My Toronto
Canada’s largest city has a thrilling mix of cultures, along with an eclectic offering of restaurants and places to visit. Tony Aspler explores this dynamic city and its neighbouring wineries
‘NEw YoRk RuN by the Swiss’ – that’s how the late Peter ustinov described Toronto in 1987. Today that aphorism is even more appropriate. The city’s dramatic skyline (best seen from the islands in Lake ontario, a short ferry ride from the financial district), the traffic, the ethnic diversity, the restaurants, museums and cultural offerings make this one of the world’s most dynamic and exciting places to live.
The symbol of Toronto is the emblematic CN Tower, a graceful concrete needle which was, when it was completed in 1976, the world’s tallest free-standing structure. In 1995 it was designated as one of the Seven wonders of the Modern world. Two-thirds of the way up is 360, a revolving restaurant that houses the world’s highest wine cellar (at 351m). If you have the stomach for it, you can, for a price (and a harness), make your way outside onto the restaurant roof to do ‘The world’s highest full-circle hands-free walk’ – 365m up.
At ground level, it’s hard to find a nativeborn Torontonian. Half the inhabitants were born elsewhere or they’ve travelled to the city from another part of Canada. Some 140 languages are spoken in Toronto – and each seems to have created its own neighbourhood and restaurants. There are even named areas of the city where diners will travel for their favourite ethnic food – two Chinatowns, a Greektown, Little Portugal, Little India, Little korea, Little Tibet. There’s even Canadian cuisine – once an oxymoron, but now very much in vogue (don’t miss Nota Bene or Canoe); and you’ll find historical aboriginal cuisine prepared from recipes that date to 1605 at Boralia in the trendy ossington food strip.
Toronto is home to the fourth largest Italian population outside Italy. Back in the 1960s, immigrants started a culinary revolution that went on to allow the cooks and chefs of other nationalities to flourish in their wake.
A natural wonder
when I first visited the city in the late 1950s, it was known as ‘Toronto the Good’, a reference to the city’s strict moral code. It was said that on a Sunday you could fire a canon down Yonge Street (the city’s main street) without injuring a soul. How times have changed! Now everything is open on Sundays (the Art Gallery of ontario and the RoM are a must), liquor stores, restaurants, bars and shops, including the Eaton Centre (www.cfshops.com), second only to Niagara Falls as a tourist destination.
Niagara Falls, incidentally, is a 90-minute drive west. Adjacent to this natural wonder is the Niagara Peninsula, home to 103 wineries, crafting wines with a growing global cachet, beyond ice wine. Best winery restaurant – Trius (www.triuswines.com). A two-hour drive east of Toronto takes you to Prince Edward County, an emerging wine region (32 wineries and counting) that juts out into Lake ontario.
keep in mind that the sale of beverage alcohol is a provincial jurisdiction, which means you’ll have to shop at Liquor Control Board of ontario (LCBo) stores or the few ontario winery stores in the city; although some supermarkets were recently mandated to carry local and imported wine.
If you want to sound local, pronounce the city as ‘T’ronna’. And 2017 is Canada’s 150th birthday, so there’ll be a lot of partying!