Where to drink like a star during the 2015 TIFF

By Patricia Noonan Toronto is gearing up for TIFF 2015 and so are the bars, restaurants and hotel lounges. While almost any place in the TIFF zone is fair game, there are several places, old and new, that are great for star watching. The 'usual suspects' where you can sip and savour the TIFF celeb scene are venerable spots like The Roof Lounge at The Park Hyatt or One Restaurant's bar at The Hazelton Hotel for that tony Yorkville experience. For the downtown scene, The Thompson Rooftop Lounge, The Ritz-Carleton DEQ Lounge and Luma are destinations in and of themselves for any kind of people watching. At Luma, a star studded cocktail list including drinks like The After Party or The Red Carpet and yes, a Hollywood North champagne-styled cocktail. The InterContinental Toronto Centre is TIFF-central for North American press junkets, so it’s quite likely you’ll see stars at Azure Restaurant and Bar, just off the hotel lobby. Their cocktail list includes a Hollywood North Martini, among other themed drinks. Just add the TIFF factor and any cocktail hour becomes imbued with star quality, not to mention fabulous drink potential. At East Thirty Six on Wellington Street East, star quality cocktails have been created with several of the top films in mind. TIFF themed cocktails are matched up with the festival and several films. The film Lolo features Violette, a forty-something character, matched with the Kir Provençal, a complex, flavour layered champagne-style cocktail. The E36 Smoked Boulevardier pairs with the TIFF opening night gala presentation, Demolition, while the London Amaro cocktail is a nod to the film Legend, based on the true story of the Kray brothers -identical twin gangsters ruling the nightclub scene in swinging sixties London.

1 oz. gin ½ oz. Fernet Branca ½ oz. Chestnut liquor Splash of Gentiane liquor 2 dashes of black walnut bitters Lemon twist Method Chill a coupe glass. Add ice to cocktail shaker, followed by all ingredients. Stir and strain into chilled glass and garnish with lemon twist.

And slightly off the TIFF beaten track, in The Distillery District, The Stirling Room sees lots of before, during and after parties. Their White Star cocktail will make the night sparkle. Happy 40th TIFF. Cheers!