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

Cacao Barry^® is honoured to announce that the tenth Flavour Dinner was designed by Executive Chef Luke Donato & Executive Pastry Chef Cori Osborne of Bacchanal.

Toronto, April 17^th, at Bacchanal, Cacao Barry invited 20 Chefs to discover an exclusive menu pairing a secret ingredient with Cacao Barry chocolates throughout the menu. Bacchanal was the perfect location to kick off the 2018 series of flavour dinners.

“Where trad bistro morphs into neo bistro in a refreshed, authentic style you will recognize and appreciate. Food that doesn’t pander, wines with verve, to come and explore. Bacchanal is filled with a lot of heart and a little drama” Welcomed with a chocolate & maple inspired cocktail – we were looking forward to dinner and were sure to have an excellent evening in this beautiful décor!

The dinner started with a sweet and savoury amuse-bouche:  Cromesqui de foie gras with preserved apricot – A crispy bread and cocoa shell revealed deliciously creamy foie gras on the inside pair with crisp champagne. It was a great start to the evening.

The first main course was a delicate Lobster salad - poached lobster, Zéphyr white chocolate & star anise flan, sesame tuile. This dish set the scene: high quality ingredients coming together to create a very well balanced dish.

The flavour pairing dinner had just kicked off for the guests, but the whole experience was initiated 175 years ago with a Scottish man named Charles Barry who started a quest for extraordinary chocolate flavours. Cacao Barry is thrilled to continue this journey today by exploring chocolate flavour 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 and Media to share experiences, discover an exclusive menu and be inspired.

The 20 guests then discovered exquisite Agnolotti - Beet, ricotta, and cocoa agnolotti, poppy seed butter served with specks of Equateur 76% Origin Dark Chocolate. The delicate earthy notes of the beets paired beautifully with the Equator origin chocolate. We had now discovered the secret ingredient: Honey! It brought a delicate sweetness to the dish that paired with the ricotta and balance the stronger flavours of the cocoa and chocolate.

The mains ended with a perfectly cooked Magret de Canard - pepita and burnt honey emulsion, charred shishito with a Mexique 66% Origin Dark Chocolate sauce.

While the guest where intrigued and commenting on the gorgeous wallpaper in the background, desserts prepared by the talented Executive Pastry Chef Cori Osborne,  were about to be served.

The first dessert was walnut and buckwheat financier, Tanzanie origin 75% dark chocolate cremeux, graham cracker, well balance and not to sweet with rich nutty flavours from the walnuts and buckwheat. 

The second dessert - Goat yogurt “parfait glacée” with Zéphyr white chocolate, rhubarb and pine nut was delicious and refreshing.

Nothing would have been possible without Executive Chef Luke Donato, Executive Pastry Chef Cori Osborne and the perfect wine pairings by Lachlan Dennis, General Manager, Sommelier of Bacchanal who took special care of their guests by personally presenting each wine & dish of this Cacao Barry Flavour Dinner. We also want to thank the entire team for their fantastic service all evening.

Again tonight the 20 guests enjoyed a fascinating dinner, sharing their experience and inspiration leaving the restaurant full of new ideas for their creations.

See you soon at our next Flavour Dinner!

Photo credit Josh Tenn-Yuk