The Fox and Fiddle is a pub located right in the heart of downtown Toronto, next to the main campus of the University of Toronto.  For this reason, you’ll see a lot of students in there socializing and that gives the overall atmosphere of the place one of local Toronto.  If you want to experience Toronto as the city’s residents do, then this is most definitely one of the places that you want to visit.

Basic Details

Location: 280 Bloor Street West

Contact Information: E-mail (info@bloorfox.com) and Phone (416-966-4369)

Highlights

- There are an amazing 22 different varieties of beer on tap at the Fox and Fiddle

- On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the pub hosts Karaoke events

- The Fox and Fiddle is right next to hotel accommodations

- There is high speed Internet access available for free inside the Fox and Fiddle

Noteworthy Items

Every Monday evening Fox and Fiddle has 1/2 price wings night.  This allows you to nab twice as many wings for the same price and during the same time bottles of beer are on sale for $3.  You can eat the same and save some money or you can gorge yourself!  The choice is ultimately yours.

On Sunday evenings, the Fox and Fiddle hosts free Pool games in their pub and you get a chance to use the tables they normally have without a cost attached.  All domestic bottles of beer are $3 at the same time so you can enjoy a nice evening of beer and pool before the start of the work week.

Menu

The menu at Fox and Fiddle is similar to the menu you’d get at any pub, which can be a good thing (if you just want to grab a burger and watch the game) or a bad thing (if you’re looking for a long sit down dining experience), depending on who you are and what you want.

Fox and Fiddle offers various pub appetizers (like chicken wings), salads, burgers, sandwiches and other pub items such as fish and chips that do not fit into any of the previous categories.  The quality of the food is above average and the price is reasonable (you can get a good meal for under $10, or a really good meal for under $20), which is something unexpected for a restaurant that mainly caters to students.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Don’t let the casual look on the face of my friend to the left fool you; the Plaza Flamingo establishment is one of the hottest tickets in downtown Toronto.  It’s not exactly a nightclub, a dance hall or a restaurant, but it has elements of all three. 

Rather than forcing you to walk from place to place in order to get the full entertainment that you want your evening to have, the Plaza Flamingo provides it all.  Here’s just a small overview of the different things that you can do and have done when you dine at the Plaza Flamingo.

Dining

Dinner at the Plaza Flamingo is definitely something to be desired and cherished.  Everything that you order is cooked in the Latin American style.  Dishes from all over South America are present on the restaurant menu, here are just some samples to allow you to whet your appetite.

Appetizers: Jumbo shrimp, baked mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat and steamed ocean mussels are just three of the dishes that you can choose from.

Grilled Meats: In this department, two of the highlights are the special Argentinean dish (combination of beef, chicken and sausage) and a fantastic grilled dish featuring both steak and shrimp.

There are also specialty items, seafood sensations, desserts, pastas and cocktails readily available for you to partake of when you dine at the Plaza Flamingo.  Additionally, if lunch is your meal, then you can actually choose to opt for the $7.95 lunch buffet and get a chance to try a bit of everything!

Dancing

Dining is not the only thing that you can do at Plaza Flamingo.  You can also incorporate dancing into your evening, either by actually doing it yourself or by watching others do it.

Plaza Flamingo offers many different dance shows for you to show up for and most of these shows of course feature Flamenco dancing.  One of the most beautiful forms of dancing in the world, it is definitely a sight to behold and you can see it right in the heart of downtown Toronto.

Of course, if just watching isn’t really your thing, why not get up on the dance floor and actually participate?  You and a partner can jive along to music either in a swing or a Latin style depending on the night and if you want to go even further then you can actually get dance lessons at Plaza Flamingo and be involved in one of the shows they give for the people that are eating at the restaurant.  The choice is yours, but all of the choices are extremely fun!

General Information

Plaza Flamingo is located at 423 College Street, which happens to be on College just east of Bathurst. 

The closest subway station is the Spadina subway station on the Bloor subway line.  Getting off at this station requires a walk down Spadina to College and then west on College until you get to 423.

Alternatively, you can get off at the Queen’s Park subway station on the University subway line.  Getting off at this station requires walking west on College until you get to 423 or taking the 506 Streetcar west a few stops.  If you opt for the latter option, make sure you get a transfer inside the station before you leave!

More information regarding Plaza Flamingo can be found by calling (416) 603-8884.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Monsoon is a Japanese restaurant located in Toronto.  However, their menu is a little bit different as it combines the great Oriental cuisine that we’ve all come to know and love with North American influences in order to create a final taste sensation that is wholly unique.

