Sweet n’ Cozy : A Winter Menu for Demetres

Demetres, to those of us from Toronto & the GTA, is a name that conjures up visions of whipped cream, waffles, cakes… chocolate syrups.. cookie crumbles.. something that this dessert cafe has been perfecting since the 1980s! They started on the Danforth strip, but now boast locations all around the GTA, and they have an extensive (and I mean extensive) menu of sweet treats that is refreshed every season. As part of this ever-changing menu, they work with local artists and designers to create a fresh, fun and unique look for the dining menu - and this is where I came in!

For the Winter 2024 menu cover, the team at Demetres were looking for a cozy, wintery scene with people enjoying some of their dessert items - waffles are a particularly beloved staple for customers, so it was especially important that I included them! I had imagined two versions - one of an alpine chalet scene, and the other of an old fashioned storefront that could be on Main Street, Anywhere, ON. The old storefront was where we ultimately landed - and a little fantasy of a sort of Christmas movie scene slowly came to life. The illustration didn’t change much from the sketch - only growing and adding more detail, and it was important that the cold outside / warm inside colours were emphasized.

It’s not just the cover of the Demetres menu that gets to be illustrated - in lieu of photos (and their photos are gorgeous), select items on the menu were also illustrated by yours truly - which also meant I got to gaze upon dozens of pictures of chocolate cake and strawberry crepes. I definitely don’t recommend working on food illustrations on an empty stomach! I do absolutely love illustrating food though - like a lot of folks, I was mesmerized by the way food looked in the animated films of Studio Ghibli, so it was a total delight to get to bring a whole array of beautiful desserts into the illustrated world. I really was hoping to get to work on a project involving food soon, and this could not have been a better way to have my wish come true!

The sweet team at Demetres makes sure to feature each season’s artist and their artwork on their house blog - which you can find here :

https://demetres.com/menu-art. I am really honoured to be among so many amazing artists and I love the initiative to support local creators that the team has committed to. I truly love how this special project turned out!