Eating in Kawartha Lakes is mostly an informal business — diners, lockside snack bars, an increasing number of bakeries and small breweries. The notable concentration is in Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls, where the lockside trade keeps a half-dozen restaurants busy through the summer. Lindsay has the only proper downtown dining, with a handful of better-than-average places along Kent Street.
Local specialities are predictable but reliable: pickerel from the lakes (the Ontario name for walleye, served pan-fried or in beer batter), butter tarts (the Kawarthas have a small running rivalry with the Muskokas over who makes the best ones), and Kawartha Dairy ice cream — the local creamery in Bobcaygeon has a cult following and a queue out the door on warm afternoons.