Toronto’s hotel restaurant renaissance

Dear reader,

Toronto is in the midst of a hotel renaissance. I started making a list of all the new properties, including old standbys that have been rebranded or given glow-ups in the last 10 years or so, thinking I should prove my point by adding a few examples here—but the list got unwieldy fast. And all of these new hotels and renovations come with shiny restaurants, lobby bars and rooftop lounges. In the ’80s and ’90s, the city’s hotel restaurants catered mainly to overnight guests. They were convenient places to enjoy a complimentary continental breakfast before heading out to start your day. Then the Drake came along, Momfuku graced the Shangri-La and chef Daniel Boulud put his stamp on the Four Seasons. Now, hotel rooms are almost secondary to the onsite restaurants, which strive to be dining destinations—be it for brunch, lunch, dinner or late-night drinks—for tourists and locals alike.

In this week’s newsletter, we take a look at the menus of three new hotel restaurants. Well, two actual hotel restaurants and a lobby bar–inspired lounge that calls itself a hotel, but don’t go looking for a room because there aren’t any.

Hilton Toronto’s new lobby bar and restaurant capitalizes on three of our city’s current food-scene trends: it’s in a hotel, it’s open from morning until the wee hours of the night, and it’s French. Frenchy is the new jewel in the crown of the downtown hotel’s full-scale renovation. See what’s on the menu.

The new restaurant inside the recently renovated Hotel Victoria is named for Frederick Mossop, a former hotel clerk who bought the site in 1906 and opened the Hotel Mossop a few years later. A portrait of him hangs in the foyer, where he watches over guests enjoying the Levantine-inspired menu.

Don’t be fooled by its name—this new spot at the base of a Corktown condo is neither Portuguese nor a hotel. It is, however, a café by day, snack-and-cocktail bar by night with hotel-lobby vibes.

The new executive chef of the hotel that may have started it all allowed us to poke around his home kitchen. Take a look at what Taylor McMeekin of the Drake (which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary) stocks in his fridge, freezer and pantry.

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