Cacao Barry® Flavour Dinners to inspire Chefs: Lavelle, Toronto, Canada

Cacao Barry® is honoured to announce that the first Flavour Dinner was designed by Executive Chef Romain Avril and Pastry Chef Cori Murphy from Lavelle Restaurant.

Toronto, October 17th, at modern, new roof top French restaurant “Lavelle”, Cacao Barry invited 20 Chefs for the first Flavour Dinner. The evening started by a chocolate cocktail prepared by mixologist Jonathan Crosson and guest Chefs wondering what the invitation was about. They were just about to experience the first Flavour Dinner in town.

It all begun 175 years ago with a Scottish man named Charles Barry who started a quest for extraordinary chocolate flavours. Cacao Barry is exited to continue this journey today by exploring chocolate flavours 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 to share experiences, discover an exclusive menu and get inspired.

Nothing would have been possible without the fantastic team of Lavelle Restaurant. Chef Romain Avril accepted the challenge to play with chocolate flavours and imagine the most delicious pairings. But the biggest challenge for him was to choose only one ingredient to pair with chocolate and stick to it to design a four course menu. “I picked the easy ingredient as I was the first one up” joked Chef Romain Avril.

Despite his young age, Executive Chef Romain Avril already has an extensive experience in 1 and 2 Michelin Stars Restaurants in France. But it was in England that he moved away from the classic French training and towards fusion and molecular gastronomy. He came to Canada in 2010 and served as a Sous-Chef, a Chef and an Executive Chef in renown places. He worked with Pastry Chef Cori Murphy to design this Flavour Dinner menu. Chef Cori Murphy started her career in Toronto and Montreal. She has extensive experience in cutting edge pastry creativity and has worked on Sommelier wine pairing. At Lavelle, she is doing what she does best, modern interpretation of exquisite French pastry rooted in tradition and designed to impress. Mixologist Jonathan Crosson has spent the last 6 years in Toronto, Ontario living and breathing the city’s bustling nightlife scene. Formally entering the world of bartending at notable underground hotspot “Unlovable”, Jonathan has since worked in some of the top cocktail destinations in Downtown Toronto. His passion for cocktails is deeply rooted in the past, with his menus always including long forgotten classics that help to contextualize his new creations.

The 20 guest Chefs enjoyed the evening, sharing their experience and inspirations and when the dessert was gone, the Chefs thanked Romain Avril, Cori Murphy and Jonathan Crosson for the fantastic menu. But good things don’t need to come to an end, Romain Avril appointed Brand Olson to be the host for the next Flavour Dinner in Toronto. The 20 guest Chefs left full of new ideas for their creations.

See you soon at our next Flavour Dinner.