 anada is such a great getaway from Florida; different, but the same language, many of the same stores and close money-wise. Cooler in many ways! Younger, switched-on and tolerant, it’s a refreshing place to be. Toronto, a mere couple of hours flight from Sarasota/Bradenton, is a good example and a great destination to get a city fix.
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A reflective view of the CN tower in Toronto |
We went to Toronto for a week at the end of August. Toronto Tourism helped with some planning, introduced us to our three places of lodgings and many area attractions. We always aim to cover a variety of places to stay, as well as restaurants, in our articles, something for all our readers. Toronto was voted the most ethnic city by UNESCO from its being so diverse and cosmopolitan.
Beginning in the 1700s as a perfect trading post position and after two great fires and an American invasion, (way before George W. might be tempted), little of the original city exists. So the ‘now’ Toronto is a young city. The City Hall, a stunning structure, is celebrating only its 40th year in September! It’s also clean, safe and very ‘green’ and as with all cities now it is expanding at a great rate to cater to more residences, not just business. The city is home to two iconic structures: the CN Tower, surprisingly still the tallest building in the world, at 1,815 ft. tall and the Skydome, now named the Rogers Centre, home to the Toronto Blue Jays for baseball and the Canadian Football Argonauts (2004 Grey Cup Champions).
All its ethnic neighbourhoods offer something different in the way of shops, food, museums, art galleries, historic houses, modern marvels of architecture and restaurants. The streetcars and underground provide good public transport, (along with a lot of walking), and taxis are everywhere. At the time we visited in late summer, the exchange rate was not much different from the US dollar at .88. We did find things to be more expensive than here, compared with previous visits to Canada.
THE ANNEX QUEST HOUSE
Our first two nights began at the Annex Quest House located near Bloor and Spadina Streets. This is the only North American Inn designed using the principles of an ancient Indian architectural science known as vaastu shastra, (science of space), to create visual harmony. Originated as early as 6000BC it’s the predecessor of the much touted school of Feng Shui. Kathleen Cox the designer for owner, Toronto businessman, Henry Lotin explains that vaastu lends a holistic approach to interior design, the emphasis is marrying the physical space to a way of life. The respect of the five major elements, water, earth, wind, space and air are shown in the rooms with colours to empathise. The furniture is positioned for harmony also. A space that matters to mind, body and soul. This was a unique approach and an interesting one. The rooms and furnishings were simple and adequate with cozy colours. Manager Dion was fantastic running all aspects of the place as well as being pleasant and helpful at all times.
The Annex House is in the north west of town, near the affluent Annex neighbourhood, so we planned to frequent that area. Our other hotels were placed to the south harbour area, then to the east of the city.
SCARAMOUCHE
Our first evening was spent in the very well known and respected restaurant Scaramouche, in that part of town also. From sixteenth century theatre, the name Scaramouche has been resurrected periodically, most recently making a mark in Queen’s song “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The sentence scrolled along the wall in the Pasta Bar reads: “He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.” This, the first sentence from a novel in 1921 by English novelist Raphael Sabatini. The debonair Carl Korte, GM and partner, was impressively on hand on a Monday evening in summer, to meet and greet his many regular guests,
as well as us.
The entrance, surrounded by some high-end apartments, led downstairs to a formal and spare dining room, in soft greys subtly lit. We were made comfortable in a corner table overlooking the restaurant, and with an expansive green view of the city skyline through a very long atrium type window. It was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise, with the local roof tops and chimneys in the foreground and onto the CN Tower in the distance, changing by the minute as dusk and then darkness fell.
It was wonderful to relax and be pampered after a very early start, flying from Tampa that morning. Scaramouche began in 1980 when the rest of the building was a hotel. Expanded now with the Pasta Bar being added in 1989. The two areas offer different menus and ambience, but both were busy and full on this summer night at the beginning of the week. From this you can gather that this place is well established (celebrating their 25th year), here to stay and with good reason.
We opted to give sophisticated, talented English Executive Chef Keith Froggett, and long time Chef, Indian born, Boban Mathew, free rein with their terrific menu and our Amuse Geule was the freshest quail egg wrapped in a lightly house-smoked Atlantic Salmon. A great taste of things to come! Very personable and knowledgeable Manager and Sommelier Ian Clark took good care of us, the service was careful, efficient, and our waiter Joel was great. The wine list was extensive with an emphasis on local Ontario fine wines as well as French.
