Name: Joni
Contact: 4 Avenue Rd., 647-948-3130, hyatt.com, @jonirestaurant
Neighbourhood: Yorkville
Owners: Park Hyatt
Chef: Antonio Soriano
Seating: 90 in main dining area, 30 in lounge
Covid-19 safety measures: Frequent sanitization, physically distanced tables, contact tracing
Accessibility: Fully accessible
What’s on the menu at Joni, the renovated Park Hyatt Toronto’s swanky new restaurant
in Toronto Life
The Food
On the main floor of the newly reopened and restored Park Hyatt, Joni serves globally influenced fare inspired by the city’s sprawling food scene. It’s as luxurious as you’d expect for the upscale hotel chain, but refreshingly free of stuffy traditionalism. “In the kitchen, we play like kids,” says Soriano. And so, some of the menu’s best features are the fruits of trial and error: like a purée made with month-old “black apples” aged at precisely controlled temperature and humidity, an experiment inspired by black garlic (and much more delicious than it sounds). From-scratch everything is a given, including miso and koji made in a dedicated fermentation space upstairs. Ingredients from local suppliers—lamb from Tamarack Farms, chocolate from Soul Chocolate, freshly milled flour from Brodflour—make regular appearances in the food.
The Drinks
Beverages include fun, seasonal takes on classic cocktails, a tight selection of beers and an international wine list. Plus, there are a few perks only a place that deals in hotel-level volume can boast—Dom Perignon by the glass, anyone?
The Space
There’s a main dining area and a nearby section of lounge seating—each opulent and grand, but comfortable. Think soaring ceilings, warm colours, and high-impact art like a massive, stunning beadwork piece by Indigenous artist Nadia-Myre. Display cases lining the dining room will feature rotating collections thanks to a partnership with the Gardiner Museum—currently, they encase a fantastical 3D series called “Fable” by Nurielle Stern. The space is bookended by a cozy fireplace on one end and a dramatic, pitch black staircase on the other. Walk up to the second floor for a cool bird’s-eye view