Cacao Barry® Flavour Dinners to inspire Chefs: 360 The Restaurant at the CN tower, Toronto, Canada
Flavour dinners to inspire chefs: 360 The Restaurant at the CN tower, Toronto, Canada
Cacao Barry® is honoured to announce that the ninth Flavour Dinner was designed by Executive Chef John Morris of 360 The Restaurant at the CN tower.
Toronto, November 20th, at 360 The Restaurant at the CN Tower, Cacao Barry invited 20 Chefs to discover an exclusive menu. Located at the top of Toronto’s must-visit attraction, the award-winning 360 Restaurant at the CN Tower was the perfect location to end our series of Flavour Dinners for 2017.
Welcomed with a refreshing cocktail, guests were also greeted with the stunning rotating view of Toronto. The crystal clear sky allowed us to look down on all the lights illuminating the city throughout the dinner.
The evening started with 3 amuses-bouches which did not reveal the secret ingredient Executive Chef John Morris had paired with Cacao Barry chocolates for his menu. Guests were giving out their best guess but it was not until later that the magic pairing would be revealed.
The dinner started with an appetizer of beer battered Fogo Island cod cheeks served with caperberry & Zephyr™ white chocolate remoulade and Stalk & Barrel whisky gastrique accompanied by a Domaine Salmon, ‘Grande Reserve’, Muscadet Sevre et Maine, Sur-lie, 2015, Loire, France. The first course set the scene: high quality ingredients to revisit a famous classic that everyone loves, the fish n’ chips.
The flavour pairing dinner had just kicked off for the guests, but the whole experience was initiated 175 years ago with a Scottish man named Charles Barry who started a quest for extraordinary chocolate flavours. Cacao Barry is thrilled to continue this journey today by exploring chocolate flavour pairings. As we all know the most exciting journey means nothing if you cannot share it with someone. This is what Monday night was all about, an opportunity for the 20 selected Chefs and Media to share experiences, discover an exclusive menu and be inspired.
The 20 guests then discovered an exquisite verrine with King Cole duck liver mousse, Madirofolo Plantation chocolate ganache and Warner’s blackcurrant preserve to be spread on an orange & thyme cornbread. The second dish was paired with a Huff Estates, ‘off dry’ Riesling, 2016, Ontario to truly balance the strong flavours of the verrine.
The mains started with perfectly poached sea scallops and sea asparagus, with some Saint Domingue origin dark chocolate hidden bellow a delightful k2 Milling grits and habanero aioli. An untraditional yet perfectly executed cooking technic. The sommelier surprised us with a Vignoble Charmet, Beaujolais Blanc, 2015, Beaujolais, France.
The last savoury dish was a to die for smoked Northfork bison filet with La Esmeralda RaRe chocolate & espresso demi-glace, blueberry & smoked Highland Blue hush puppy, and juniper braised savoy cabbage enhanced by a Mas de la Cacadora, ‘Rosa la Guapa’, 2010, Priorat, Spain.
Still admiring the panoramic view, we were finally getting to the sweet part of the menu.
The evening ended with an architectural dessert which featured cloudberries, delighting one of our guests who was born and raised in Newfoundland and who shared her childhood memories of cloudberries.
A corn & Zephyr™ Caramel Pudding, with cloudberry & Ghana origin milk chocolate profiterole with lavender & Tanzanie origin dark chocolate crackle. The sweetness of the caramel with the bitterness of corn in the pudding was the perfect combination paired with a sweet white wine, Big Head Wines, SLH Vidal, 2016, Niagara, Ontario. The 360 restaurant makes a point to offer various options of Ontario wine to promote local products.The dessert gave away the secret ingredient the Chef used in each course of his menu: Corn.
Nothing would have been possible without Executive Chef John Morris and General Manager Restaurants and Events Cameron Dryburgh, who took special care of their guests by personally coming out and presenting each dish and wine pairings. Also the fantastic and experimented team who served us all night shared great stories about the historical building which is part of Toronto’s city life. (Some waiters have been working at the 360 restaurant for over 30 years).
We thank the 360 restaurant team who accepted to host our ninth Flavour Dinner in their fascinating setting; and a special thank you to Executive Chef John Morris who chose corn as the ingredient to be pair with Cacao Barry chocolates to design his five course menu and imagine the most delicious pairings.
The amazing dinner experience combined with the outstanding revolving view of Toronto more than 350 metres (1,150 ft) below was definitively the perfect setting to host Cacao Barry’s ninth Flavour Dinner.
Again tonight the 20 guests enjoyed a fascinating dinner, sharing their experience and inspiration leaving the restaurant full of new ideas for their creations.
See you soon at our next Flavour Dinner!
Photo credit: Josh Tenn-Yuk
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