A Q&A with Ryan Lister, the executive chef at coastal English spot The Dorset

This year was a huge year for new restaurants. Not only did we see global franchises like Nobu and Shake Shack touchdown in Toronto, but we also witnessed the opening of local gems like Jen Agg's excellent General Public and the gloriously quirky Belle Isle, from the Lake Inez team. The Dorset, another notable new opening, landed this spring at The Well, bringing English classics and refined seaside flavours to the table.

Ryan Lister — the executive district chef at Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality, who has worked at top restaurants like Canoe and Liberty Common and opened The Rabbit Hole — is one of the driving forces behind The Dorset. The space, divided between a warm, inviting main floor bar and an airy upstairs dining room, brings together the best of British gastropub dining, with plenty of coastal additions to the food and drink menu.

I took some time out of the busy British chef's schedule to chat and discover how his quaint hometown of Weymouth, Dorset inspired this refined culinary destination with a touch of seaside flair. Plus, Lister gives us the lowdown on the best dishes and drinks to try at The Dorset and shares his favourite spots to eat and drink on his rare days off. 

How did The Dorset come about?

"The Dorset came about two years ago. Andrew Oliver, Anthony Walsh and John Horn brought it to my attention. They wanted to open a restaurant that was a bit more countryside-inspired, rather than London. I think it's always very romantic for chefs to move back to where they're from to open a restaurant. But I love living in Toronto, so I don't think I'd ever be able to exercise that dream. This came some way to fulfilling that. I threw a few names out there and Dorset stuck."

"I managed to find Rob Ratcliffe, who is my head chef here and also from England. I know you're not supposed to hire based on where someone's from, but finding a British chef who understood what I wanted to do was dynamite."

How did your background inform the menu?

"It's not just about the region I'm from. It's truly about the whole British coast and countryside. I'm quite inspired by my time in Scotland. I worked just outside of Edinburgh, right on the coast. One of my best friends is from Swansea in Wales, so I grew up eating Welsh food as well. I wanted to try and bring all of that inspiration into what we're doing. Sometimes, chefs think too much, but we have really good servers who can decipher what we're trying to say, and explain that to the guests in more of a simple way."

"Soused mackerel, and just mackerel in general, was huge where I grew up. My granddad was a fisherman and mackerel was something that would be caught and would be on the table often. We prepare it in a way that's very British and served on a nice crumpet. I kind of joke that it's almost like British sushi, with the crunchy, crumpet and the mackerel that's slightly acidic. It's all inspired by and deeply rooted in Dorset, but it comes together as something that feels a bit more familiar."

Tell us a bit about the space.

"A lot of the restaurant design was centred around what inspired Andrew Oliver, and some older, hotel restaurants in London. He was very inspired by the Burner's Tavern in London, which I went to a couple of years ago. The downstairs is very much inspired by that, with lots of big photographs on the wall. The animal portraits really suited what we were trying to do. One of my favourites is the French bulldog at the top of the stairs because I have one — a big fan of that.

"Upstairs is a bit more coastal: The pictures of the lighthouse, the trawlers, the fishing nets. The stairwell is meant to be a transition space, where it goes from game animals at the bottom to the top, where you have some fish and swans. I definitely wanted swans to be represented, because where I'm from, Abbotsbury in Dorset, they have the largest colony of mute swans in the world."

What are some of your favourite dishes?

"All of our tasting menu right now, I love. We've got beautiful crab salad: It's Fogo Island snow crab, dressed with a curry vinaigrette, and then this fried papadom that we load up with coconut and honey. It's a play on a coronation sandwich, but Indian-inspired. This time of year, eating whole rabbits is a big thing in Dorset. I wanted to deliver rabbit in a way that is a bit more familiar, so we serve this beautiful stewed rabbit that we stew in English ale and prunes. We serve it with cavatelli noodles, which are popular in Toronto.

"For the entrée right now, we're using pheasants that are farmed in Newmarket ... It's what I call the flying pigs in blankets because the pheasant legs are rolled in parma ham and prosciutto. That's served with bread sauce, turnips and stuffing that we lace with a cheeky bit of Quebec foie gras. Pheasants run around back home, and for lack of a better word, they're almost roadkill in Dorset. It's just such a distinct flavour, it's just a bit gamier here than chicken. It's different but it's very approachable."

