THE FACTS ABOUT HOTEL LE GERMAIN

Canada Toronto

Toronto has been waiting too long for a hotel like Le Germain, which opened last spring. A mixture of good design, easy luxury and old-fashioned service, it's taken the Quebec-based Germain Group to show this city what a post-Nineties boutique hotel should be like. Designed by Lemay-Michaud Architecture and Design, the two-storey glass front and deep-red brick of the hotel stands out like a beacon from the grey, urban surroundings of its downtown location. The modern lobby is the hotel's best feature, with its high-ceilinged library, soft white couches and double-sided fireplace. It's almost worth checking in just to hang out there. Staff members are professional, polite (they are Canadian, after all) and bilingual; service is refreshingly un-gushy and European. Le Germain's generously proportioned rooms are decorated in restrained tones of deep brown, beige and green, and cheered up by James Lahey's tulip photographs. (The same artist's cloud images, with superimposed English and French poetry, adorn the lifts.) Frette linens on super-cosy beds and Aveda products in the bathrooms add to the pleasure of staying here. Two of the city's top restaurateurs, Guy and Michael Rubino (who currently run Rain across the street), will be responsible for the menu at Le Germain's Luce restaurant, which was still under construction when we visited. If the food at Rain is anything to go by, Luce's modern Italian cuisine could count among the best in the city. WHEN TO GO Avoid winter and book for late May or early June ROOM TO BOOK Go for a large deluxe room, such as number 1013 CONTACT Le Germain, 30 Mercer Street, Toronto, Canada (00 1 416 345 9500; fax: 345 9501; www.hotelboutique.com). Doubles from C$259 (about £100); deluxe rooms from about £125