Scrumptious Sleepover

Feeling VIP at a posh hotel is difficult these days. Pseudo-celebrities and doormen with Napoleon complexes often make us feel more like the mosquito’s armpit than the bee’s knees. Enter the InterContinental hotel. A serious contender to swanky hotels in its glamorous Yorkville neighbourhood, it comes across as the younger sister who wasn’t asked to her prom, and therefore developed a personality. The little blunders in a hotel of its calibre – think CD players instead of iPod docks and the SkyLounge located on the terrain level – become adorable imperfections. Creating personalized packages for special sojourns is the InterContinental’s latest selling point. I loved “Dine Around the World” – an experience that includes a personalized, international dining itinerary and a $50 credit toward the aforementioned sky bar. The hotel’s affable executive chef Christopher Perera treated me to delectables like chocolate sushi, and it didn’t hurt that I stayed on a Thursday, when during summer and early fall the patio serves up grilled delights like scrumptious ginger-shrimp kebab and mini lamb chop for a mere $3 and $4.50 a pop. Back in my room, I wrapped up in the Hermès-orange blanket and drifted off feeling replete, urbane and very important, indeed.
- Nadia Litz, Editorial Intern

"Dine Around the World" package, from $215/night (double occupancy), InterContinental Toronto Yorkville, 220 Bloor St. W., (416) 960 5200.