Encore Catering puts an end to institutional food.

Host:  Encore Catering 
Event: Blogger Bites Tasting
Location:  Encore Catering offices: 5000 Dufferin Street
Website:  http://encorecatering.com/
Date visited:  August 20, 2015
Hashtag #encorebloggerbites
Google +Encore Food With Elegance
Email: info@encorecatering.com


No more rubber Chicken!  Encore Catering does it better.

I was invited to go to Encore Catering's 10,000 ft. catering kitchen in Downsview with a few of my fellow food bloggers.  From the moment I walked into their office and then their catering kitchen no detail was left un-done.  First with this welcoming sign in their front entrance and then we were given booklets with pens to make notes and a glass of water and then promptly given a delicious amuse bouche as pictured under the sign.  A lobster Belt.  Lobster, egg lettuce tomato on an incredible brioche slider bun.  We were introduced to the staff who run this family business and then we were brought into their catering kitchen to sample some of their menu items.

photo credit: Encore Catering

We walked into a pop up party set in the middle of an industrial kitchen. Think of it as a private table in a restaurant kitchen with the chef with standup tables and chairs and a small bar set up for a few drinks.

The bloggers jumped right in and took lots of photos of the staff busily working away on the dishes we were going to be served.

Encore Catering has been in business since 1979 and started by Cary Silber, President who used to be a musician at weddings and wasn't impressed with the food he saw at the events he was working at.  He has a food science degree and also one in nutrition and felt that he could do catering better than what was out there so he set up shop and I think he loves every minute of it. He is joined by family members David Silber, VP of Sales and Ryan Silber, Director of Operations and with their Executive Chef Roshan Wanasingha they create some beautiful and fresh inspired dishes that are prepared a la minute to make sure everything is at the peak of perfection.

They are also capable of doing Kosher catering by using their other kitchen that is set up at the Beth Tzedec Synagogue.

The family and staff were so lovely and hospitable and really went out of their way to give us a taste of their best bites.

The food,  the flavours were spot on and the presentations of the dishes were spectacular.  Not your standard chicken on a stick and beef sliders but instead of the beef sliders they had Chateaubriand taco bites that were melt in your mouth amazing.

So much of the food they presented was incredibly labour intensive like their Smoking Beet Tian which was a triple layer of finely diced beets and Chevre foam and sweet and spicy cashews. The smoking part was the tian was covered with a small glass that was filled with smoke so when you lifted it the smoke wafted into the air.

One of their amazing tasty bites that I had 2 of was the Duck Confit Beignet with Rhubarb Apricot Marmalade.  OMG what a great cocktail bite of food.

There was also a dish called Eurasian Inspiration with all kinds of intricate ingredients artfully plated but the star on that plate was definitely the Braised Pork Belly Cube.

Everything was impeccable but the desserts were a work of art.  The Vanilla Semi Freddo with strawberry Rose Consomme was so smooth and light.  The labour intensive Gorgonzola and pear Pana Cotta served in an egg shell and garnished with chocolate was so different from anything you would normally see at a catered event that it was a real show stopper.

I could go on an on about every dish but I don't think there was a bad dish in the bunch that we tried but of course there are always things that you just want to go back for more.

You know bloggers can become incredibly jaded and hard to impress but I know that we were all pleasantly surprised by the whole evening and all of the food.

Much thanks go to ALL of their great staff for an incredibly evening.
I am not planning on getting married but if I was they would be at the top of my list of caterers for sure.

Don't expect a standard price list though.   They work one on one with you to select exactly what you want for your event and will tailor the budget and menu around that.  You select exactly what you want that way.

Give them a shout if you have an event coming up whether it's a wedding or a corporate event or anything else you need some great food for.  I know they will be more than accommodating and you will be very satisfied with the results.

Follow them on Twitter @encore_catering

* The meal was complimentary but all of the opinions in this blog are my own.

Michelin Star Chef Paul Cunningham brings a bit of Denmark to the Bay

 Chef Paul Cunningham a Michelin Star Chef from the Copenhagen restaurant The Paul,  paid a visit to the Hudson's Bay on Queen Street in Toronto to talk about modern Danish food and his new cookbook Paul Food.  Also stopping in for a quick lesson about Danish desserts was HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.  She was the first to sample the delicious lemon, blueberry meringue dessert that Chef Paul prepared for his demo.  She was only there briefly but had a huge entourage and a whole lot of media people there who were eager to see her.  She was only there for about 10 minutes and after she left it was back to food with Chef Paul.  The Bay welcomed Chef Paul and other Danish designers to feature their Danish Design Obsessed exhibition for 3 weeks in September and October.

Chef Paul is an Essex, England born chef who moved to Denmark and received his Michelin star from 2003-2011 at The Paul restaurant.  He has written seven cookbooks. He is married with 2 children and admitted he suffered from burn out and didn't realize it until it was reflected in his children's eyes and concern for his health.  He has made some lifestyle changes to spend more time with his family.   Being a Michelin star chef takes a toll on your personal life and sometimes health with the constant pressure of living up to the high standards and pursuit of perfection.

After Chefs Pauls dessert demo and a lot of selfies with fellow bloggers we all went down to the Lower Level of the Bay to Foodwares, a personal favourite place of mine where the food always changes and reflects the global world of Toronto. We were treated to some Smorrebrod open face sandwiches and Pork Loin, mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, braised red cabbage and of course some gravy to bring it all together.  Although it was cold by the time I ate it after taking a whole lot of photos.   The food is great but the lighting was a challenge.   I was able to take home some of my favourite desserts of fun and incredible marzipan and coconut macaroon desserts.  Pictured below.

