GwaiLo Pop-Up at Senses

For a limited-time on every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night from November 1st through to November 24th, chef Nick Liu (@Ninjachefnick) of GwaiLo will be offering a 6-course tasting menu at Senses Restaurant (@Sen5esTO) in the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel. From GwaiLo Pop-Up's press release:

"GwaiLo Pop-up takes guests on a culinary tour of tastes and textures from delicate bite-sized morsels to robust and deep-flavoured dishes. While the form of the menu is set, the dishes will vary from week to week. Guests will begin with an exquisite amuse bouche, followed by four courses, a palate-cleansing pre-dessert, and then round out their meal with one of Chef Liu's whimsical dessert creations."

Over the course of the pop-up, GwaiLo (Facebook: GwaiLo Asian Brasserie,Twitter: @GwaiLoToronto) will also be hosting Sunday School, six industry nights with seminars aimed at bar service professionals and spirited guests. Cocktail seminars will be led by GwaiLo co-founder Christina Kuypers (@deKuypers). 

I was invited to GwaiLo Pop-Up's (#GwaiLoPopUp) media dinner yesterday night :)

The 6 course GwaiLo Pop-Up tasting menu went something like this:

Amuse - Korean shrimp salad, fried green tomato, iceberg lettuce

General Tso's Sweetbreads - Jellyfish slaw, scallion, chili, coriander

CHEESE PLEASE!

I.LOVE.CHEESE. 

So, can you imagine how deliriously happy I was when Valerie from Charming Media (Twitter: @CharmingMediaPR, Facebook: Charming Media) gave me a buytopia (@Buytopia) gift voucher for the Cheese Emporium?

 The gift voucher was for a gourmet cheese package at Cheese Emporium which included:

Spanish Cabrales Artisanal Blue Cheese

12-Year-Old Quebec Cheddar

French Truffle Brie

What should I do with all this cheese? Obviously this:

Pure bliss.

 I really liked the sharp blue flavour and the grassy aroma of the Spanish Cabrales Blue, and the wonderful crumbly texture and richness of the Quebec cheddar, but what I loved most of all was the French Truffle Brie. The delicate yet strong flavour of the truffles in the soft, nutty interior of the brie altogether in a amazingly creamy concoction was just CRAZY GOOD! I can't get enough of it because I mean, come on, it is 

TRUFFLE + BRIE!

'Nuff said :P

Thanks again, Val! 

Arriba Restaurant

I don't watch football. NFL or CFL. To be honest, I don't even know the rules of the game. But somehow I found myself at Arriba Restaurant two Fridays ago, watching a CFL game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with my friend Audrey, who also does not know anything about football. I know, right? What the heck? 

Well here's the low down. Audrey bought a groupon for Arriba and was supposed to go with a friend of hers that Friday night for dinner, but her friend suddenly couldn't make it so she asked me if I wanted to go with her. And I said sure, why not? Who cares if I don't know anything about football? I certainly don't. And there will be food! Which was a VERY IMPORTANT MOTIVATION.

Arriba (@Arriba_Toronto) is located within the Renaissance Hotel. The restaurant and lounge has an incredible view into the Rogers Centre. 

Photo Credit: Tripadvisor

The view from our table.

Audrey and I shared: Chicken Quesadilla - Roasted chicken, black beans, cheddar & mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions ($14)

Bannock

Bannock (@Oliver_Bonacini), located at the south-east corner of Queen and Bay, is one of six Oliver & Bonacini restaurants in Toronto. Serving a menu that is "eclectic and approachably Canadian", Bannock pays homage to traditional Canadian comfort food while incorporating ingredients that are reflective of Canada's cultural diversity. A form of flat quick bread, bannock can be found integrated throughout the restaurant's menu in sandwiches and pizzas, as well as in the form of garnishes in soups, salads and main courses. Aside from being a dine-in restaurant, Bannock also has a grab-and-go café that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, offering an assortment of house baked pastries, breakfast wraps, salads, soups, stews, artisan sandwiches andddd bannock :) 

I was at Bannock last Tuesday night. Most of the tables were already filled before 6pm (and here I thought I was the only one that eats so early!)

