Eat Harvest was one of many events for this years EAT! Vancouver Food and Cooking Festival. This year was a bit different than in past years where it’s a series of many events rather than the larger trade show.
This event features Canada’s top culinary talent together for a unique epicurean feast. There were lots of opportunities to meet Canada’s top chefs and sample their exciting new fall dishes. The event was headlined by Food Network host Michael Smith and 17 of Canada’s renowned chefs celebrating Fall flavours accompanied by premium California wines and decadent desserts. This sold out event had proceeds from this event support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
Chef Michael Smith
Chef Michael Smith was such a joy to meet and after years of watching him on TV, I was super excited to meet him. He was a lot taller in real life than I imagined.
He sampled Village Bay Oysters from New Brunswick topped with a bloody mary ice. The oyster were very fresh and has a salty and savoury profile, which the bloody mary ice complimented.
Chef Ned Bell | Vancouver Aquarium
Chef Ned Bell has made waves in the Vancouver Culinary Scene and has recently joined the Vancouver Aquarium. His team created a decadent kelp and chocolate custard served over a cookie.
Chef Carl Heinrich | Richmond Station
Once of the business booths of the night was Richmond Station with Chef Carl Heinrich and his team preparing poached halibut. There were lines right across the room, but we knew we couldn’t miss this. The poached halibut was very delicious. Everyone wanted more.
Chef Edmund Yee | Pinnacle Hotel
As the event was held at Pinnacle Hotel, it only made sense for Chef Edmund Yee to showcase his skills by presenting a mushroom gele with truffle goat cheese espuma and en croute,
Chef Ryan Murphy | Anna Lena
Anna Lena, a local favourite restaurant was there with Chef Ryan Murphy showcasing their truffle marshmallow with terragon and potato crumb. It was an interesting pairing as truffle and marshmallow didn’t seem to be a common combination.
Chef Wayne Morris | Boralia
Another chef from Toronto’s Boralia restaurant delighted guests with their mussels escabesche with a shrimp chip, fermened chili, corn and bergamot. This was one of our favourite of the night.
Chef Alessandro Vianello | Wildebeest
Who isn’t a stranger to unique types of meat? Chef Alessandro Vianello from Wildebeest was serving Elk tartare.
Chef Nick Liu | DaiLo Restaurant
Chef Nick Liu of DaiLo Restaurant in Toronto surprised with with a Trout Bental Leaf. Roll it up, put it into your mouth and the flavours were well balanced to highlight the trout.
Chef Quang Dang | West
Chef Quang Dang and Sous Chef Alex Hon put together a beautifully plated dish. A meatball topped with jalapeno, pickled vegetables and herbs.
Chef Dave Mottershall | LOKA
All the way from Toronto is Chef Dave Mottershall from LOKA. They were featuring nduja with seared goat yogurt and burnt honey on a toasted crostini.
Chef Dave Gunawan | Farmer’s Apprentice
Something a little different was the Matsutake Mushroom Broth served in tiny glass. It was piping hot but full of mushroom flavour.
Chef Pino Posteraro | Cioppino’s
They had a salad with organic basmati rice, watermelon, sweet potato and dates. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a salad without greens.
Chef Rob Gentile | BUCA
BUCA is one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto and I always try to go there whenever I can. Their Italian food is amazing. At Eat Harvest, they had schiacciata with Cunza, grapes and vincotto.
Chef Mandel Hitzer | Deer + Almond
Chef Mandel Hitzer created Dirt McGirt, which has feta, concord grape, fermented garlic, dark rye dirt on a rice cracker.
Chef Taryn Wa | Taste US
To feature US products and agriculture, It has a chickpea flatbread topped with an eggplant chutney.
Chef Angus An | Maenam
Crispy Thai Cupcakes was a lovely surprise and burst of flavour. The crisp shell and the delicate flavours of crab with the ikura.
Chef Antonio Park | Park
Chef Antonio Park put together tuna tataki cones, but they sadly ran out before we got there. I think we werejust a few people shy of getting our hands on them. They were still able to put together ikura cones for us, which was nice.
Chef Jack Chen | Royal Dinette
Royal Dinette is another local Vancouver eatery and Chef Jack Chen put together cured albacore tuna with pickled vegetables and sake kasu.
Chef Sean Reeve | The Mackenzie Room
They were serving roasted leek with a crab apple puree on top. A nice one bite appetizer.
Chef Matt Blondin | OMAW
A unique display of cured Chinook Salmon has them hanging on a wire above some foliage.
Dessert Stations
Bella Gelateria
For dessert, Bella Gelateria was sampling 3 of their delicious gelato. Alway high quality and worth a visit.
Beaucoup
3 platters of mini croissants was amazing! Piled high of these crispy croissants. So good. Beaucoup has the best croissants.
Beta 5
Beta 5 had 2 of their new chocolates and their cream puffs to sample with all the attendees. Very solid chocolates that are too pretty to eat.
California Wine Station
There were 7 wine booths featuring a few California Wineries. Of all of them, my favourite is Meiomi, which has great Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a fun event to see all the amazing chefs behind the restaurants. The event was a sold out event and one of the most popular for the EAT Vancouver series of events.
Website:
eat-vancouver.com/eat-harvest/
