Toronto Master Thread

[Yehudaa]

Any updates on whether unvaccinated children above 12 can drive through border/fly with vaccinated parents?

here are the current rules for each age:

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada#children

[Dan]

Mini TR:

Tesla is a game changer: https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=97778.msg2621965#msg2621965

Used ArriveCan, took about 20 minutes to cross the Peace Bridge to enter Canada and about 15 minutes to enter the US on the return. Just a question or 2 on either side.

Olde Spadina is the best kosher stand in baseball (excluding premium stands like Legends). Get the fantastic sausage with fried onions and the curly fries. Talia loved the chicken tenders as well. Pretzels were overcooked. Footlong is good for the novelty, but is much blander than the delicious sausage. Bring your own brown mustard.

Marriott at Rogers Centre is unsurprisingly a real mess to try to get to and checkin before gametime. Rooms are nice, pool area is really tired. Ice machine on our floor (10) was broken and said to go to floor 9 or 11, except you can't get to those floors via elevator as you need to swipe a key. 6th floor lounge has free drinks at certain times which was nice, and the ice machine there worked. Checkout rep had no clue how to redeem a Marriott GC.

Marron's service is lacking as the waitstaff is clearly understaffed, but the food was excellent.

Pantry no longer has dine-in. Ouch. Also had no salted caramels.

Aroma no longer makes most of their menu, but the ice coffee will transport you back to Israel.

Omni is looking a little tired. Talia loved her pancakes. Signature blintzes seemed like they were microwaved for reheating.

Hermes chocolate kokush was nothing to write home about. Cheese blintz with crumb topping was very good though.

Sobeys up north is always fun to browse.

Bali laffa's shwarma and flatbread is very good. Felafel and asian food can be skipped.

Chocolate Moose didn't have much product to sell, Chocolate Charm has heavy COVID shields that's a little off-putting but had a much better selection available. Bought a box from each and will update with a taste test.

Traffic is worse than I can ever remember and it seems like every road is under construction. QEW North was incredibly slow. Splurged on the 407 from Thornhill to Niagara as it saved 30 minutes, but cut out a middle section as per Waze to save about $15 IIRC for +1 minute.

Massive lines at Niagara for activities, so just paid C$30 for parking, wakled around for a bit, and went on our way.

[aygart]

Hermes chocolate kokush was nothing to write home about.

Blasphemy! You will now be blacklisted at the border!

[Dan]

The par baked kokush at Grove/gombos is better.

[aygart]

The par baked kokush at Grove/gombos is better.

I am not a Torontonian so I have no attachment to that or Kalman's kishka

[flyingace]

Anyone know of any apt rentals in downtown area for a Shabbos? Or any hotels in the area?

[Yehudaa]

Anyone know of any apt rentals in downtown area for a Shabbos? Or any hotels in the area?

No particular recomendations, but there are lots of airbnbs, and tons of hotels in all the major chains.

Note that there are very few minyanim (if any) on shabbos downtown, so if you want to be near a minyan I'd say you should first confirm a minyan and then book something newarby. Anshei Minsk is probably your best bet, or maybe chabad or Yorkville Jewish Centre (yes, spelled like a Canadian).

If you need to be near the hospitals for medical purposes, bikur cholim has an apartment.

[flyingace]

No particular recomendations, but there are lots of airbnbs, and tons of hotels in all the major chains.

Note that there are very few minyanim (if any) on shabbos downtown, so if you want to be near a minyan I'd say you should first confirm a minyan and then book something newarby. Anshei Minsk is probably your best bet, or maybe chabad or Yorkville Jewish Centre (yes, spelled like a Canadian).

If you need to be near the hospitals for medical purposes, bikur cholim has an apartment.

Thanks!

[elimmm]

are there any booking tips that y'all know of when flying r/t nyc-yyz?
any specific airlines that have good mileage redemption or hidden city tickets?
lastly, is car rental pickup/return at yyz a quick experience?
THNX

[Yehudaa]

are there any booking tips that y'all know of when flying r/t nyc-yyz?
any specific airlines that have good mileage redemption or hidden city tickets?
lastly, is car rental pickup/return at yyz a quick experience?
THNX

Porter HC EWR-YTZ-YUL can work once in a while. Haven't tried AC HC much.

If booking with cash on Porter, check Porter's site and also other OTAs. Once I found that Skipplagged had a better price on a Porter flight (non-HC), and when I clicked through from Skiplagged to Porter's site to book, I still got the lower price that Skiplagged had shown. Was like $180 instead of $230 or something.

[elimmm]

Thanks!
How long from YYZ to boat shul area? Also, does it take long to get thru airport for departure or arrival?
THNX

[BarryLincoln]

Thanks!
How long from YYZ to boat shul area? Also, does it take long to get thru airport for departure or arrival?
THNX

15-20 minute drive.  Time to get through depends on day/time and level of activity.  Sun night departures to US is very quiet.  Monday AM can be brutal.  Arrivals shouldn't be too bad but will depending on immigration queues and and how many inbound flights of course.

[Yehudaa]

Thanks!
How long from YYZ to boat shul area? Also, does it take long to get thru airport for departure or arrival?
THNX

Note that if you're counting on minyanim at the boat shul, they're not what they used to be. Only specific times now.

15-20 minute drive.  Time to get through depends on day/time and level of activity.  Sun night departures to US is very quiet.  Monday AM can be brutal.  Arrivals shouldn't be too bad but will depending on immigration queues and and how many inbound flights of course.

Any weekday morning can be rough (not for sure, but maybe), and even Sun morning is unpredictable. Afternoons/evenings are better, if that works with OP's schedule.

[avadah]

Anybody know of someone coming from Monsey that can take a small package?
Thanks

[YMW]

Aroma closed shop?

[avadah]

Yup. It's Toronto and it was already open for a few years.

[Dan]

Aroma closed shop?

Ouch. Though not surprising given that half their menu was unavailable when I went last summer. I did enjoy the ice coffee though.

Is Pantry still open? Shocking how it went from a nice looking place pre-COVID to an untended barn last year.

[Yehudaa]

Is Pantry still open? Shocking how it went from a nice looking place pre-COVID to an untended barn last year.

They're only doing catering/takeout. I heard that was always their core business, and that dining in was never a big money maker.

[YMW]

It's a pity that such a nice large city like Toronto can't sustain proper food establishments, there's basically very limited places to sit down to a decent breakfast in the city.

[El Capitan]

Aroma closed shop?

Heard a rumor they're reopening just not under the flag. Wonder if that'll impact practically