Bannock Caesar - Vodka, Canadian imperial sherry, clamato, salsa, maple bacon ($9)

The Winner of the Culture.licious Cooking Event Contest is...

@beachrockinc

Congratulations Graham! =D Please email Culture.licious at info@culturelicious.ca to let them know that you're the lucky winner of my contest. I hope you will enjoy the Cooking Event with Kyunga as much as I did!

I also want to say a big THANKS to the 23 contestants who participated in this giveaway! 

Here's a snapshot of the Excel spreadsheet where I tracked the #cultureliciouscontest stream from day one of the contest. The tracking was done using chronological order, as in, #1 was the first person to enter the contest. To enter the contest, the person had to tweet "I want to win and attend a free @Culturelicious Korean cooking event worth &75! http://bit.ly/QBHdnj #cultureliciouscontest". Once the contest was over and everybody's entries from the hashtag stream were accounted for, I went through the list to check if everybody who entered actually follows me on Twitter (I also sent the list of contestants to Culture.licious for them to check).

After weeding out the people that did not follow us on Twitter, I was left with 21 contestants. I went to "True Random Number Generator" from random.org to randomly pick a winner for me from 1 to 21.

The Winner of the Stubbe Chocolates + Choco-Locate Giveaway is...

@fleetfreesia

Congratulations Brittany! Please please me at foodjunkiechronicles@gmail.com for details on how to redeem your $75 store credit at Stubbe Chocolates! I guarantee that you will enjoy all the wonderful truffles, bonbons, chocolate bars and more at Stubbe!

I also want to say a big THANKS to all the contestants who participated in this giveaway.

The rules of the contest were as follows: 1) You have to follow me (@foodieyu) on Twitter, and 2) You have to sign up for an account with Choco-Locate using Choco-Locate's iPhone App (or on Choco-Locate's website) USING YOUR TWITTER HANDLE AS YOUR USERNAME / LOGIN. You need follow both rules exactly in order to qualify for the contest. Once the contest was over, Choco-Locate sent me a list of all the new accounts registered ever since my contest started, I then checked the list to see who also follows me on Twitter. The 13 accounts below followed all the rules:

I went to "True Random Number Generator" from random.org to randomly pick a winner from the above list.

The Winners of Air Canada's enRoute Magazine Giveaway are....

EVERYBODY WHO COMMENTED ON MY CONTEST POST! :D

1. JingLoh

2. Yvonne T.

3. itslunchtimeca

4. Yyztwinkie

5.Jeff M.

6. Orsolya

7. polar bear

8. Nic

9. Peter Visima

10. Nicholas Wong

11. Cindy Y.

12. Grace

13. David D.

14. Lina

15. Frank L.

16. Audrey

17. Carmen

18. April

19. Adil

20. Andres Busse

Since I was going to give away 20 enRoute magazines anyway and exactly 20 people commented on my post, you are all winners! Please email me at foodjunkiechronicles@gmail.com with your first name, last name, and address at the LATEST by Thursday, November 1st. If I don't hear from you by then you will NOT get a magazine. I will be forwarding all addresses to enRoute (they will be mailing the magazines to you).

Here are the winners of Canada's Best New Restaurants 2012

1. Edulis (Toronto)

2. Model Milk (Calgary)

3. Ursa (Toronto)

4. Acadia (Toronto)

5. Pastaga (Montreal)

6. Hopgood's Foodliner (Toronto)

7. Grand Electric (Toronto)

8. Keriwa Café (Toronto)

9. Borgo (Calgary)

10. Nora Gray (Montreal)

GO TORONTO!!!

L'ouvrier

Open for dinner from Tuesday to Sunday and brunch on Saturday and Sundays, L'ouvrier is a restaurant and bar located on Dundas West. Whenever I hear people talk about L'ouvrier it is usually about their brunch. Unfortunately, because I can never drag myself out of bed early enough on the weekends and lineups for brunch being the norm in the city, dinners are always the way to go for me. My friend, Audrey, and I decided to go to L'ouvrier for an early Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago.

A large open space with white walls, concrete floors and tables with various shapes and sizes (and also colour....you can see the lone red table in the cocktail picture below), the decor at L'ouvrier (Facebook: L'ouvrier Kitchenbar, Twitter: @louvrier) is all about minimalism.

