After attending an event at our 2016 Festival, Cineplex VIP approached us about working together. The result is eatable@VIP cinemas – a luxury food and film experience that involves serving restaurant quality food in state of the art cinemas. For our two test events, Eatable matched first-run films with top chefs/restaurants and sommeliers to create wine-pairing menus inspired by the films. Eatable worked closely with the Cineplex VIP team to create the program, including the audience experience, operations and marketing and social media assets.

The second eatable@VIP event was the star-studded murder mystery, Murder on the Orient Express. Starring Penelope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Judy Dench, Johnny Depp and Kenneth Branagh, the story unfolds on a lush train ride through Europe. Chef Doug Penfold of Chabrol restaurant created a menu inspired by the original voyage of the Orient Express, including a game consommé with crepe, parsnip and chervil, braised short ribs with chateau potato, lettuce and sauce bordelaise, and petit fours.

The evening started in the lounge at Don Mills VIP with cocktails and canapes, then continued in the cinema with the evening’s host Cineplex VIP’s Brigitte Truong. The Chef and Sommelier introduced the dishes and wine pairings and Truong hosted the Q&A after the film.