What else do we need to be aware of?

"We have a massive focus on roasts on Sunday every week. It's probably our most popular day at the restaurant. Our Dorset Roasts are served with Yorkshire pudding, roasted potatoes, carrot, cabbage and pan gravy."

What do you miss about England?

"The biggest thing I miss is football. And I miss petrol station sandwiches, like a Tesco meal deal sandwich. I don't know why, it's not good, but there's just something about it. I miss the dairy at home, like double cream. I dream about double cream, butter, Tiger bread and stuff like that. Cadbury's chocolate is not the same. The British ones have the moreish taste. Moreish is my favourite word, it's like the British word for umami."

"I also miss being close to London and experiencing the proper representation of British food. Some great things are happening there now, like a restaurant called Fallow. Tom Brown, he's doing some great stuff with seafood at Pearly Queen in Shoreditch." 

What are your favourite places to eat in Toronto?

Pai

"My favourite restaurant in the city by a mile is Pai. I think Nui Regular is an absolute Jedi, and Jeff, he's the best. I'm so fortunate to have a direct line to them so they can always hook me up with a table. The funny thing about me is that I want to learn as a chef all the time, but there are certain cuisines I'm not too interested in learning about because I love not quite knowing how they do it. For me, that's Thai food. How does she make it taste so good?"

Man of Kent

"If you're going out somewhere, I have to give a shout-out to Man of Kent. Football game days are wild, but if you go outside of those England games, the food that Adam Squires cooks is just humble British food. His talent is that he's purposely not making it over the top — it's just classically done and delicious. The Sunday roast is great. I shouldn't big them up too much because I want people to come to eat my stuff."

UFO

"UFO is a cool, little Vietnamese place. Super cheap. They have a vermicelli bowl with spring rolls for about $18, and if you walk away from there not full, then you have a problem with your stomach."

Edulis

"When it comes to fine dining, Edulis is great. I just popped in with Trevor Gulley at midnight when the St. John team were over from London, and I had one of my favourite nights in a long time. We also went for the Sunday lunch for my birthday and it was fucking amazing. They have the nicest people there, they're so humble."

Castle and Coal

"Junelle Colbert, the co-owner and pastry chef, worked in London for a bit, so she does some English pastries. She makes her hot cross buns with honeycomb butter or something — like, I wait for those 365 days after I've had my last one. She also does mince pies and stuff like that."

Brodflour

"I've worked with Matt Faust [an operating partner at Brodflour] for a long time. I think the fact that they have their own flour just changes the game. The pain au chocolate is just wow, and the ginger molasses cookie is crazy good."

Badiali Pizzeria

"I hate hype, and I hate queuing up for things, so Badiali Pizzeria was not a place I was going to go for the first year or two. When I finally went there, I had big expectations and I almost wanted to hate it. But wow, these guys are so good. To me, Badiali Pizzeria is the best pizza I've ever had in my life. I will always gravitate toward a classic pepperoni pizza, but their cacio e pepe is just so good. When I go, I never get a whole pizza. I'll always buy a whole pizza's worth of slices. I took my sister when she visited and we just ate it out the back of my car. She has mega FOMO whenever I post about it."

Arvo Coffee & Wine

"I really enjoy a place next to Liberty Commons in Liberty Village called Arvo Coffee & Wine. I know that it'll upset other people who make me lovely coffees, but Arvo's latte is delicious. But if I'm at home, I'm drinking tea. When I moved to Canada, aged 23, I didn't know there was anything other than 'tea' — to me, that meant PG Tips. So, yeah, I am a classic black tea, orange pekoe guy. 

"Toronto has a very good tea culture, and we do an afternoon tea on the last Sunday of every month at The Dorset. It's become very popular. I am very particular about the tea we use. We serve loose-leaf from Sloane Tea, but we also have British tea because I think it's the best. I was adamant that we have to have Twinnings and Yorkshire Gold."

Library Bar

"My favourite cocktail bar for sure is Library Bar. They have a bartender called Joe, he's great and always takes good care of me when I'm there. It's hard to find people who are that inspired by a certain thing, right? He has great knowledge of beer and wine, he's great at service, and he loves food. But he is obsessed with cocktails and the latest trends and techniques, and it's hard to find those people in our industry — he's one of the good ones."