The Best Martinis in Toronto

The best martinis in Toronto prove it’s not just Brits like Bond who have an appreciation for the classy gin or vodka cocktail. The choice is all yours: vodka or gin? Shaken or stirred? With a twist? Or perhaps an olive stuffed with pimento, garlic, or blue cheese? However you like it, look like a pro by ordering a martini at one of the following bars.

Here are the best martinis in Toronto.

6 - Harbour Sixty Steakhouse

The martini at this Queen’s Quay steakhouse is made with Grey Goose, Johnnie Walker Blue, vermouth, and finished off with blue cheese olives for a drink that packs a powerful punch. Not much is better than enjoying one of these bad boys but it definitely comes at a price.
9 - Northwood

The classic martini offered at this quaint bar in Bloorcourt is made with floral Dillon's 22 unfiltered gin with lovely pine and balsam aromas as opposed to a regular dry gin, along with Dolin dry vermouth and a lemon twist expressed over the cocktail or three-olive garnish with their dirty version.
8 - Clocktower Bar

The Summerhill cocktail lover's bar that’s an offshoot of equally expert drink-makers Boxcar Social, stirred $12 martinis here are made with either Tito's or Beefeater and Dolin dry vermouth. The manager straight from the Savoy in the UK actually brought the recipe from there along with him.
10 - Civil Liberties

If martinis are the ultimate expression of a drinker's personality, then this is the ultimate place to get one. There's no cocktail menu here, for any drink at all, just ask the knowledgeable bartenders here for an ice-cold vodka or gin martini made with the brand of your choice.
3 - BarChef

This swanky Queen West spot is the bar to end all bars in Toronto, especially if you’re a spirits lover. London dry gin or Russian vodka start off these $16 cocktails made with Martini vermouth, and a huge range of bitters aged in house for three months such as dill, toasted chamomile and saffron, thyme and basil.
4 - Bar Isabel

Known for cocktail expertise, of course this popular Little Italy spot would make a bang-up $15 martini using Ketel One vodka or Beefeater gin along with Dolin vermouth. They also offer the non-traditional Pinky Swear, an aperitif made with Tanq 10, Belsazar rosé vermut and bigallet thym.
5 - Cocktail Bar

Where else to go for a martini but this Dundas West spot named for cocktails? You're best off opting for gin at this hardcore spot where vodka is openly frowned upon, but beyond that the choice is yours when it comes to brand and style executed masterfully by top bartenders. Their standard uses Tanqueray 10 and Dolin vermouth in a 4:1 ratio garnished with a pink grapefruit twist.
7 - Ritz Bar

Martini glasses at the luxury hotel on Wellington are chilled with liquid nitrogen so they're ice cold, and made using Ketel One vodka, Dolin vermouth, and citrusy Tanqueray Nº TEN, though of course you can have things any way you like with over a half dozen vodkas and gins to choose from at this classy spot.
11 - Library Bar

The lush, wood-filled interior of this bar inside the Fairmont Royal York Hotel is the perfect place to enjoy a classic cocktail like a martini made with your choice of Ketel One, Grey Goose, or many more vodkas, and as many gins, like Bombay, Beefeater, or Dillon’s Rose, as well as Martini Rossi vermouth.

by Amy Carlberg via blogTO