Geary Avenue’s new spa serves a sauerkraut martini

You can find just about every kind of comfort food on Geary Avenue—burgers, pizza, pasta. But the trendy street’s latest addition, Sana (pronounced “sauna”), is offering comfort of another kind. It’s a vibey banya that’s part moody bathhouse, part eastern European–inspired bar and restaurant.

It’s run by founders Jamie Webster, Malcolm Levy and wellness adviser Rebecca Nicholson. They envisioned a convivial place—chatting is actually encouraged—where visitors can sauna-hop, cold-plunge, steam, sip tea, and then wander down to the secluded heated patio for a snack and a cocktail.

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Unlike its modern bathhouse cousins, Sana is skipping structured classes for the moment. “We’re waiting to see what the neighbourhood wants,” says Nicholson. “But every now and then I’ll be offering micro and macro experiences, like group meditation, breathwork, gua sha or dowel massage.”

A day at your average spa can make your savings account sweat, so the Sana team was keen to match the price of the Russian and Turkish banyas around the GTA. An “unhurried stay”—which is a gentle three hours of use—goes for $60, or just $40 during off-peak weekday hours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. “The city is getting so expensive,” says Webster. “It was important to us to have inclusive pricing so that a wide array of people from all kinds of communities feel invited.”

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Webster has brought in goods from Canadian artisans, like custom bath towels and robes hand-dyed by Toronto’s Brian Mendoza, exclusive swim suits by Bather and Beth Richards, and exclusive scents from a Grasse-trained perfumer. Levy, meanwhile, has created a nearly hypnotic sonic space, with high-fidelity speakers that play serenity-inducing undertones to match the mood of the day.

As for the restaurant, head chef Mikey Wyspianski, who recently ran the successful pop-up series Here and There, put together a snacky menu of cortisol-dropping eastern European–ish classics. “I grew up eating dodgy pierogies in church basements,” says Wyspianski. “So I started experimenting with more sentimental dishes at my pop-ups, and now they feel like they really suit the menu here.”

The beverage program includes four quirky house takes on classic cocktails as well as a short list of natural wines that will eventually be exclusively from Georgia, Slovenia and Slovakia. There’s also fresh-pressed juice from Collingwood for those skipping the booze because their body is a temple and all that.

The only catch? The restaurant comes with a dress code: a Sana robe—only spa guests can snag a seat here.

211 Geary Ave., sanasana.ca, @sanasana.ca