We totally enjoyed tastings of the Yellow Fin Tuna on lobster risotto with pistou and salsa verde. This was a great flavour pairing, with a glass of the Ontario Stratus 2002 Wildass Chardonnay; the pan seared foie gras with porcini foam and red wine glaze on a great shredded potato nest, the best, along with a glass of Coteau du Lyon Chaume, much less sweet than the usual accompaniment, delicious; the lemon and garlic crusted New Zealand rack of lamb served with grilled artichokes, roasted peppers and spicy baba ghanoush, a fabulous idea and combination of flavours, with a glass of Coriole 2002 Redstone Syrah/Cabernet/Merlot blend. Our dessert from the enticing sounding menu was an individual coconut cream (comfort) pie, light and tasty along with a wonderful Muscat de Beaumes de Venise to finish. The professionalism of this establishment really showed and we very much enjoyed every taste and pairing from the expertly composed food and wine menu. Book early though as this place is a very popular spot.
Hippo tours and Casa Loma
After finding a local breakfast joint, not difficult in this University of Toronto (UT) part of town, we headed off via the subway to downtown and the Hippo Tours starting point to get an overview of the city. The amphibious vehicles are a lot of fun and cause many smiles en route. Harry (hippo), ours, is one of three, 40 passenger vehicles. We took an hour tour downtown and surrounds with a guided talk by the lovely Ansley.
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By land or by water, the Toronto Hippo Tour was entertaining, educational and fun! |
Discovering the huge Eaton Centre for shopping, Dundas Street, New and Old City Hall, UT, trendy and eclectic Queen’s Street West, as well as passing the CN Tower, Rogers Centre, Hockey Hall of Fame and the busy Harbourfront.
We then entered the water at Ontario Place where the huge exhibition grounds host the annual Toronto International Film Festival. This was my first time on such a vehicle and I was surprised at the ease and smoothness at which it entered and floated into the lake. We continued around a small area on the lake protected by a sea wall and viewing the harbour and all it has to offer. It was great fun and well worth the ride.
After an urban picnic on a triangle of green, joining office workers downtown, we made our way back to Spadina Street, via a civilised cup of tea in the hip Sofitel, and took the streetcar all the way along to the end to see Casa Loma. The streetcars were pricey at $2.50 a ride one way, however long.
Casa Loma is a famous historical site overlooking the city of Toronto from the brow of a hill. Based on a life-long fascination with castles, Sir Henry Pellatt, a stock market millionaire, took elements of Norman, Gothic and Romanesque styles to create his own castle in 1914 at a cost of $3 million.
Beautifully appointed and furnished it is surrounded by well landscaped, formal and informal gardens. A calm, quiet oasis near to the heart of the city, it provides a haven amidst the bustling urban contrasts and gives a glimpse into the elegant past. One tip would be that the castle closes at 5pm and there are many stairs up to the grounds from the road, unless you walk or drive further and around into the vehicle entrance. Leave yourself plenty of time to enjoy Casa Loma!
AMUSE BOUCHE
After all this exercise and some R&R we were ready for more Finelli adventures in the form of the very young, (9 weeks old), but already well- thought-of Amuse Bouche restaurant.Very close friends, owners (Paris born) Bertrand Alepee, (Barbados born) Jason Inniss and manager Sarah Lyons all worked together previously at Centro and The Fifth and went their own ways for a few years. Joining forces once more, with the help of family and friends, this little treasure came together rather miraculously.
The small inviting patio was full when we arrived and the vibrant red interior dining room was quickly getting that way also. The modern chandeliers and crisp white linens with custom artwork, colour block oils by one of the wives, made Amuse Bouche look much more established than just 9 weeks.
It was soon buzzing and the staff were moving rapidly to keep up with their orders. The kitchen had to be the tiniest we’d ever seen, with barely room to move but out of it came excellent creations. The first presentation was their ‘amuse,’ a tiny taste of healthy and highly flavoured quinoa, buckwheat and wild rice with a lemon and honey dressing. We then tasted the delicate and delicious black cod ceviche, with a mojito sorbet and the pan-seared mulard foie gras with a concord grape syrup. We chose a glass of the South African Robertson 2004 Sauvignon Blanc then the Domaine des Anges 2004 Cotes de Ventoux, white, and a 2004 Loire Muscadet.
