’s Cake.

Amano Trattoria

Photo Courtesy of Amano Trattoria

Chef Michael Angeloni has created a seven-course “All Pasta Tasting Menu” inspired by pasta moments in movies. The menu includes dishes referencing films like The Godfather, Tampopo, and even Lady and the Tramp with spaghetti and lamb meatballs.

Minami

Photo Courtesy of Minami

The Entertainment District Japanese restaurant is featuring A5 Miyazaki Wagyu in two ways. First as skewers served on a hot stone, and second as a wagyu tartare monaka topped with osetra caviar.

The Broadview Hotel

The east-end hotel is serving a dish called the Deep Cut Tartare, inspired by a festival premiere film. The raw tenderloin with blood orange reduction is available at the hotel’s lobby bar, rooftop, and main dining room.

Have you tried any TIFF-inspired menus this year? Let us know your favourite in the comments!

To see where the stars might be dining, check out our guide to Celebrity Hotspot Restaurants in Toronto for TIFF 2025

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