The Week in Yum Sept 11-18 TIFF, Zomato at Parts and Labour and the Toronto Food and Wine Show

Seeds of Persephone featuring Dillon's White Rye and their Absinthe created by Chantelle Gabino at Parts and Labour

The week was almost entirely about TIFF for me. The Toronto Film Festival is always a busy time for me and it usually means that I don't eat much since dinner usually means a couple of glasses of wine when I finally get home before I crash following a steady diet of coffee and candy during the day. Thank god I don't smoke or else I would need to be put on a respirator at the end of the festival instead of just needing to dry out and sleep for a week.

my week in shoes

So, this week was actually a treat since, apart from a couple of quick little jobs on my down days, I spent the entire week taking care of one actor. When that one actor happens to be a charming and handsome man who is surrounded by lovely people, that means that I am having a great time. Add to that, getting photos like this out of the gig - makes me ALMOST want to hashtag #blessed (don't worry, that will never happen):

photo of Jeremy Irons: Austin Hargrave

salmon crudo topped my list of faves

Thankfully, Zomato, the restaurant search site that is quickly taking over the universe, hosted a meetup for some of their active contributors at Parkdale's Parts and Labour. I discovered Zomato when I was in Portugal, looking for restaurants while we were travelling around the country. Zomato helped me find that best grilled sardines in tiny, seaside towns and I shared my reviews of the places that we enjoyed on our trip so when Zomato landed here in Canada, I was already familiar with their service. I have never been a Yelper but I have always depended on Urban Spoon in North America, contributing my blog reviews to their data base. Zomato has since purchased Urban Spoon, making them THE go to app when you are looking for a place to eat. You just hit the "nearby" button and all of the restaurants that are closest to you will pop up with ratings, user reviews, menu info etc. 

So, Zomato and Parts & Labour partnered up with my favourite distillery, Dillon's to treat a group of us to dinner and far too many delicious cocktails. I dragged my date along with me to eat and drink our faces off and meet some of the other bloggers and food lovers who contribute their reviews to Zomato. We shared a bunch of tasty menu items while we sipped on an array of cocktails featuring different Dillon's products prepared by the lovely and talented Chantelle Gabino, the director of wines and spirits at Parts and Labour. We got there at 7pm and the food just kept coming so by 10pm, we had to cry uncle and roll our bloated bellies out the door before the Flintone's style Braised Veal Shank even came out. 

Normally, my go to gin has been Dillon's Unfiltered Gin 22 since the first sip so this was a great chance to try their new Vermouth and Absinthe and the limited run of Strawberry Gin that will go on sale (and promptly sell out) any minute. Gabino's Strawberry Negroni alone is reason enough for me to preorder both the vermouth and the strawberry gin the second that they go live online.

I also managed to squeeze in some dim sum at Luckee with Shack since he spent the week driving me to work and picking me up because he is a gem.

Straight from TIFF into the Food and Wine Show fire for me!

Today marks the start of the three day food orgy that is taking place at The Brickworks, here in Toronto. Over 200 exhibitors, more celebrity chefs than you can shake a stick at and so much delicious food and drink to taste and discover that you will truly experience culinary nirvana. The show opens today and runs until 6pm on Sunday.

Share this post