Smitten by the city in Toronto
Famous for urban landmarks like the CN Tower, the Canadian city is reinventing itself with a push for sustainability, writes Emma Newlands
With its skyscraper-dominated skyline, punctuated by the distinctive, needle-like profile of legendary landmark the CN Tower, Toronto is known as a builtup metropolis. But it’s also making something of a name for itself as a hub for more laidback, wellness-focused pursuits, and a major sustainability push.
Indeed, before I set off, everyone who tells me they’ve visited Toronto raves about it including somebody particularly well-travelled who says it’s their favourite city ever, like a condensed and more accessible version of New York. And it doesn’t take me long after arriving to also be very smitten with it.
We fly from London via Air Transat, a Montreal-based airline that flies to various destinations in Canada, and which has committed to running the Gatwick-to-toronto route every day for the next year. The airline also offers flights direct to Toronto from Glasgow.
After touching down, we arrive at our accommodation for the trip, 1 Hotel Toronto, located in the downtown part of the city. It describes itself as a sustainable urban retreat, and this is highly evident as soon as we enter, with the lobby and adjacent seating area home to a veritable plethora of repurposed wood, each piece branded with its provenance.
Above the bar to the far right of the lobby is an impressive dried flower mural by Lauren Wilson, a floral artist who “loves telling stories with florals”, and wanted walking into the space to feel like “walking into nature”, which indeed it does. My room houses more of the hotel’s 1,000-plus repurposed wood items, including some sugar maple reborn as a bedside table. I also head up to the top of the building for a peek at its highly ‘Gram-able outdooor pool that offers impressive views of the city.
However, the next day we get a more extensive view at ground level by heading out on two wheels courtesy of Toronto Bike Tours. I’m a nervous, wobbly cyclist, and to be honest would have preferred to follow everybody else in a taxi, so I’m therefore eternally grateful to our excellent guide Terrence who tests our abilities before we set off, making suggestions and providing reassurance to those that need it (i.e. me). Some near-misses aside, I soon feel like a Tour de France pro and it proves an excellent way to see a city.
Among key sites we see are The Sharp Centre for Design, an ultramodern black and white oblong of an edifice elevated tens of feet off the ground by long multicoloured stilts, a much-snapped sign spelling out Toronto near both the old and new city halls and green spaces including Grange Park.
Later, we spot several of our bike tour stop-offs from further afield, on a trip up the CN Tower, and I think I’d have refused to get back on the plane home without a visit to this landmark that extends to a lofty 1,815.5 feet and feels like it benevolently watches over us throughout our stay, clearly visible in practically every location.
After taking in the 360-degree views, I pluck up the courage to walk across a transparent section of floor, although I am definitely not ready to join the hardy souls we see undertaking an Edgewalk, “a fullcircle, hands-free journey around the exterior of the Tower’s main pod”
It’s like a condensed and more accessible version of New York
some 116 storeys above ground level – in fact the world’s highest external walk on a building, apparently. However, those we see doing it look like they’re enjoying it, so à chacun son goût as they say.
Among the many attractions that can be seen from the Tower include vessels zig-zagging across Lake Ontario, and we will later head across the water by ferry to Toronto Island, the skyscrapers slowly retreating into the distance on one side, and the greenery of our destination coming into view. After taking a stroll around the island, which includes quiet beaches overlooking equally quiet waters, we then head along to Toronto Island SUP, which offers stand-up paddleboarding that provides a tranquil view back across to the city.
All this activity is hungry work, and seemingly the same size as paddleboards are the pancakes I order at breakfast hotspot Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, its flagship dish. I’m delighted to be presented with a trio of the mattress-thick delights that arrive under a generous bedspread of berry compote, and they are so popular that you can even buy a kit to make your own at home, with the box embossed with the excellent slogan “life’s batter with pancakes”.
No arguing from me on that point, and it’s just one of many examples we are served of Toronto being something of a gourmand’s paradise/waistband’s enemy. In fact the Michelin Guide in September announced that 74 restaurants had made the inaugural Toronto selection, a landmark seen as “highlighting the depth and diversity of the city’s food scene”.
The list includes Ration | Beverley, where we try the delectable “salmon mi-cuit”, the fish cooked using a technique that gives it a rich, almost butter-like texture, served with pea husk shoyu (aka soy sauce), radish, and nasturtium.
Also combining the dairy product and fish with very pleasing results is restaurant Richmond Station in the form of a perfectly white slab of butter-poached Pacific halibut served with accompaniments such as maitake mushrooms. Desserts are no slouches either; 1 Kitchen Toronto, one of our hotel’s in-house restaurants and also a zero-waste affair, serving local and sustainably sourced farm-to-table cuisine, including produce grown on site.
I could have eaten my way round the city indefinitely, including a prolonged spell at Eataly, which boasts a massive high-calibre food hall, restaurants, and cooking classes, where we make semolina pasta.
Other local landmarks include El Mambo where The Rolling Stones performed two surprise concerts in 1977, the area’s extensive Jewish history, and a statue of actor Al Waxman, who starred in detective show Cagney & Lacey and sitcom King of Kensington. In front of his effigy, embossed on the ground, is a quote by him stating: “Trust your gut instincts. In small matters trust your mind, but in the important decisions of life – trust your heart.”
Wise words to live by – and my heart is telling me to return to Toronto as soon as possible.
Rooms at 1 Hotel Toronto start at £662 a night. www.1hotels.com/toronto. Air Transat flies from London Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to Toronto. Return Economy Class flights start from £381. www. airtransat.com or call 00 800 87 26 72 83. For more on Toronto, see www. destinationtoronto.com