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Your Super Friendly Design District Guide – Midtown

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We asked our friends at local showrooms in Midtown where best to eat, drink and discover. Because who knows better than the purveyors of great design?

Visit Midtown Toronto for posh and practical design solutions, and some seriously fine threads.

Word of Mouth

1 “Fat Pasha (414 Dupont St) is a Jewish delight. How many Jewish restaurants do you know of?! Very few, that’s why it’s cool.” – Richard Bertrand, South Hill Home

2 “Salt & Pepper Catering (287 Davenport Rd) is a small luncheon place that serves the best fresh sandwiches, soups and salads. It is delicious, always super fresh and has friendly staff.” – Arne Nordtorp, Torp Inc.

3 “Rose and Sons’ (176 Dupont St) new delicatessen menu is absolutely amazing. It’s a great place to grab a quick lunch or an after-work drink.” – Spencer Crouch, Moncer

4 “Quanto Basta (1112 Yonge St) delivers an intoxicating mix of delicious Italian fare, great wine and buzzy atmosphere. We’re addicted.” – Martha Grace McKimm, Hopson Grace


Must-Stop Shopping Spots

5 “Want Apothecary (1070 Yonge St) mirrors the style of a classic apothecary and offers a beautifully edited lineup of ready-to-wear designs, accessories and beauty products. It’s a feast for the senses.” – Martha Grace McKimm, Hopson Grace

6 “Ken’s Flowers on Avenue (130 Avenue Rd) has the most beautiful selection of fresh flowers served by husband-and-wife team Vivian and Ken. And they are the nicest, friendliest people to shop with.” – Arne Nordtorp, Torp Inc.

Flùr Toronto by MSDS Studio

7 “Best-looking store – Flùr (1087 Bathurst St). Go there for beautiful unique flower arrangements.” – Elizabeth Dyer, Advice from a Caterpillar

8 “Hacher & Krain (256 Dupont St) is my favourite store in the city. Unique, authentic, genuine and absolutely no airs. For chefs and wannabe chefs, this place is an absolute wonderland!” – Spencer Crouch, Moncer


Sights Worth Seeing

9 “Park Jean Sibelius Square (50 Kendal Ave) for park play, Tranby Avenue for homes and architecture and Community by Kirk Newman (200 Bloor St E) for bronze sculpture.” – Elizabeth Dyer, Advice from a Caterpillar

10 “We recently discovered Woodlawn House (35 Woodlawn Ave W), a Georgian farmhouse built in 1841 and designed by Toronto architect John George Howard. A hidden gem, it’s concealed from street view, nestled among its more modern neighbours on Woodlawn and Walker avenues.” – Martha Grace McKimm, Hopson Grace

11 “Barbara Edwards Contemporary (1069 Bathurst St). Not only is she a wonderful person, she represents some of the biggest names in international art.” – Richard Bertrand, South Hill Home

Explore the rest of Toronto with our other Super Friendly Guides to Queen West, West End, Uptown, King West, King East, and Queen East

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Okay, but it clearly is

For the first 16 years of my life, the bat cave at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)—a reconstruction of an actual cave in Jamaica—was among my favourite places in the city. The cave was decorated with cast stalactites and wax bat models, which hung from the ceiling and threw jagged shadows on the walls. A few other features imbued it with spooky verisimilitude: the drip-drip-drip sound effects, the mirrors arranged to create the illusion of infinite depth, the strobe lights strategically placed to make the shadows flutter. When I visited as a five-year-old, the bat cave scared me. When I visited as a stoned fifteen-year-old, it scared me even more. Then came the renovation.

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