#FNLROM - Flash! A Friday night of Fun & Photography at the ROM

We had the sensory delight of attending FNLROM this past Friday where their theme was FLASH and all things photography. This being our first time going, the night really delivered on catering to a diverse crowd, allowing anyone to choose their own adventure.

We, of course, started the night by getting our eat-on. With over 10 food vendors spread out over 4 floors, it would take a big stomach to try them all.

We started off with Young Animalwhere they were cooking up classic Trinidadian street food. We tried a Double, a seasoned bread topped with mango chutney, curried chickpeas and  tamarind sauce. We kept with the Caribbean theme heading over to Haute Eats where we had their Stewed Jerk Chicken Taco with oxtail aioli and cilantro slaw. Both were solid choices for vegetarians and carnivores respectively.

After exploring the dinosaur fossils and bat cave, we stumbled upon Gushiserving up Japanese Chicken Karaage on rice with sesame vinaigrette and a spicy mayo. You can never go wrong with fried chicken and this was definitely tasty. We enjoyed this meal while listening to some funky Jazz music courtesy of the UofT Faculty of Music.

We made sure to check out the featured exhibition The Family Camera. Curated up on Level 4, it was well away from the noise and quite refreshing. The exhibit to me really highlighted a shared humanity through our family photos that transcended cultures, religions and even time. In one display, juxtaposing identically composed children's photos taken from families of various backgrounds, obviously at a time well before Facebook and Instagram, was quite eye-opening. Also, being photography nerds, learning about and playing with old photographic technology was super neat. There was plenty to check out here and we highly recommend a visit.

After all the eating and learning, it was time to party a little. We grabbed ourselves a few drinks, headed back down to the mainstage, where there were live tunes and a DJ was spinning some good beats and hit the dancefloor.

With so many options for food and exploration, there were infinite ways our night could have unfolded. We had a lot of fun and definitely recommend checking out the next instalment of #FNLROM, DINONITE, where you can “Get up close to your favourite dinosaurs, and dance among the fossils.”

Contributor Ray Dang (@raydang21)

Photographer in Self-Training