Location

Monsoon is located at 100 Simcoe Street, which places it very close to the intersection of Adelaide Street West and University Avenue (MAP).  It is also just southwest of the Osgoode Subway Station located on the University line at Queen Street West and University Avenue.  If you’re traveling there by subway, simply get off at Osgoode Station, walk west along Queen Street until you get to Simcoe and then walk south on Simcoe until you get to number 100.

Interior

The interior of Monsoon is one of the coolest experiences that you can get in the city.  The overall restaurant seats 150 people in a subterranean setting with a dark ambiance that is partly the effect of the lighting and partly the effect of the colours used in decoration.  If you want to get an up close and personal tour of the restaurant’s interior, simply visit Monsoon’s website and take a look through their gallery of pictures, conveniently presented to you in slide show format.

Food and Drink

The main reason to go to Monsoon is ultimately the quality of the food that they have.  They have menus for lunch, dinner, corporate events and weddings.  Their lunch menu features such excellent dishes as Asian Salmon Tartar and Indochine Spiced Sirloin Beef, while for dinner you can get entrees like Kobe Beef and Organic Vietnamese Pork Tenderloin.  The menu also has wonderful selections for the vegetarian-minded, with vegetarian dishes such as the Butternut Squash Gnocchi clearly marked on the menu.  Monsoon also offers a large assortment of wines for you to choose from, allowing you to get the perfect wine to go with your meal.

Other Useful Information

Reservations can be booked online through the Monsoon Restaurant Website, with reservations for normal parties and large groups required.  More information on Monsoon Restaurant can be discerned through a visit to their website or alternatively through phoning them at 416-979-7172. 

The Monsoon Restaurant, like the recently blogged about Mink Nightclub in Toronto, is one of Toronto’s happening hotspots.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

You’ll meet people of all kinds at the Mink Nightclub and whether you are looking for a fun night of drinking and dancing or are actually interested in meeting people, the Mink Nightclub is definitely a place where you can make it happen.  They bill themselves are being “The Hottest Nightclub and Lounge in Toronto” and don’t hesitate to snatch an opportunity to call themselves “Very Hot, Very Stylish and Very, Very Sexy!”

Location

One thing about the Mink Nightclub that people tend to love is the fact that it is located right in the heart of downtown Toronto’s entertainment district.  Its exact location is 150 Pearl Street, with the closest major intersection to that point being Adelaide Street West and University Avenue.  Mink’s location on Pearl Street actually puts it a block and a half west and one block north of the St. Andrew Subway Station, allowing you not only easy access to it through the main transit vein of the city, but also placing it in close proximity to many of the other excellent attractions that the City of Toronto has to offer.

Inside the Mink

The inside of the Mink Nightclub is decorated extremely well, with a sleek and elegant design that is conducive to dancing or simply hanging out with friends.  The nightclub is divided into the main lounge area where most of the action takes place as well as a roof top patio with VIP booths that seat 12 people.  It was actually voted as being the best patio in Toronto by the Toronto Nightclub Awards for each of the last four years.  There is also a heated area within the patio where smoking is allowed.

Weekly Events

There are many weekly events that take place at the Mink Nightclub, with Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays being the three major days of the week when most of the special events happen.  There is also a dress code on both Fridays and Saturdays so if you want to visit on one of those days, you need to make sure you follow it if you want to get into the club.

The Mink is definitely indicative of the entertainment district in Toronto, which features entertainment that can definitely cater to the needs of singles while at the same time remaining elegant and tasteful.  If you enjoy partying on your vacations and want to see what Toronto has to offer in this area, then the Mink Nightclub would definitely be a good place to start.  I’ll be adding a link to the Mink Nightclub in the blogroll so that you’ll always be able to access their main website from The Toronto Traveler.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Singles: For people that are single and traveling around the world, Toronto is a great city to visit.  In addition to all of the major tourist attractions that are available in the city, Toronto is also home to a very bustling entertainment district containing bars, nightclubs and various other forms of entertainment that tend to appeal to single people.

Married Couples: People that are married and traveling the world will love Toronto because it is home to many different world class landmarks.  Not only is it home to the CN Tower, but Casa Loma, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario are all considered world class aspects of the city and they are definitely things worth visiting.  There are also many great romantic destinations within the city that married couples could visit, including walkways, boat rides and restaurants with fantastic atmosphere.

