WEEKEND IN

Toronto

By Poppy Wilkinson

They call it Hollywood North for a reason. Here’s your guide to getting the star treatment in Toronto – from what to see to where to eat to where to get your beauty rest.

The Royal Ontario Museum

Stay

Start your weekend by booking into the five-star Yabu Pushelberg-designed Hazelton Hotel, a favorite during the Toronto International Film Festival because of its state-of-the-art private screening room (with mohair-lined walls and roomy leather seats). The hotel’s lobby and hallways are equally grand, with gray velvet sofas and rococo-inspired wallpaper. Luxurious but Zen, the suites boast a masculine palate of neutral grays and whites, nine-foot ceilings and private balconies. The en suite bathroom also continues the effortlessly opulent theme. It’s fitted with massive slabs of forest green galaxy granite, heated floors and an LCD TV embedded in the bathroom mirror. (The deep soaker tub provides a perfect vantage point.) Ask for a room with a spacious private dressing area – starting at 80 square feet and made of zebrawood with floor-to-ceiling mirrors – so you’ll be sure to be red-carpet-ready before you head out into the surrounding swanky Yorkville area.

Shop

You are in the heart of where serious shoppers flock to. Fuel yourself by first popping by Pusateri’s, an impressive fine foods store with an adjacent café, where you can grab an illy coffee and an apple-cheddar scone. Browse through the designer boutiques in the swish Hazelton Lanes, offering brands like Manolo Blahnik, Marc Jacobs and Diane von Furstenberg. Betsey Johnson on Yorkville Lane is the place to be if you are in the market for a girlie-girl party frock. But for a true one-of-a-kind find, visit Divine Decadence Originals, selling immaculate vintage haute couture, from Chanel to Balenciaga, hand collected around the world by the proprietress and snapped up by stars like Renée Zellweger and Milla Jovovich.

Just around the corner, Bloor Street offers Canada’s version of 5th Avenue, with colossal storefronts and big brands like Tiffany & Co., the cook’s mecca Williams-Sonoma, the flagship Harry Rosen and the brand-new Sephora, a cosmetics and fragrance emporium. Of course, you can’t quit before you’ve browsed the high-end department store Holt Renfrew, the only place to pick up Kate Moss’s Topshop line in Canada.

Eat

Sometimes bigger isn’t necessarily better. The small servings at Coca, hip chef Nathan Isberg’s unpretentious Spanish tapas restaurant (just across the street from its sister restaurant, Czehoski), are perfect to share at the intimate booths. And this means you get a taste of everything, including the coca (Spanish pizza) with smoked cheese and dandelion leaves, the house salted-cod croquettes and homemade duck sausage.

In keeping with the trend of smaller portions, Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar does a novel and delicious Sunday brunch. Select two choices for a fixed price of $20, from fried green tomatoes with arugula salad to the house-made peameal bacon sandwich. All dishes come with a suggested wine pairing and are sure to up the ante for the first meal of the day.

See

Walk it all off by visiting two impressive architectural landmarks: the newly revamped Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal and Toronto’s glass-fronted opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (with building tours on Saturdays at 11:45 a.m. and noon and a free concert series). When you’re tuckered out, make your way to the Hammam Spa on King West to recharge. Bliss out in a co-ed steam bath before your treatment, whether it’s the celeb-worthy body scrub on a heated marble slab in the wet room or an Indian head massage.

(Poppy Wilkinson is the editor-in-chief of onAir. She last wrote about the Winvian hotel in the November 2007 issue.)

Useful information

Coca, 783 Queen St. W., 416-703-0783

TOP PHOTO: ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM © 2007
FOUR SEASONS CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: 
TIM GRIFFITH