The Hyatt Regency Winterlicious 2015 preview

Website: http://www.torontoregency.hyatt.com/
Social Media Handles: Facebook Hyatt Regency Toronto, @hyattonKing (Twitter)
Address: Hyatt Regency Toronto, 370 King St. W, Toronto, ON
When I visited: January 28th, 2015, Media event

The King Street Social Kitchen at the Hyatt Regency is offering a three-course prix fixe lunch for $20 and dinner for $35 during Winterliciois (January 30th to February 12, 2015). Once again I had an opportunity to organize a media event for the Hyatt Regency (read about the Winterlicious 2014 and Summerlicious 2014 event), where top Toronto food bloggers got to sample the Winterlicious lunch and dinner menu, as well as the upcoming Valentine’s Day menu.

The best part of working with the Hyatt Regency is seeing the various changes in their menu offerings during “LiciousTO” events which is curated by Executive Chef Wesley Boodhram. This time, Chef Wesley was inspired by popular street food which helps him create an Asian themed Winterlicious menu with noodles, lemongrass soup and teriyaki prawns. Chef Wesley stated that “my true influences are the people who eat my food… their laughs and smiles it brings over something I have prepared, is truly priceless!”

Secondly, the media events truly show the Hyatt Regency’s attentive and kind hospitality. Having stayed at the Hyatt Regency, I know their hospitality goes beyond the event.

The event started at the Mix Bistro Bar where the bloggers were greeted with a beautiful French Martini with pineapple juice and vodka, followed by dinner in the private room at the King Street Social, which is on the bottom floor of the Hyatt Regency. During the event, we were in the presence of Nancy MacDonald (Director of Sales and Events), Vivek Satoskar (Associate Director of Sales) and Chef Wesley Boodhram (Executive Chef / Food and Beverage Director).

Before our first bite, the bloggers and I had a chance to take pictures of the various offerings that would be featured in the Winterlicious and Valentine’s menu. We had a chance to sample about 7 dishes, which will be mentioned shortly.

Diana Room

With our meal, Niagara’s very own Trius wines were the chosen wine of choice to compliment the dishes. Here are samples of what we tasted from the Winterlicious menu (available at lunch and dinner):

* Please note that the dishes represented in the pictures are the portion sizes of what customers can expect when ordering. The bloggers had a smaller portion for sampling.

To start, we had the tofu and vegetable steamed wonton soup, served with a lemongrass and tamarind gremolata and tamarind and soy miso. This was not a traditional wonton soup with strong lemongrass and tamarind essence. The highlights were the meaty wontons!

Next, we had the red oak salad with aged Ontario’s goat cheese with roasted pecans, grape tomatoes, soft herbs, and sweet mirin vinaigrette. This was a light salad.

The last appetizer we sampled was the grilled chicken satay with a fresh pineapple and apple slaw, and a bambu kacang sauce. This was my favourite dish as the chicken was tender and the slaw was light, a nice change for a typical heavy winter offering.

For the main, we had the King Street beef lo mein with yakisoba noodles, local tenderloin beef, snow peas, lotus root, soft herbs, fungi, mango and jicama relish. This was my second favourite dish with a good balance of meat and veggies.

Next, we had the homemade tofu and black bean stir-fried tofu and black bean, with ginger, crisp veg, snow peas, shitake, udon noodles. The dressing had very little black bean flavour but the sweet dressing and tofu made for a filling vegetarian dish.

I was hoping we would be able to try the 40-day aged rib eye steak featured during the Winterlicious dinner but was happy we got to sample the grilled tenderloin and butter poached prawns from the Valentine’s menu. If you like your steak rare or medium rare, make sure to mention this to your server.

40 day aged rib eye steak

To end our meal, we sampled the passionfruit creme brulee from the Valentine’s Day menu, which was delicious and light. What a great combination! Check out King Street Social’s Valentine’s Day menu.

If you are a food blogger in Toronto and want to be added to the media list for future Hyatt events, follow the Hyatt Regency on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram (@maryshappybelly). There are other ways to reach me through my Contact page.

Thank you to the Hyatt Regency for their hospitality and invitation.

* The meal was complimentary but the opinions in the post are my own.