Canada: mountainous lakes in British Columbia, wild black bears in the North, and maple leaf-lined roads in Ontario. Toronto: the home of the Toronto Film Festival, the Blue Jays, and the CN Tower. But now I know that only really scratches the surface.
What I didn’t know about Toronto before I visited, was quite how multi-cultural the city is. Our flights to (and from) Toronto with Air Canada landed ahead of schedule — giving us a little extra time on the ground, and I soon found myself whistling down the Gardiner Expressway, gazing out of the car window as the city’s profile of skyscrapers line up along the horizon. We turn off, weaving through side streets in downtown – where we’ll soon be checking into Shangri-La Toronto – flying by street signs translated into different languages. While only a few hours from Quebec, our driver explains that French isn’t even in the top ten languages spoken in the city. Mandarin and Cantonese closely follow English, alongside Tagalog, Spanish, and Tamil.
Later that day, I’d come to understand that the same goes for the food. A historic recipe for Pastel de Nata, Canadian poutine, and Jamaican bites rub shoulders at the city’s famous St. Lawrence Market, each served from food stalls that have remained there for generations. In fact, over half of Toronto’s population was born outside of Canada. Just shy of the American border, you’ll find over 250 ethnicities, representing over 200 hundred languages, living side-by-side in the three-million-people city.
After a long weekend at Shangri-La Toronto, I felt like I saw more of the world than just one impressive city.
The Vibe
Stepping into the glass Lobby Lounge of Shangri-La Toronto – past the silver-cast sculpture Rising by Chinese artist Zhang Huan – it’s clear that the hotel is a cultural meeting point in the city. The ebbing waves of Toronto’s city-dwellers, touristing families, and travelling businesspeople mingle over afternoon teas and Royal Blossom cocktails in the fire-lit space, catching up amongst Chinese artist Wang Xu Yuan’s ink-calligraphy paintings and Versace, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, YSL and Thea Porter dresses on display. It’s a fashionable affair here.
Most nights and evenings, live music mixes with the chatter, as local pianists perform on the Fazioli piano (etched with Joni Mitchell’s lyrics), alongside guitarists, saxophonists, and singers. Sat right on the intersection between Canada’s largest financial distinct and Toronto’s entertainment district, you feel like you’re caught between two of the city’s pulse points (though the lounge feels like one in itself). In downtown, The Distillery District livens up to the tune of tequila, craft beer, and local buskers by night; in the financial district, a tapestry of office lights illuminate some of the city’s most impressive buildings during the early hours. It’s all at your fingertips here.
The Rooms
Photographer: Phillip Reed
The bathroom. If I had to summarise my (630-square-feet) suite in two words, those would probably suffice. Straddling an entire corner of the glass skyscraper, a his-and-her Blue Astrale marble sink is topped with John Masters Organic toiletries, and a vintage hand clock is framed by floor-to-ceiling views of the city. There are personable touches, with all the swish modern amenities a five-star hotel should boast: a TV in the mirror for in-bath watching; adjustable lighting; a heated marble-tiled floor. My eyes quickly move over to the tub with bubble settings overlooking the horizon; it’s not every trip that you feel like you can take in the entire city (CN Tower included) while soaking in the bath. To the dismay of my willpower to see the sights on foot, the teasing skyline visible from the bath triumphed time and time again.
Photographer: Philip Reed
Back in the suite (a staggeringly spacious design for its central location), a walk-in wardrobe, Queen-sized bed, and living-space with desk and sofa await, all divided by Asian-inspired wood lattice doors. Ink calligraphy paintings decorate the walls, while a well-stocked mini bar (featuring Shangri-La’s signature tea) is sure to keep you entertained. However, it’s the views sweeping down University Avenue, which glows pink at sunrise and teases multiple golden hours come dusk (as the lowering sun dips between the neighbouring buildings, only to reappear again down an adjacent street or in a glassy reflection) that ties it all beautifully into Toronto.
The Food + Drink
Eating where the locals do is always a good idea. So, on a sunny afternoon, Chef Troy Cabarios, who heads up Shangri-La Toronto’s restaurants, journeyed us down past Toronto’s postcard Flatiron building to St. Lawrence Market, where stalls stocked with fresh seasonal produce and delis full of the finest Italian goods meet Anthony Bourdain’s mortadella sandwich (always a hallmark of good taste if the legendary food journalist has visited). Once a hub for European Jewish immigrants arriving into Toronto, rather than being pushed out of the city, the city has grown around (and with) these communities, solidifying the food culture, recipes, and traditions as core part of the city’s food scene. While now a well-known spot in Toronto, it’s as much a local’s hub as it is a stop-by for hungry visitors, which was clear to see in the faces of the milling crowds between slurping down locally-shucked oysters served with fresh lemon, and sampling local hot sauce.
