The magic word that will let you order beer after closing time in Toronto – just don’t expect it in a pint glass

TORONTO'S night life can compete with London or New York on any day of the week, just so long as you don't plan on drinking past 2am.

That's when last orders are called so you won't get served another drop - unless you know the magic word.

Look a little closer and you'll see guests enjoying a slap up meal with a side of “cold tea”.

Order the secret menu item, and like something from a 1930s speak easy, a beer will be decanted into a tea pot from which you can pour out your illicit hooch without being bothered by the law.

Finding one of these enterprising joints isn't too hard - just head to China town and look for the restaurants full guests who look like they've just wandered out of the nearest bar.

But it's not just the nightlife where Toronto competes with the Big Apple.

The CN Tower was the planet’s tallest structure when it was completed in 1976.

And after a dizzying 40 years, the experience hasn’t lost any of its magic. The ever-changing skyline gives you a great tour of Toronto while you relax over a meal at one of the city’s top restaurants.

Toronto megastar Drake paid homage to his home town by getting his picture taken sitting on the spire for the front cover of his 2016 album Views.

An insane photo, until it emerged he had Photoshopped himself into the shot.

On my last day I explored Toronto’s museums, starting with the Royal Ontario Museum then on to the quirky Bata Shoe Museum, where they were showing an exhibition called Standing Tall: The Curious History of Men in Heels.

The collection traces the invention of the heel from horseback riding in Asia, through Ottoman and European royalty, on to cowboys in the Thirties and all the way to John Lennon’s Beatle boots and beyond.

If the previous night’s show had piqued my interest, the exhibition had me sold that every bloke deserves at least a pair of cowboy boots.