Vibrant Toronto is waking up again

Canada’s biggest city and North America’s fourthlargest metropolis, Toronto, received more than 27.5 million visitors annually before the coronavirus pandemic, making it Canada’s top tourism destination, according to Destination Toronto, the city’s tourism-marketing arm.

As travel rebounds, Canadian tourists are predominating, with traffic from the US starting to return and overseas visitors still scant, according to agency data.

More than 5,100 restaurants closed in the province of Ontario during the pandemic, says Restaurants Canada, a national trade organisation. But this omnivorous city’s food scene has roared back to life. In May, Michelin chose Toronto as the first Canadian city to get its own guide.

“The vibrancy and diversity is still intact,” said Scott Beck, Destination Toronto’s president and chief executive. “Everything that makes our food scene so unique in North America is still there. The diversity in arts and culture is still there.”

The buzziest eateries usually open on Toronto’s bohemian fringes. But alluring restaurants have now sprouted downtown.

“The weekend-warrior demand for social dining and entertaining is coming back,” said Hanif Harji, chief executive of Scale Hospitality, which operates 14 restaurants.

“There’s a buzz on the streets again.”

Harji’s Bar Chica, open since April, hides behind an unmarked door next to a King Street West condo tower. On a recent Thursday night, the high-ceilinged room throbbed with what felt like pre-Covid energy.

Chef Ted Corrado tweaks traditional tapas with Canadian provisions; think British Columbia spot-prawn ceviche, or Canadian beef chimichurris with Ontario ramps.

In August Harji will open Miss Likklemore’s, a Caribbean spot in King West Village. Scale and Montreal chef Antonio Park plans to open AP, a fine-dining spot atop the Eataly outpost in Yorkville.

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Also in Yorkville, chef Rob Rossi’s Ligurian menu at Osteria Giulia is drawing well-dressed locals who feast on traditional flatbreads, salumi and pastas.

Open since October, it remains the neighbourhood’s hottest table. Around the corner, Adrak employs a team of chefs who each specialise in a regional Indian cooking style; the unconventional menu includes smoked salmon with pommery mustard.

Toronto offers endless options for all kinds of Asian food. A talked-about new spot is Cà Phê Rang, opened south of Chinatown by veterans of the French mainstay Le Select Bistro.

A deceptively simple menu yields extravagantly seasoned surprises like halloumi banh mi, shiitake escabeche spring rolls and housemade praline-peanut dipping sauce.

Toronto’s theatre scene, one of the continent’s largest, is stirring back to life.

For the first time since 2019, the Toronto Fringe Festival brought back live performances. At the big Broadway-style houses, splashy openings include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which opened in May; and Singin’ in the Rain opens on 23 September.

On indie stages, intriguing work includes the world premiere of Erin Shields’ Shakespeare prequel Queen Goneril at Soulpepper (opens on 25 August) and the Kafka-inspired Cockroach at Tarragon (opens on 13 September).

After nearly two years of online shows and stop-start openings, Toronto’s museums have returned with powerhouse line-ups.

In June, the Art Gallery of Ontario debuted the sweeping exhibition “Faith and Fortune: Art Across the Global Spanish Empire”, with works spanning four centuries and three continents.

More intimate shows by Canadian artists Ken Lum and Ed Pien explore personal histories through images and text.

And the four-year-old Museum of Contemporary Art offers two knockout shows: “Land of Dream”, haunting portraits by New York based Shirin Neshat, and “Sum[1]mer,” the first solo exhibition by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a concep[1]tualist artist who died in 1996.

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