I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch with my fellow bloggers.  I am finding there is a secret club of bloggers that follow each other and know who each other are but have never met in person.  I have been meeting a lot of them lately.  It's great to finally meet them in person instead of just being an instagram or twitter friend.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to pick up one of Chef Paul's cookbooks as I didn't realize there was limited copies available and I wanted to try the food first.

If you are around the Bay go check out the Danish exhibition and try some Danish food at Foodwares in the lower level until October 1st.

HRH Princess Mary was very beautiful and I found that Chef Paul was very approachable, friendly and a lot of fun and his dessert was amazing.

Summerlicious Fun in the Sun

I have been Blogging for about 3 years now and sometimes I think nobody is reading my blogs and then I get an invite to something fun like a Summerlicious lunch event and realize all those photo taking moments are all worth it.

I got invited by the very lovely Mary Tang @TheMary_Tang
( maryshappybelly.wordpress.com)  who I met at a Mark McEwan special event recently to join her and a bunch of fellow food bloggers and foodies for a lovely friday afternoon Summerlicious tasting menu sampling at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on King Street.  I have been to the King Street Social room for Film Festival parties before but have never seen so much food presented to me ever before.

We arrived at noon and were greeted with a French Martini beverage.  So lovely even if I am not a drinker I can appreciate the beauty of this and so much lovely food prepared by Chef Wesley.

I was happy to see another blogger that I had met at the McEwan event there as well but other than her and Mary these were all new foodies to me.  But the one thing that all foodies, bloggers and writers have in common is the love of good food.  It didn't take long for all of us to mingle and chat about restaurants and events around town.  It was lovely to spend the afternoon with a bunch of people that totally understood why I do this.  Most of my friends aren't foodies and just know to wait for me to take a photo before we eat but they really don't appreciate food and food photography the way I do.  My food love and photography comes from an early age when i got my first camera in my teens and took photos of everything I could.  Mostly my friends then but I am sure there were food photos in there somewhere.   Anyway back to the event at hand before I start rambling on about other things.

We were seated in a private dining area with a massive sunlight.  It was an extremely sunny day after a week of rocky weather.  I don't know if it was the best for food photos as it was noon on a clear day.  Think direct sunlight and hot.  I was wearing black.   Not such a good idea.  If you understand photography you will understand that food on white plates on top of black table cloths in direct sunlight is a bit of a challenge then you will understand why my photos look like they do.  I used my compact camera so no sunglasses filters on these pics.

First we had about 45 minutes to sample some of the Summerlicious Summer menu items:

Menu:

Chilled Casaba Melon Soup 
with fresh mint, 10 year old balsamic vinegar

Apple and Watercress Salad
Soft Ontario's goat's cheese,
grape tomatoes, toasted walnuts and pomegranate petals

Toasted Portabello and Brie
Grilled fungi, toasted brie, asparagus, cold pressed Olive Oil

Polenta and Short Ribs
Soft creamy polenta, shaved asiago, grilled forest mushrooms, rosemary reduction

Captain Jack's Classic Fish and Chips
Fresh halibut, home style fries, signature tartar sauce

Pan Roasted Rock Snapper
Fresh snapper filet, watermelon radish salad, galette potatoes, martini aioli

Fire Charred Rib Eye Steak
Red chili and tarragon butter, roasted fingerlings, crimini mushrooms and arugula salad

From the Garden
Coconut sweet potato mash, summer grilled garden veg, red pepper and parsley oil


I am not a big mushroom fan so there were a few things that weren't on my radar.  My 2 favourite dishes were the Captain Jack's Fish and Chips and the Coconut sweet potato mash with vegetables.   The fish was lightly battered and crispy, flavourful and not at all greasy.   The vegetable stack was beautiful to look at and was cooked to bring out the peak of flavours of the vegetables.  Yes I love me some grilled vegetables and the addition of the coconut to the sweet potato mash was delicious but be prepared for the sweetness.

After all of these plates of food came all kinds of desserts from cupcakes, macaron's to tarts and cakes.  We were all stuffed and there was so much food left over that we could have had a few more bloggers join us.

After all of this food we were then brought up to the Rooftop Pool Bar where there were glasses of Sangria waiting for us and a whole array of their new Summer poolside menu of lighter fare dishes.  Although I am not sure the cakes would be a big hit for women in bikinis lounging by the pool.  Most of us didn't have enough room to sample the food so a few lucky girls in bikinis that were poolside were invited to dive in to the lovely spread of food.  They were very happy girls.

It was the most beautiful sunny friday afternoon and everyone was wishing they could just stay and enjoy the lounge by the pool, especially after a very rainy week, but unfortunately everyone had things they had to do so we parted with full bellies and some new friends.

As it turns out it was the lovely Mary's birthday the next day so I think this little get together was a nice little pre birthday gift for her and we all enjoyed being her guest.

I look forward to seeing Mary and the other fellow bloggers again soon.

This was a nice reward after working the past 6 months in an office on a contract job and not having the time to be available for events like this.  I hope to enjoy more summer food events like this before I get back on the working schedule again.

If you want to do a bit of Pool Lounging you can spend the day there whether you are a guest of the hotel or not with their NEW Pool Program.

Here is some information about Hyatt's pool deck program: 

The pool program runs from Thursday to Sunday. For anyone staying at the Hyatt Regency on King, the pool program is complimentary. For outside guest, the pass is $39/person per day. The price includes a complimentary glass of Hyatt's Signature Sangria, towels and locker for the day. 

It is best to make reservations due to the capacity.