Hello Reader!

What a whirlwind of a month it has been! I feel like I've been ping-ponging all over the place with so many cool events, which means I have a lot of stories to share with you.

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Kicking Off September in Mississauga

I started the month with something really fun.

As a huge fan of The Amazing Race since I was a kid, I was so excited to attend the watch party with Visit Mississauga on September 2 for the episode featuring the city. It was epic watching the contestants cross the Absolute Towers, aka the Marilyn Monroe Buildings, on a cable.

Before the party, I had a delicious dinner at Madras Peppers, a great South Indian spot nearby. It was nice to see dishes on the menu that were reminiscent on my South India trip.

Toronto's Festival Season

After that, Toronto was buzzing with festival season. I started with a media event for the new Fall Menu at Oria on King, a convenient spot for TIFF, where we tried arancini, pizza, seafood pasta, and schnitzel.

On a Saturday, I braved the crowds at TIFF Festival Street. It was as wild as you'd expect with massive crowds and long lines, but I managed to try some Ferrero Rocher bars and play a few games for prizes.

After leaving the TIFF area, I escaped to the Trinbago Festival at Nathan Phillips Square. The Caribbean vibes were such a welcome change. I tried Doubles for the very first time and loved it, and also had a Jerk Chicken plate to fill me up after!

Later that night, after a rooftop hang with some friends, I was heading to the TTC and stumbled upon the Smoke's Poutinerie World Poutinerie Eating Challenge at Sankofa Square. I missed the actual contest, but they were giving out free unlimited poutine, beef hot dogs, and water. It was an awesome surprise with free live entertainment from bands and even the World Guinness Record Fire Eater.

As if fate planned it, the Tuesday after Trinbago weekend, I was invited to a Visit Tobago Luncheon. It was great to learn more about the destination (rainforest, beaches, unique festivals) and try more Tobago cuisine. I had my second Doubles there, and it was hilarious because the Tobago reps told me they saw my video trying Doubles at the festival!

During TIFF, I also got to attend the Fellini Forever media event at Casa Loma, celebrating the iconic director who won four Academy Awards in his career.

A Culinary Trip to Quebec

I went on a delicious culinary trip in The Laurentians, working with Tourisme Laurentides. With the inaugural Michelin Guide Quebec launching earlier this year and my immense coverage on all things Michelin, we wanted to make sure we covered some of their Michelin-recommended restaurants plus a Michelin-recommended hotel.

But it wasn't all just food. It's such a beautiful region, and we did some fun stuff like luge, nature hikes and gondola rides. Too bad the fall colors haven't come out when we visited because it would've been even more amazing with the landscape. I'll share more when the full article and video comes out, but you can catch a recap on my Instagram stories for now.

Back in Toronto for Michelin and More

Returning to the city, the food events kept coming. I attended a Louisiana Tourism Dinner at Ruth's Chris where it was great to meet destination reps (like Avoyelles, Baton Rouge and St. Martin's Parish), hear about their strong focus on culinary, and even see a live Bananas Foster demonstration. Plus, I never knew until the event that the steakhouse actually originated in Louisiana!

Then, it was time for the Michelin Guide Toronto & Region 2025 Ceremony at Liberty Grand. It's always a highlight to see chefs, industry friends, and creators celebrating. A huge congrats to all the recognized restaurants!

I went to a media preview for Casa Madera's fall menu at 1 Hotel. I've dined at 1 Kitchen multiple times but my first time as Casa Madera. I didn't know their original location is in Los Angeles but really enjoyed the food and drinks!

And finally the last day, wrapping up for this newsletter, I attended the launch party for the return of Toronto.com at the new CHOP Steakhouse downtown. It was a fun party and great to hear that on top of the website, they'll be doing print and radio shows too.

And that same night, I attended a World Dumpling Day dinner on September 25. It was hosted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, in partnership with Cathay Pacific and Art Toronto, at Dim Sum King. We had a tasting menu of different courses like soup dumplings and pan-fried dumplings. There was also a super fun raffle for a trip to Hong Kong where we all had to open a fortune cookie at the same time to see who won. I didn't win, but it was such a creative idea.

Recipes

• ​Celebrity Chef's 15-Minute Salad​
• ​This 10-Ingredient Pasta Dinner Will Change Your Weeknight Meal Game​
• ​Forget Your Smoker: This Toronto Restaurant's Oven BBQ Chicken Recipe is a Game-Changer​

Media Wins & Other News

• I'm so excited to share that I published my first article on Now Toronto! It covers all the news restaurants on the Michelin Guide Toronto & Region 2025 results.
• The first-ever North America's 50 Best Restaurants list came out, and I was thrilled to see I've already been to four of them: Restaurant Pearl Morissette, Taniere3 (but not the full experience), Quetzal, and Mhel.
• I get asked a lot what I use for my content so I finally did it and wrote a post detailing my full content creation gear list!

What I'm Watching

• The Girlfriend: Really entertaining watch that keeps you guessing what will happen next.
• Gen V: It's back! And the new story so far is so good!
• Only Murders in the Building: Also back, and they finally got their groove back again as I felt it was slipping on the previous 2 seasons.
• The Summer I Turned Pretty: A nice rom com love triangle.
• The Paper: I'm struggling to vibe with this one and the characters. It took me a while to really enjoy The Office. Is it the same for The Paper?
• South Park: Always fun and entertaining to see their takes on current news and events.
• High Potential: Still interesting but I think they need to start putting the overarching storyline into the picture again.
• Freakier Friday: Freaky Friday was one of my fave movies as a kid so I was excited to watch this. Loved how it's pretty much a reunion with (almost?) all the cast returning. Though the story itself is nothing special and it was a bit all over the place at times, it's filled with fun and nostalgia with callbacks to the first movie. Geared for the fans, and the songs are still awesome.

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Thank you for being part of my journey! Stay tuned for more adventures and delicious discoveries.

Now, I'd love for you to share your experiences, be it a memorable trip, meal or movie/show you had recently. Just reply to this email.

As always, happy travels and eating!​

Cheers,

Raymond Cua​
​Travelling Foodie & Journey Traveler​

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