A new, welcoming lobby. Refreshed suites. And a remarkable new restaurant and bar with excellent food and an interior meant to mimic the inside of a whiskey bottle. Canada’s first St. Regis Hotel opened officially in Toronto on Wednesday, promising “world-renowned, bespoke service, signature rituals and exquisite culinary offerings.” The St. Regis Toronto is at Bay and Adelaide in the heart of the booming financial district, with access to public transit and major amenities, including the Eaton Centre and Roy Thomson Hall. It was formerly The Adelaide. Prior to that it served as the troubled Trump Hotel and Residences. St. Read more
Toronto
One of Canada’s top chefs. One of Toronto’s most romantic restaurants. And one great deal. It’s Summerlicious time in Toronto, with remarkable deals at some of the city’s top restaurants. Once again, Aeroplan is sponsoring the big event, not to mention other food festivals across Canada, including Montreal’s MTLaTABLE event. Toronto is one of the top cities in the world for food, so it’s great to get solid deals like the ones they offer at Summerlicious and also at Winterlicious, which Aeroplan also has sponsored in the past. I had a chance to check Summerlicious out on Monday night, taking Read more
Sometimes a silver medal is pretty darn good. Especially when you’re competing against the entire world. British Airways has released a list of its top destinations for 2018, and Toronto came second. The only destination ranked higher for British visitors was the Seychelles, and it’s hard to compete with an island chain that beautiful. The British Airways website talked about Toronto and Vancouver are both great cities, but that the Ontario capital gained the edge (sorry, British Columbia!). “Toronto and Vancouver are competing for Canada’s tourist crown. According to British Airways, Toronto takes it in 2018,” the story said. “That’s Read more
Hong Kong makes sense. Certainly Tokyo. But Athens? And how does my home city of Toronto end up fifth best for food in Canada? Booking.com today released a list of the top destinations its travellers enjoy for great food. There are some obvious inclusions and some surprising exclusions, if you ask me. (Which you technically didn’t). Here’s what booking.com customers came up with for a ranking of the food scene in Canada: 1. Vancouver 2. Montreal 3. Halifax 4. Winnipeg 5. Toronto I don’t want to get all parochial here, but there’s not a chance Toronto is only the fifth Read more
So this is random. We took our kids and their significant others to see the play Come From Away in Toronto yesterday. We all loved it; great acting, wonderful writing and good music (especially the live band at the end). It’s such a lovely, affirming story about how folks in tiny Gander, Newfoundland took in folks whose planes were forced to land there on 9/11. A horrible day, but one filled with much kindness; especially in this little town where folks opened their homes (and showers) to total strangers and, as Newfoundland folks would do, thought nothing of it. I’ve Read more