Photographer: Marcelo Barbosa
Chef Troy Cabarios continued to ensure we were well-fed back at Shangri-La Toronto, with a three-course Italian-inspired dinner at bosk, where heirloom beetroot salad was followed by a delicately cooked Fogo Island turbot served with a Canadian lobster emulsion and vegetables, and later, chocolate hazelnut rocher with orange confit. Each comes with a wine pairing for 90 CAD total, focussing on local bottles from Niagara. The dishes nod to Mediterranean flavours (gnocchi with truffles and parmigiano, locally-cut salumi) with the chef’s own creative flair evident through unique textures and emulsions, local seasonal vegetables (kabocha squash and pickled apple for late autumn) and Kaviari trout roe. It’s here that every morning a breakfast of Canadian pancakes, or, on a healthier note, egg white omelettes with asparagus are dined on.
Afternoon Tea in the Lobby Lounge is a signature standout (and especially good post-spa), serving cured-trout cucumber rolls, devilled eggs, and focaccia panini to start, with blackforest cake and blueberry-haskap pie to follow, alongside a selection of teas – the Shangri-La signature-blend Ceylon black tea with hints of rose cuts through the sweet treats perfectly.
The Spa
Flit down the raw-silk adorned corridors (past the Asian objects d’art) and hit level five on the lift button. Miraj Hammam Spa’s nine treatment suites await. They start in the Moroccan-inspired Alhambra lounge, where dim lighting, canopy-covered lounge seating, fresh mint teas and jars of coconut cookies set the relaxing tone. The deep tissue massage using calming lavender oils will smooth out any post-flight knots, followed by an incredibly rejuvenating neck massage and facial. Warm up for your massage (or relax post-workout in the adjoining 9,000-square-foot health club – Pilates, yoga, and a pool included) between the steam room and sauna.
The Little Extras
Photographer: Kevin Kaminski
If you’ve admired the impressive bouquets of fresh blooms (the purple orchids, fresh dahlias, and perfectly-shaped roses) scattered amongst the pristine marble lobby, you’ll be pleased to find the florist tucked opposite the valet entrance to the hotel. Opposite, a small counter cafe sells coffees and fresh bakes to grab and go – like we did on our way to explore Niagara Falls.
The To-Do List
As part of Shangri-La Toronto’s Eat, Play, Love offering – a clever take on the well-loved movie – adventure and the city is interwoven in the stay. For “Eat” Chef Troy Cabarios will tour you around St. Lawrence Market, offering a $100 gift card to spend on the culinary delights of your choosing included. As the “love” (standing in for “self-love”) part of Shangri-La’s experience, a bath will be run for you in your suite, including an Essence of Shangri-La candle, bathbomb, and fresh pink rose petals, with popcorn, sweet treats, and a movie of your choice waiting for you in your bedroom to unwind from the day – the perfect antidote to a bracing (but exhilarating) day spent on foot exploring Ontario’s capital. “Play” takes you back outside the hotel, to Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada.
But it’s ultimately the one-and-a-half-hour drive out of the city, through the red-maple trees, passing by St Catharine’s 19th-century colonial English architecture, to the border with Buffalo, New York, that steals the limelight. The thundering sounds of Niagara Falls are unmissable. Further from the spray, Niagara Helicopters (part of Shangri-La Toronto’s signature stay package) whisked us over the storied landscape, one that has historically played such an important part of Indigenous culture, which you can learn more about at Niagara Parks’ new immersive experience.
It turns out that the best chaser to helicopter-ride nerves (guilty) is icewine, made by pressing frozen grapes straight from the vine for extra sweetness. So over to Peller Wine Estates we hopped, where the extreme temperatures (40ºC summers and –20ºC winters) provide the perfect conditions for this. In fact, Canada is responsible for 90 per cent of the world’s icewine, and we enjoyed many tastings of it: amongst the vines, in the -10ºC Icewine Lounge, and later warmed up by the fire with a two-course lunch at The Winery Restaurant.
Back over in the city, Destination Toronto offers a great VIP City Pass with access to all the top sights in the capital. Hop up the CN Tower early morning before the crowds catch on, take in the tall skyline from a boat to the Toronto Islands in Lake Ontario, or catch the Toronto Maple Leafs score a home run at Scotiabank Arena. My personal favourite is to take on the museums: Art Gallery of Ontario for its impressive Canadian collection, Royal Ontario Museum for natural history, Gardiner Museum for ceramics and decorative arts, and, my personal favourite, the Bata Shoe Museum for a complete history of shoe design around the world.
Fly direct from London to Toronto with Air Canada, who operate 26 services per week, up to four services a day. Rates start from £457 for an adult return economy standard fair (including 1 x checked bag and taxes) in low season. Top tip: make the most of Air Canada’s real-time baggage tracking function in the app; by doing so were able to time our arrival at the carousel almost perfectly, helping us breeze through the airport quickly and begin our journey.
Photos by Shangri-La Toronto and Destination Toronto. Lead image by Philip Reed
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