L'ouvrier's philosophy (from their website): 

"L'ouvrier offers an eclectic menu of contemporary Canadian food paired with unpretentious yet impeccable service. A comfortable environment with modern design elements provides the perfect surrounding. Harmony between functionality and style shape the dining room. Borrowing from the Japanese and Finnish tradition of refined form juxtaposed against natural/organic materials, it strives to create a new Canadian tradition of craftsmanship and style. Allowing 'fine' dining to become accessible to l'ouvrier (the working man). 

This simplistic & honest approach extends to the menu as well. Local artisanal ingredients, traditional techniques and classic pairings are contradicted by playful, contemporary food presentations. To us it is crucial to maintain loyalty to the cuisines we borrow from, while striving to create something to call our own. A kitchen/bar representative of our morals, values and relentless dedication to food and drink."

Dark n' Spicy - Sailor jerry rum, ginger beer, house preserved ginger soaked in vanilla ($8)

Air Canada's enRoute Magazine Giveaway - CLOSED

I've partnered up with Air Canada's enRoute Magazine to do this fun giveaway!

As you may be aware, enRoute Magazine is about to announce its 11th edition of Canada's Best New Restaurants 2012. The hotly anticipated Top 10 list is highly respected throughout the industry from chefs to suppliers to diners and guarantees a packed house for the winning destinations. 

From 2011: #5 - ICI BISTRO

From 2011: #7 - CAMPAGNOLO

Canada's Best New Restaurants 2012 will be featured in the November issue of enRoute. Normally only available in-flight, readers who comment with their guess will be eligible to win 1 of 20 November issues (hard copies) in this contest!

enRoute will be announcing the results on Canada AM on Thursday, October 25th and the magazine will be available as of November 1st. 

HOW TO ENTER

Comment below as to which restaurant you think would make it to this year's enRoute Magazine's Canada's Best New Restaurant 2012.

DISCLAIMER

*Limit one entry per person*

*I will be collecting ALL the entries once the official announcement is made on October 25th (i.e. even guesses that did not make it to the Top 10 list are counted). I will then randomly select 20 winners from www.random.org*

*The winner will be announced with a blog post*

 *I will be forwarding the winners' addresses to enRoute as they will be mailing the magazines on my behalf*

GOOD LUCK!!! ^_^

Culture.licious Cooking Event Giveaway - CLOSED

Do you like Korean food? 
Do you want to learn how to prepare some of the most popular Korean dishes? 

If you said YES to one or the other, or better yet, BOTH, then READ ON!

I'm giving away ONE spot to Culture.licious' Cooking Event with Kyunga taking place on Saturday, October 27 @ 11AM at 713 Lansdowne Avenue (nearest intersection: Bloor & Lansdowne). This class is worth $75!

Culturel.icious (Twitter: @Culturelicious, Facebook: Culture.licious) showcases cooks of international backgrounds who love and are passionate about cooking their signature dishes while sharing their personal stories through an interactive 2-3 hrs cooking event. Guests journey to different lands and acquire the knowledge of different cultures and traditions, as well as learn about foreign ingredients and cooking techniques. 

I attended this very same cooking event (at a different venue) a couple of weeks ago where I had a terrific time! During Kyunga's class, along with making various Korean dishes, she showed us the secret ingredients that make up the sweetness of the Bulgogi marinade sauce and a delicious Korean pancake that is both great for an appetizer or main course. Below are some pictures from the class (see my full post here):

HOW TO ENTER

1) You MUST be following me (@foodieyu) and Culturelicious (@Culturelicious) on Twitter;

AND

2) Tweet the following sentence, exactly as shown, nothing before or after it: 

I want to win and attend a free @Culturelicious Korean cooking event worth $75! http://bit.ly/QBHdnj #cultureliciouscontest

*Limit one entry per person*
*Contest is tracked by the #cultureliciouscontest hashtag stream*
*Click here for information regarding event location*

CONTEST DURATION

Contest starts on Friday, October 19 and ends on Thursday, October 25 at 12PM.

The lucky winner will be chosen randomly from www.random.org and I will announce the winner on Friday, October 26.

GOOD LUCK!!! ^_^