The restaurant group behind Canoe and Aera just opened a new sky-high venue
It’s on the 68th floor of Scotia Plaza
The Financial District just got a posh new penthouse. SixtyEight is the result of an unlikely pairing: KingSett Capital, the real estate fund behind half of the city’s skyline, and Oliver and Bonacini, the restaurant group that has catered many of the city’s weddings. Together, they’ve built a 20,000-square-foot space on the—you guessed it—68th floor of Scotia Plaza that’s equal parts private lounge and high-altitude event venue.
A section of the space is reserved for Scotia Plaza’s tenants. It’s an exclusive lounge, café and bar with skyline views meant to make the whole return-to-office trend feel less punitive.
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The main draw for everyone else is Cirrus, a full-service event space that can accommodate up to 200 people seated or 250 standing. There’s also Orion, a smaller, AV-equipped space for boardroom brainstorms or intimate soirées. The catering here leans classic O&B: dishes like Cornish hen ballotine stuffed with truffled mushrooms, halibut with lemon risotto, and chili-rubbed flat-iron steak. And because not every occasion demands a parade of precious plates, SixtyEight also lends itself to cocktail receptions with canapés or food-station set-ups like a taco bar or a liquid-nitrogen butter-tart station. (We don’t know what that last one is either, but we like the sound of it.)
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Located smack-dab in the middle of the downtown core, SixtyEight is courting the conference crowd with its full breakfast and buffet-lunch service—and maybe even the odd middle-of-the-week wedding party now that the average dinner reception costs as much as a down payment.
And because the venue is brand spanking new, there’s still a chance that your workplace holiday-party committee can snag a date—assuming they haven’t already gone and panic-booked a windowless banquet hall near the airport.
Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.
