Dear Readers, by the time you read this we will be heading back home after almost a fortnight in Toronto. I’d be lying if I said it had been an easy or a fun visit – my mother-in-law’s memory is now about ten minutes long, I would say, and this been very hard on my husband. In previous years we would have been off to Collingwood to see our aunties, Rosemary and Linda, but they both passed away in the autumn of 2022, and it has hit us very hard now we’re back in Canada. But still, we have some wonderful friends here, and I will always have a deep affection for this city, which has felt like a second home for more than twenty years.
So, in no particular order, here are some recommendations if you ever find yourself here:
Our favourite coffee shop is Versus, easily the best coffee that we’ve had, and the pastries are pretty good too.
On the restaurant front, we can recommend:
The Queen Mother Café, a stalwart for over forty years.
Oliver and Bonacini Grill, especially as so many places are closed on Sundays.
Cantina Mercatto – very noisy on a Saturday night but pretty relaxed early/during the rest of the week.
For a splurge:
Opus was lovely, and the beignets for dessert were extraordinary. Expensive, but the quality is great.
Auberge du Pommier is situated in the middle of a car park in York Mills, but inside it is one of my favourite places, not just in Toronto but anywhere. It always makes me feel welcome, and the fact that we meet our friend M there is the cherry on the cake. The service is efficient and friendly, and it’s one of those restaurants where I want to eat everything on the menu. Highly, highly recommended.
We always stay at the Cambridge Suites Hotel – as the name suggests, the rooms have separate living and sleeping areas, which is great if you’re staying for a fortnight as we are. Sadly the site is going to be turned into (you guessed it) a condominium tower, but hopefully not for a few years yet.
We haven’t had much time for sight seeing this year, but we did enjoy The Beach(es), and it would be nice to get back to the brickworks in daylight and when the sun is shining.
And so let’s see how exciting our trip through Lester Pearson airport is (last time it took us nearly four hours to get through check-in and security, so let’s hope things are better this year). See you on the other side!
Viv, I’m surprised you want to recommend a restaurant (Auberge du Pommier) which serves Foie Gras!
Hi, I hate foie gras too, but Auberge du Pommier is one of the few fine-dining places in Toronto where they always have at least one vegetarian starter and entree, which is not the case in most other establishments. Plus, the menu changes regularly and foie gras doesn’t always feature. So it’s a tricky one, I agree. Canada isn’t as hot on the whole vegetarian/vegan thing as we are in the UK, so it isn’t unusual to find an entire menu without a single thing for non meat-eaters to eat, so my feeling is that places that do make the effort should be encouraged, but it’s a very personal thing.
Well some highs and sad lows in your visit, sorry to hear that. I’ve been to Toronto, for a cousins Wedding a while ago-they are divorced now! Unfortunately I fear he may be responsible for the demise of your hotel into a condominium tower, that’s his job in a large property company! We did go up the Tower, also to a baseball match where a player hit the ball so hard that it flew right up high in the stadium and hit my Cousins bride to be in the chest, luckily she was ok.
Ah Japh, I suspect your cousin isn’t the only person making out like a bandit on the condominium front. And a lucky escape for your cousin’s bride, a baseball to the chest could be very nasty…