What’s on the menu at Overlea, the rooftop restaurant of Newmarket’s Postmark Hotel
Farm-to-table dining in a retrofitted 110-year-old post office
Name: Overlea
Contact: 180 Main St. S., Newmarket, 289-319-7678, thepostmarkhotel.ca, @thepostmarkhotel
Neighbourhood: Newmarket
Owner: Archive Hospitality Group (Gladstone House, Broadview Hotel)
Chef: Jon Turner (Fairmont Royal York’s Reign and Clockwork)
Accessibility: Fully accessible
Archive Hospitality Group, a newly established hotel management company by Streetcar and Dream, is making a bold bet on the charm of Newmarket’s historic downtown. Over the past two years, they’ve painstakingly retrofitted a 110-year-old post office, preserving the Italianate-style shell and transforming the interior into a modern boutique hotel. A seamlessly integrated 20,500-square-foot addition, designed by Kirkor Architects, provides extra space for amenities. Among the highlights is Overlea, the hotel’s rooftop restaurant, which offers sweeping views over the town’s trapped-in-time skyline.
Related: What’s on the menu at Nobu Toronto, the luxury restaurant’s first Canadian location
The Food
Hotel GM Avi Wulfand, who honed his hospitality chops at Auberge du Pommier, was determined to make the Overlea stand out from Newmarket’s other restaurant offerings. “We wanted to enhance Main Street, not compete with local businesses,” he explains. As for the menu, Wulfand describes it as “new Canadian,” which loosely translates to unfussy upscale dining with a farm-to-table bent and a playful disregard for international borders.
“Canada is such a melting pot of cultures,” says chef Jon Turner, whose menu reflects this diversity. There’s no singular dominant culinary influence—dishes freely mix seasonings from around the world. Take the hamachi crudo: it tempers Japanese miso with Spanish ajo blanco. Or the Mexican street corn–inspired cappelletti, where two culinary traditions come together so naturally that you wonder why “fusion” ever became a dirty word.
The Drinks
The wine program here is robust, featuring 70-plus bottles that are esoteric (these aren’t your LCBO bestsellers) and modestly priced, averaging around $70. Curated by GM Avi Wulfand, the list doesn’t lean heavily toward either new- or old-world varietals but instead focuses on excellent bottles that pair well with the food. The cocktail program excels at both classics and riffs thereon.
The Space
The third-floor dining room—part of the building’s new expansion—may not compare to Toronto’s sky-high restaurants, but in quaint historic downtown Newmarket, three storeys up is plenty high. Floor-to-ceiling windows mean everyone in the room enjoys sweeping views of the town hall, antique churches and rolling hills in the distance. But the most coveted spots are on the wrap-around terrace, where tables with built-in fireplaces keep diners cozy.
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.
