Torontonians are being invited to submit their cherished family recipes and the personal stories behind them to AYLA, a Dundas West restaurant specializing in Hong Kong cuisine, so the kitchen team can reinterpret these dishes and feature them on the menu for a limited time.
The Bottom Line
- The Project: Dundas West eatery AYLA is launching “AYLA Family Recipes,” a community storytelling initiative inviting public recipe submissions.
- The Goal: Selected recipes—especially those with stained cards and generational notes—will be reinterpreted by the kitchen team as temporary menu items.
- How to Join: Patrons can submit recipes and their accompanying memories through the restaurant’s official website, with the physical location situated at 794 Dundas St. W.
Flipping the Script on Restaurant Menus
Usually, dining out is an exercise in outsourcing your appetite. You head to a room with ambient lighting and curated playlists to sample something far outside the repertoire of your own kitchen. But a notable shift is happening on Dundas West, where the team behind AYLA is choosing to invert that dynamic entirely.
According to chef and co-owner Kevin Shawcross, food at the restaurant has always functioned as a narrative tool. It maps out geographical journeys, personal histories, and the cultural flavors the founders carried with them from Hong Kong—where they first crossed paths. But rather than keeping that storytelling strictly unidirectional, the team is opening up the floor to the community.
Here is the kicker: they do not want polished, pristine culinary school index cards. They want the messy, well-loved artifacts of home cooking. As chef and co-owner Craig Wong notes, the ideal submissions are the ones smeared with kitchen ingredients and crowded with marginalia. That is where the real history lives.
The Anatomy of a Community Recipe Project
The new initiative, dubbed AYLA Family Recipes, asks residents to dig through drawers and recipe boxes for dishes passed down across generations. But the ingredient list is only half the battle. The kitchen places equal weight on the human element attached to the plate.
| Project Element | Details & Requirements | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Community storytelling and reinterpreted generational dishes | AYLA (794 Dundas St. W.) |
| Key Figures | Chef and co-owner Kevin Shawcross, Chef and co-owner Craig Wong | Dundas West, Toronto |
| Submission Criteria | Recipe card (stained/annotated preferred) + personal memory, photo, or written background | Online via restaurant website |
Participants are encouraged to include the vital context that turns nourishment into memory. Who originally stood over the stove to make it? On what specific occasions did it appear on the dining table? Who else sat around that room, making the dish impossible to separate from a particular phase of life?
Once selected, these deeply personal culinary echoes will be reinterpreted by professional hands and added to the menu on a rotating, limited-time basis. While the home cook’s version might hold an unbeatable nostalgic monopoly, the restaurant promises to treat each submission with respect.
The Cultural Intersection of Public Memory and Hospitality
For Torontonians willing to share those stories, the payoff is seeing their history plated under restaurant lights.
Submissions are currently open directly through the restaurant’s digital channels, inviting locals to visit the Dundas West storefront at 794 Dundas St. W. and see how their family legacy translates onto a public menu.
What dish from your own family history do you think deserves a temporary spot on a restaurant menu, and what is the story you would submit with it? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
