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Two tropical places on opposite sides of the world, both deeply in love with food and spice, go out for dinner. What happens when Caribbean flavours and Vietnamese techniques share a table?Beverly Crandon's wine-forward Fall Into Spice dinner series is back, this time with Noir X chef Adisa Glasgow and Vit Béo's David Huynh, teaming up for a lavish multi-course menu that brings two worlds together while sommelier Beverly Crandon builds thoughtful pairings around them. Both cuisines build flavour with fresh herbs, citrus, aromatics and heat, which makes them a rewarding match for wine, even though wine stories rarely include them.
Fall Into Spice was created for the cuisines that wine culture has overlooked, and for the people who cook them. Each dinner puts chefs, cultures and communities at the same table and lets the food and wine start the conversation. Beverly is pairing every glass to the flavours the chefs bring to the table, so each pour is picked with its dish in mind. The bottles stay under wraps for now, but the pours follow the menu to bring a few wow moments where a sip can transform and elevate how a bite tastes. Come hungry, and bring your best "wait, what?" face.
🍷 Wine-paired dinner (19+) includes a welcome drink and a pairing for each course.
A dinner-only ticket is also available.
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🍷 A sparkling pour to start the evening, its bubbles and bright acidity cleansing the palate so the first bite tastes fresh.
Chinese Doughnut & Pho-Spiced Beef Tartare (vegetarian option available)
The Chinese doughnut is youtiao, the long, golden fried strip of wheat dough eaten at breakfast across China and Southeast Asia, where in Vietnam it is called quẩy and is served with congee or a bowl of phở. Here it meets a beef tartare seasoned with the warm aromatics of phở broth, the Vietnamese noodle soup whose broth is traditionally scented with star anise, cinnamon, clove and cardamom.
Compressed Cucumber Salad, roasted peanuts, furikake
Cool, crisp cucumber with the crunch of roasted peanuts, finished with furikake, a Japanese seasoning of nori seaweed, sesame and salt.
🍷 A bright, aromatic white that loves spice, crunch and the crackle of the doughnut.
Macaroni Pie, sweet tomato sauce, fresh sprouts
A Caribbean table staple: baked macaroni and cheese, served here with a sweet tomato sauce and fresh sprouts. In Trinidad and Tobago and in Barbados it is a popular main or side dish at lunches and dinners, often served with fish or meat.
🍷 A white with enough texture to hug the cheese and enough acidity to keep the sweet tomato lively.
Pomelo Champagne Jelly
Pomelo is a fruit of celebration in Vietnam, where it is offered to ancestors on the family altar and displayed in the home for Tet, the Lunar New Year. Here it is set with Champagne into a jelly for a sparkling reset between courses.
Stew Chicken, rice & peas, sliced carrots, jus
Caribbean stew chicken is served with rice and peas, the classic side of rice cooked with coconut milk and beans, thyme and Scotch bonnet pepper. The "peas" are usually kidney beans or pigeon peas (which Jamaicans call gungo peas), and in Jamaica the dish is especially prepared for Sunday dinner.
🍷 A juicy, silky red with ripe fruit and a peppery lift, chosen to meet the lemongrass, ginger, warm spice and caramelized richness of the braise.
Sorrel Sorbet
Sorrel is the deep red drink of dried hibiscus flowers, spiced with cinnamon, clove and ginger, that is a Caribbean Christmas staple. Its roots go back to the red hibiscus drinks of West Africa, carried to the Caribbean by enslaved people along with the seeds of the plant.
Soursop Gâteau Basque, soursop sucka bag
The gâteau basque is the buttery cake of the Basque Country, traditionally filled with black cherry jam or pastry cream. Here it is served with a soursop sucka bag — a traditional Caribbean treat consisting of a sweet, creamy, or fruity liquid frozen inside small clear plastic bags.
🍷 A luscious dessert wine that takes the soursop somewhere tropical and honeyed.
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BOOK NOW! - $129 + HST - https://thedepanneur.ca/products/supper-club-fall-into-spice-caribbean-x-vietnamese-with-noir-x-and-vit-beo-wine-pairings-by-beverly-crandon
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Beverly Crandon is a Toronto sommelier who believes wine has a bigger map than most of us have been shown. She is the founder of Fall Into Spice and creator of Black Grapes, an annual evening celebrating Black voices in wine. She has shared her love of the grapes, regions and winemakers that rarely make the list on Global News Morning Toronto, The Good Stuff with Mary Berg and CTV's The Social. @beverlycrandon | beverlycrandon.com
Noir X is a Toronto chef collective built on the belief that fine dining has room for more voices. It brings racialized chefs together to create multi-course tasting menus around a shared theme, celebrating the cultures, stories and flavours that shape their cooking. For this dinner, chef Adisa Glasgow brings the flavours of the Caribbean to the table. @noirx_to
Vit Béo is a Bloorcourt restaurant opened in 2018, serving Vietnamese-inspired dishes with a Toronto twist, many rooted in the recipes of chef David Huynh's grandmother. @vit.beo.to
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The Depanneur is where Interesting Food Things happen. For more than a decade The Dep has been showcasing Toronto's remarkable culinary diversity by hosting unique food events. @thedepanneur
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