On Monday, the fall equinox marked the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. To mark the change, Maest Food is hosting a Secret Dinner, featuring a specially designed menu celebrating the new season.

In Japan, the time of year when daylight and nighttime hours reach their equilibrium is called Shūbun. This will be represented in the next Maest Food Secret Dinner menu with a series of Japanese-inspired dishes celebrating “warmth and coolness, air and earth, harvest and transition”, and featuring Pacific Northwest ingredients including the season’s first pine mushrooms. Check out the menu below:

Hassun — Four Seasonal Bites

Green plum jelly, house “sour cream” chips, zucchini and fermented coffee tofu roll, beet & rose, truffle tartare

Wan-mono — Bowl
Sunflower creamy tofu sphere, pine mushroom yuzu dashi, currants, pine mushrooms

Yakimono — Main
Koji-oil slow-cooked carrot, pumpkin seed crust, pumpkin seed purée, radicchio, house-made vegan “parmesan,” Japanese milk bread & Noma projects ramson, housemade vegan butter

Hashi-arai — Palate Cleanser
Herbal & wild crabapple granita, candied crabapples, black currant macerated melon

Kashi — Dessert
Noma projects Pinecone Mont Blanc, yuzu cake, sweet potato cream, corn-citrus foam

To make this event even more special, Maest Chef Tomoko Tahara has enlisted her friend, ceramicist Jonathan O’Leary, to provide the dishes for the table, which will be set in a Nordic vintage style. As an extra thoughtful touch, he’s also created a small bowl and spoon set for each guest to take home as a commemoration and continuation of the night’s experience.

The five-course plant-based meal takes place on Saturday, September 27th at a secret location in the South Granville neighbourhood, which will be disclosed after purchasing your ticket. There are two seatings available, at 5pm or 7:30pm – but due to the intimate nature of the dining experience, remaining spots for both time slots are low! Tickets are $143 each, including tax, gratuities, and your one-of-a-kind ceramic vessel and utensil. Get yours here and, in turn, tune your body into the season by enjoying a memorable meal built from the ingredients that encapsulate its spirit amid a small group of fellow food-lovers – not least of all Chef Tahara herself.