This is the weekly Style File, featuring what’s on the radar of The Globe’s lifestyle desk from the worlds of travel, home and design, wellness, fashion or beauty. Sign up for The Globe’s arts and lifestyle newsletters for more news, columns and advice in your inbox.
FOOD
Chef Steven Molnar, who helms a Mexican restaurant near Toronto’s bustling Kensington Market.Supplied
On the road with first-class eats
If you’re a die-hard foodie, a car lover and a fan of five-star hotels, you will want to secure one of 32 spots now available for a culinary travel experience that seems almost too good to be true. On Friday (Oct. 13), the car-sharing company Turo launched Drive to Table, a partnership with Michelin Guide that offers, on a first-come, first-served basis, dinner for two at a Michelin star restaurant, a fancy car to get there, and luxury accommodation for a night. Here’s the hard-to-believe part, all-in, it costs $250. The participating Michelin-star eateries are Osteria Giulia and Quetzal in Toronto; and Kissa Tanto and St. Lawrence in Vancouver. The luxury vehicles, hand-picked by the restaurant’s chefs, are various models of Mercedes, Porsche and Audi. And the participating hotels are the Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville and Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim. They also provide a chef-inspired driving itinerary for the day with their favourite things to do in their respective cities (including tickets to attractions). For more information about the package, available until Dec. 16, go to turo.ca or the Turo app.
TRAVEL
Sydney Opera House, is located on Port Jackson on Sydney Harbour, New South Wales.Sydney Opera House/Supplied
Celebrating 50 years
If it’s been a while since you’ve taken in a performance at the Sydney Opera House, it’s time to consider another trip Down Under. The distinctive tile-clad shell exterior wowed the city when it first opened in 1973, and it is still considered one of the most important architectural buildings of the 20th century. This month it’s celebrating 50 years and pulling out all the stops with a weekend of free concerts and events Oct. 21-22, with impromptu performances by Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Bell Shakespeare theatre company, Bangarra Dance Theatre and more. A complete redesign in fall 2022 made the concert hall more accessible and fixed wonky acoustics which often plagued audience sitting in the upper reaches of the house. Visitors can take advantage of the city’s high-end hotel boom as several new properties have opened this year, including W Sydney (opening Oct. 14), Hotel Morris and the Capella, all walking distance from the Opera House.
HOME
Manufactured entirely in Canada, Rejuvenate sells for $799.99 at plantaform.com.plantaform
No soil, no water – no problem
For those with busy schedules seeking a fun way to eat more fresh greens, a Canadian startup has a new solution to grow herbs and produce indoors without soil, regular watering or upkeep – it all grows with fog. Plantaform harnessed an approach first used by NASA, to create an indoor gardening system that uses “fogponics,” a subset of aeroponics that uses ultrasonic atomizers to break down the water into a fine mist, using 98 per cent less water than conventional systems, CEO Alberto Aguilar told The Globe. Researched and developed in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada, the egg-shaped Rejuvenate can grow up to 15 plants with refills of water and nutrients every two to three weeks. The first units, priced at $799.99 at plantaform.com, are now being used in homes, businesses and restaurants across the country.