The 19th annual Eat to the Beat took place last Thursday at the Roy Thompson Hall and the hubs and I joined some fellow foodie friends for a night celebrating female chefs and supporting Willow Breast and Heridatary Cancer Support.  Over $216K was raised! We were lucky that a friend of ours landed from Texas that afternoon and so we roped her into babysitting the two kids so we could sneak out on a date night. Seriously, don’t ever volunteer babysitting services if you don’t mean it, we WILL take you up on it 😉

 

As you may recall we chose two lucky winners to join us at this event and I was thrilled to finally meet with some Twitter friends and Baby & Life winners. I’m proud to confirm that Eat to the Beat is STILL one of my favourite food and drink events in Toronto. Not only does it support a very worthy cause and celebrate top female chefs in Ontario, but it continues to be a well run event. From start to finish I ate to my hearts content and lines ups weren’t bad at all. The longest I had to wait before devouring the decadent dishes was 4 minutes and that was for a very special intricate dish made by Chef Nuit. Aren’t those dumplings the cutest? They were my favourite of the evening, not just because of the colour but taste as well. Those Chor Muang (flower dumplings with ground chicken) from Pai deserved repeat visits but I only swung by once.

 

The hubs and I started on one end of Roy Thompson hall and made our way to the very end. I ate at all the savoury spots and only popped by a few of the dessert spots because I was getting so full. At the end of the night I reckon I sampled from 80% of the vendors and my feet were killing me! Wearing heels was not smart but wearing a stretchy dress was! Our glass was always filled with wine or beer and yes there was Starbucks to fuel caffeine addicts as well.

 

There was plenty to eat as I mentioned, most were amazingly delicious and so it’s quite hard to narrow down my favourites but the following definitely put a smile on our lips and tickled our desires to pop by more than once!

 

George Brown College’s Roasted Pork Belly with Crab Apple Glaze & Pink Sauerkraut

Tilde Tacos’ Smoked Duck Confit Tacos with Jalapeño Orange Foam – I ate about 4 I’m pretty sure! I can’t wait to visit this Danforth spot soon and I’m hoping they bottle their hot sauce!

King Eddy’s Salt Fish on a Chip

Pomodoro’s Lobster Grilled Cheese with Smoked Water Buffalo Cheddar

Patria’s Pinxtos of Torta, Spicy Piquillos sauce and Serrano Ham

George Restaurant’s Smoked Salmon, Wasabi Creme Fraiche and Peach Jam (Hub’s favourite of the evening)

Killer Condiment’s Quail & Fig terrine with Black Truffle and Pear Slaw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amidst the eating we were seranaded by Jazz and the corset wearing ladies were mingling with guests. It’s truly inspiring how these cancer survivors come out and support this event with such gusto and are truly a main attraction at the event. We didn’t bid on any silent auction items but it would have been smart to grab some early Christmas gifts!

If you’re still looking to support Willow you can definitely do so by donating here. As you plan ahead for next year, get there early because some vendors did run out of food half way through. That said, I’m looking forward to next year’s Eat to the Beat when this fabulous event will be celebrating their 20th anniversary.