Last Wednesday, I was kindly invited by L’Oreal Paris to a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) movie screening!  Shameless to say, even though I work in Toronto, I never experienced TIFF before.  So this was a great first experience!

It was incredible walking into the L’Oréal Paris Red Carpet Beauty Lounge located at David Pecaut Square.  It was a man-made structure with the lower level housing a pop-up Beauty Lounge where people could get pampered by having their hair, lips, and nails done!  Products featured were  the official TIFF Festival Collection – L’Oréal Paris Collection Privée.  Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of the Beauty Lounge since it was pouring rain outside and there was a substantial line-up of dedicated beauty lovers who wanted to get glammed up.

On the second floor was where I received such amazing VIP treatment and where this Food Friday post comes into play!

Inside the second floor

Overlooking Roy Thompson Hall and the Red Carpet

To see a full post on the L’Oréal Paris Collection Privée, click Here.

I’m seriously one of the most easily amused people you will find. I thought it was super cool to be served this bottle of Fiji water with a straw built into the cap!  The straw was made out of some pretty durable plastic!

Oliver and Bonacini own numerous restaurants in Toronto of which I have featured two on my Food Friday posts: Auberge Du Pommier and Canoe.  But did you know they also do catering?  I’ve also been to a wedding where they catered and the food was absolutely divine.

Given that the movie screening was after work hours, I was super hungry.  When I walked into the lounge and saw a napkin that said “O & B”, my eyes lit up.  Oliver and Bonacini had catered for this event!

First up was the Tuna Tartare. To make this hors d’oeurve party friendly, it was served in a cucumber cup.  Housed inside was ahi tuna, pickled ginger, shallot, lemongrass, salt, pepper and lime juice.  I almost forgot to mention…with the humidity, it felt like 40°C that day.  So having tuna tartare in a cucumber cup was definitely refreshing and helped to cool me down.

Tuna Tartare

I originally thought these was scallops by the way it was shaped but to my surprise, it was Crab Cakes.  There was a substantial amount of crab in this bite-size treat.  Need I write more on how delicious it was?

Crab Cake

When I saw the Woodland Mushroom Tartelettes, I thought it would be heavy from the porcini cream.  It definitely was not.  The tart shell wasn’t overly buttery causing your fingers to be oil.  Instead it was flakey and melded well with the perfectly cooked mushrooms.

Woodland Mushroom Tartelettes

One of O & B’s most requested canapés is the Mini Beef & Yorkshire Pudding Sandwich. Thinly sliced medium-rare beef with horseradish mayonnaise and crispy leeks is housed inside a yorkshire pudding. It was the most savoury of the four served and also the most delicious.  The beef just melted in my mouth with the leeks adding a bright contrast in texture.  The horseradish mayonnaise really cut through the heaviness from the beef  and pudding.

Mini Beef & Yorkshire Pudding Sandwich

The film that we went to watch was A Random Desi Romance also known as Shuddh Desi Romance. Not only was this my first TIFF experience, it was also my first Bollywood movie. Good thing it was mentioned to me that Bollywood movies tend to be 3 hours long with a bathroom break in between, so I could mentally prepare for it.

The movie was amazing! I can see why this Bollywood film is receiving lots of press from around the world. Prior to the screening, Maneesh Sharma, the director, came out and spoke to us about how this film explores topics that aren’t generally in the Bollywood world. It talks about modern love, live-in relationships, and how society today still values arranged marriages.

Parineeti Chopra (lead actress) says her thanks after introductions to the film were made by Jaideep Sahni (screenwriter) Maneesh Sharma (director)

In case you were interested, here’s the trailer:

A big thanks to L’Oreal for making my first ever TIFF experience an amazing one. Not only did I get to watch such an exciting film, I also got to eat some delicious food!

With Kristina & Tess
*Excuse the shine, I was extremely sweaty that day from the humidity. Thank goodness for the fan cooling us down while taking this photo!

With some awesome Toronto Beauty Bloggers!
*Fun Fact: Because we are all beauty bloggers, we each had our own camera. This means we took multiple photos from 7 different cameras. Tess & I were dying from holding a squat for that long. It was like going to bootcamp!

Disclaimer: Even though the movie screening and food were provided by the PR Firm, all opinions are my own and are always open & honest.