Introducing: Room 203, Guy Rawlings’ new food event space
Introducing: Room 203, Guy Rawlings’ new food event space
By Renée Suen | January 21, 2013
By Renée Suen | 01/21/2013
(Image: Renée Suen)
Room 203 is the latest project from chef Guy Rawlings, who first gained notoriety at Brockton General before taking on consulting gigs at Lucien, Bellwoods Brewery and Bar Volo. The Parkdale space, which kicked off with a new year’s party, is part-catering kitchen, part-culinary wet lab, part-classroom and part-special event space, and is equipped with all manner of modern culinary equipment (a vacuum packing machine, an immersion circulator, liquid nitrogen). It’s also home to Small Fries, a collaborative dinner series for which Rawlings will pair up with a guest chef, forager, farmer, brewer or artist to cook a meal for up to 20 diners, who are told the space’s top-secret address upon booking. (The next dinner, a 15-course collaborative meal with Geoff Hopgood, sold out within 24 hours.) The project is a joint venture with Rawlings’s partner Kim Montgomery, an event planner, and all events will be announced via their respective Twitter feeds, as well as through Room 203’s mailing list.
186941 The beverage line up for the New Year’s event (Image: Guy Rawlings) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-01-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-01.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-01/ jan13-room-213-01 0 0
(Image: Guy Rawlings)
186949 Room 203’s table setting for the Carter-Rawlings New Year’s Eve dinner (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-09-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-09.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-09.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-09/ jan13-room-213-09 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
186948 (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-08-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-08.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-08.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-08/ jan13-room-213-08 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
187070 Chef Jason Carter joined Rawlings for the inaugural Room 203 New Year’s party (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-10-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-10.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-10.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-10/ jan13-room-213-10 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
186947 Rawlings on what he’d like to do with the space: “I’d love to bring people in from Montreal and build a relationship between that city and Toronto. It needs to be stronger because we’re so close to each other. And to expand out of country—it’s not that difficult to do, obviously the ticket price would reflect the cost of the flight and accommodations—but I think people would be willing to pay for that because it’s somebody different that they don’t get to normally experience. There a lot of people from Toronto who work elsewhere, and here’s a chance for them to do their own thing at home.” (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-07-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-07.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-07.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-07/ jan13-room-213-07 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
186946 Liquid nitrogen as a showpiece at the end of a meal (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-06-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-06.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-06/ jan13-room-213-06 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
186944 Rawlings and Montgomery invested in various modern kitchen gadgets for Room 203, like this immersion circulator, which doubled as a whimsical centerpiece (and aperitif warmer) on New Year’s Eve (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-04-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-04.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-04.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-04/ jan13-room-213-04 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
186942 Montgomery and Rawlings were responsible for all the woodwork (lattice shelving, harvest table, table tops) (Image: Kim Montgomery) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-02-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-02.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-02/ jan13-room-213-02 0 0
(Image: Kim Montgomery)
186945 Co-owners and partners Kim Montgomery and Guy Rawlings host the events together (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-05-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-05.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-05/ jan13-room-213-05 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
186950 The door to Room 203. The space’s secret location is revealed to guests after booking (Image: Renée Suen) Introducing: Room 203 Introducing: Room 203 https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-intro-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-intro.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/jan13-Room-213-intro.jpg 656 416 [] https://torontolife.com/food/room-203/slide/jan13-room-213-intro/ jan13-room-213-intro 0 0
(Image: Renée Suen)
Room 203, room203.ca