This Friday (August 14) marks the beginning of the inaugural Estrella Damm Tapas Journey in Toronto! From August 14 – 23 you can visit 20 restaurants across the city who will each be featuring a special menu of three signature tapas dishes, to be served with an Estrella Damm beer, for $20 at participating venues.
Tapas are small, savoury plates meant to be served with drinks and shared among friends. In Spain, they are more than just a meal – they are a way of life. But of course not all of the tapas are Spanish-influenced!
I attended a media preview for the event last night, and was able to sample the menus at three of the participating restaurants.
Nota Bene’s menu featured Belly Buster Sliders, Buttermilk-Fried Chicken and Burrata Pugliese. I enjoy these comfort-food dishes and thought the mini sliders were cute!
At Byblos we had Fried Olives, Lamb Kofte and Salmon Kibbeh Nayeh. While I didn’t love the lamb dish, I thought the salmon dish (a tartar) was really nice. That restaurant is gorgeous too – I’ll have to visit there again!
Our last stop was Carmen where Chef Luis Valenzuela talked us through his tasting menu. We enjoyed Montadito of Lobster (I’m still not sure that I love Brie and lobster, but it was a tasty bite!), Pintxo “El Jefe” (a traditional tapas item made with bread), and Salmorejo Toronto (a YYZ version of a traditional spicy tomato dish).
The food at Carmen was lovely! I probably wouldn’t have ordered those items on my own, but I’m glad I had the chance to try them because they were all delicious!
Of course, we enjoyed Estrella Damm beer at each restaurant. Honestly, I’m not really much of a beer drinker, but I actually liked the Estrella Damm beer (especially when ice-cold!). It’s very easy to drink.
Wondering who else is taking part in this event?
Here’s the full list of participating restaurants (see link below for menus):
- Barsa Taberna
- Beast
- Byblos
- Carmen
- Cava
- East Thirty-Six
- El Catrin
- Kanpai Snack Bar
- Los Colibrís
- Mamakas Taverna
- Marben
- Mata Petisco Bar
- Nota Bene
- Patria
- Raca Café & Bar
- Salt Wine Bar
- Taverna Mercatto
- The Good Son
- Valdez
- Weslodge
The participating restaurants have been hand selected to showcase Toronto’s culinary talent and to reflect all of the different cultures that call Toronto home, blending together tapas culture with flavours from across the globe. Along with traditional Spanish favourites from Cava and Carmen, for 10 days restaurant goers will taste tapas infused with Taiwanese flavour at Kanpai Snack Bar, invigorated with zesty Mexican spice at El Catrin and Los Colibrís, and given a homegrown Italian spin at Taverna Mercatto.
To document the journey, guests will receive a passport at the first restaurant they visit. When they order the Tapas Journey menu they get their passport stamped and will do the same at each participating venue they travel to after that. Estrella Damm is also giving passport holders the opportunity to WIN a trip for 2 to Miami to attend the Estrella Damm Gastronomy Congress and see Ferran Adrià, the world’s most awarded chef. A stamped Tapas Journey passport shared on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #TapasJourney is the ticket to entry for this contest.
For more information about the program, restaurant menus, contest rules and regulations, visit the Tapas Journey official media partner Post City.
*Must be 19 or older to participate. ©2015 Imported by Premium Beer Company. Enjoy responsibly!
Disclosure:
I attended a complementary media preview for this event, but all opinions of the food are my own. I was compensated to attend and share images on social media, but this post has not been paid for. I just thought it would fit in nicely in my “Food News” section here. Does anyone actually read these posts? Let me know! Oh, and some info (and the passport cover image) has been taken from a press release, but the photos of the food are my own.
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