A gorgeous tiny ball of house-made lemon sorbet punctuated our palate before our second delicious courses. Comprising the Magret de Canard with fig jus which was fabulous with baked shredded potato and white asparagus, and the Banyuls glazed Dorade with couscous and green asparagus.This along with a Barbabelle Syrah/Grenache 2002 Coteaux de Languedoc and a Cotes du Rhone 2002 Domaine du Therme. Perfect!
The service was great and perfectly timed. This is difficult to get right as we all know, don’t you hate it when a main plate comes while you are still eating a salad or first plate?
Dessert was a very nice and unusual caramelised lemon milk-chocolate lined tart with Szchewan pepper ice cream!
Typical of city dining and the opposite from Florida, the place was settling at 8pm and by 9pm it was like a party! Continued success to this great find in Toronto.
We visited this amazing tower at 6pm! It proved a great idea as the queues had disappeared and we had no waiting, (it closes at 9pm). We remembered lining up for a tedious amount of time during our last visit ten years ago, so this was great. New were the explosive detecting cubicles that we all had to pass through, yet another reminder of the different times in which we unfortunately live. But this too was amazingly efficient, processing thousands of people a week and all the staff were young and cheerful. New too, was the glass floor level at 1,136 ft. that was not there on our first visit. A bit much for some, but able to withstand the weight of 14 large hippos. (Don’t know how they got them up there though, ha!) The elevator ride is worth going for, moving at 15mph it’s all very clever and efficient.
This tower is basically an antenna and communications hub, serving 16 Canadian television and FM radio stations, a workplace for 550 people throughout the year and also host to about 2 million people a year, it is truly a breath-taking landmark. It took about 40 months to construct and was opened in 1976 to the public. It is recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest building, with the World’s longest metal staircase, giving rise to all sorts of records climbing it, and of course the World’s highest Wine Cellar in the award winning 360 Restaurant.
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SULTAN’S TENT
We then had a fun evening in store reserved at the Sultan’s Tent & Cafe Moroc on Front Street in the old, eastern part of Toronto. They’ve only been in this location for 18 months, previously established in the nearby Yorkville area of the city for 22 years.
The restaurant had a great feel to it; exotic, cozy, subtly lit with lanterns and candles, inviting and fun. Each seating area with richly upholstered banquettes was sexy and tented with swaths of orange, red and gold toned, fine flowing fabrics. As we sat we were offered a kir royale and met Manager Stephen who was on-hand to oversee and at times help make operations run smoothly. Our waiter Tim, was a great character, even reminding us of a genie, with his shaved head and strong physique! Wow this place goes to great lengths. |
Belly dancer Denisa, amused all with her expertise and even encouraged some guests to join her with a quick lesson in belly dancing. Let the experts do the work is what I say! But it was fun. Most groups seemed to be here to celebrate something or other.
The menu was price fixed and good value with four courses.
We decided to have the chef prepare us a tasting platter of their first two courses, which was delicious, accompanied by some South African Sauvignon Blanc, Nederburg 2003 and Louis Latour Chardonnay 2003.
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Getting hot (and hotter)
at The Sultan’s Tent
with belly dancing, steaming tea
service and tasty Moroccan food
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The platter included a taste of wonderful olives, hummus, zaalouk,(a mildly spicy puree of roasted eggplant, mixed with diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro, with citrus marinated olives), fekkous,(a vibrant salad of apple, tomato, cucumber and chick peas with a citrus mint dressing), maftoul,(hand-rolled “Moroccan cigars,” hot and crispy pastry stuffed with mild spicy beef, served with a terrific mayonnaise and chipotle hot dip made by Stephen himself, delish) and b’stila (a classic Moroccan pastry both savoury and sweet filled with chicken, eggs, almonds, caramelised onions and saffron lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon. |
The next course platter tastings comprised rack of lamb, glazed with thyme and infused honey topped with a ginger confit and Moroccan roast vegetables and potatoes, braised lamb shank with a traditional sauce of preserved lemons, prunes and almonds along with the couscous and Moroccan-style root vegetables. All were very tasty, interesting and different and smoothly helped down by a Peter Lehman Clancys Blend 2002 red wine. |
Bonsoir Paris |
House-made fresh mint and honey tea was excellent with two tiny pastries and Latshin, light, refreshing, fragrant orange slices to round out this fun and entertaining experience. We were off into the night and even bumped into Paris Hilton out clubbing at the Ultimate Supper Club. Toronto, we love it. (Part 2 in our next issue.) |
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