Families: When reading through tourism guides for different cities as I did a few years ago, one thing I noticed time and time again was that a lot of cities are great for singles or couples, but not so hot when it comes to all around family entertainment.  Even if they did have such entertainment available, chances are the adults would probably feel like they were missing out on other things.  The great thing about Toronto however is that so many of the best attractions work just as well with families as they do with singles.  The CN Tower, SkyDome, Rogers Centre, Casa Loma, Royal Ontario Museum and many other major tourist attractions within the city are all family venues, allowing your family to have just as much fun in Toronto as you would by yourself.

Sports Lovers: Sports tourism is definitely an undertaking that I would like to try at some point.  That having been said, for the bunch of people that already do it, Toronto is definitely a place to visit.  Not only is it home to professional franchise in the highest leagues of soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey, but it is also home to dozens of minor sport teams, minor league teams in major sports and post secondary teams as well.  For a person that just generally loves sports and sporting events, Toronto is absolutely the place to be.

These are just four groups of people I came up with off the top of my head.  Feel free to suggest others and I’ll see what I can come up with as a starting point for them for a Toronto vacation!

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Are you someone that loves it when a guy in an unpressed blazer and sunglasses gets on stage and starts improvising a swing beat?  Are you someone that grew up with the names Ellington, Fitzgerald, Holliday and Coltrane in your music player?  Well, I might not have grown up with those names, but through playing Trombone in my school’s Jazz Band I came to love the Jazz genre of music.

The first time I went to the Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, I was totally blown away by the quality of stuff that they have available there.  Different bands with musicians you’ve likely never heard of before; the only thing linking them is the fact that they all love Jazz and they can all play it very well.  If you are a lover of Jazz music, then the Rex definitely needs to be on your list of places to visit when you get to Toronto.  A list of events going on at the Rex can be found at their official website at http://www.therex.ca/.

The Rex is located at 194 Queen Street West in Toronto, putting just west of University Avenue on Queen Street West and therefore just outside of Osgoode Subway Station.  It is very easily accessible by the TTC so if you want to listen to some good Jazz music, then The Rex is absolutely where you want to be.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

One of the coolest aspects about Halloween in Toronto is probably the fact that so many people decide to have private parties in order to celebrate the occassion.  These might be private parties with friends, or they might be private parties where everyone and anyone is invited (hence the idea of the private party being not so private).

I’ve been to a number of places around the world, and in very few of those places have I seen the same celebration of a semi-major event like Halloween in such zeal in the private community of a place, but in Toronto it is most certainly a very big deal.

Some of these events will also see a big group of kids gathered together to go out on the Trick or Treat hike, but the vast majority of them stay in house to watch scary movies, swap stories or something of that sort.  If you happen to be in the city on Halloween and want to check out some of these private parties, then by all means go for it.  In my opinion, for a person that is not familiar with the city there are better things to do (some of which I’ve already talked about), but checking out one of the not so private parties might also be something that some tourists would find fun.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

If you’ve ever wanted to party down like there’s no tomorrow, then the Halloween Club Hop is most definitely for you!

The price of admission to this year’s hop is a mere $25 and for that cover charge, you not only get access to eight different night clubs across the city, but you also get access to them on four different nights.  It is the event of events for people that like to use Halloween as an excuse for partying.  So bring your spooky best and your dancing shoes, because people at these events know how to have fun!

For more information, check out http://www.clubzone.com/events/event75609.html

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

If you’ve never been to Toronto in October before, then you might not be aware of just how religiously many parts of the city celebrate Halloween.  Halloween is the 31st of October, a day when people dress up in different costumes and some of the younger Torontonians go around to other houses in their neighbourhoods, saying “Trick or Treat” at each door and hopefully ending up with lots of candy in the process!

Chances are you’ve probably heard of Halloween before, but some of the most rockin’ parties on that day occur in downtown Toronto, where people come out dressed in all sorts of costumes, ready to have a good time with anyone else that wants to party.  If you’re the nightclub type of person, then Halloween in Toronto is probably one of the best ways for you to genuinely have a good time within the city of Toronto.  The picture above was taken awhile back, but it shows people partying during Halloween at one of the many bars located in the downtown core of Toronto.  The goal during Halloween is for people to have a great time, so you can’t go wrong if you go with that!

And if you want to have fun during Halloween in Toronto, then The Toronto Traveler is where you want to get your information.  In our first series of posts, entitled Hogtown Halloween 2007, we are going to be covering a number of places within the City of Toronto that are having special celebrations on October 31st in order to celebrate Halloween.  Stay tuned, because some of these celebrations are going to be just great.

Post from: The Toronto Traveler