Love for the Locals: Taste of Edmonton 2013

It's actually been at least a few years since I last went to the Taste of Edmonton, but in the spirit of Edmonton's summer events, I went with some friends after playing badminton. One friend was nice enough to order tickets through work so that he could get them 10% off :) P and I shared one sheet of 30 tickets (the perks of having an SO, woohoo), and this is what we came up with...

To start off our venture, we grabbed a large lemonade from Lemon Heaven for 4 tickets to battle the heat and quench our thirst. It was funny because there was a big Lemon Heaven by the Tix on the Square office where there was a ridiculously long line to go with it. Then, there was the smaller booth set up next to ice cream and bubble tea that nobody noticed, where we went. It was your typical lemonade, but it helped that the sweet to sour balance was bang on. :)

Chicken Bhoona on rice from Bob's Bombay Curry 'N' Hurry! It's kind of awesome how the shadow from the window in front of the big vat shone over the mass of Chicken Bhoona. They were smart and had a plastic window with a wall and window to protect the simmering goodness from seagull poop attacks.

We grabbed a regular plate for 3 tickets! It was actually pretty good, and portion-wise pretty decent for Taste of Edmonton too. You got the rice from the ordering window, and walked over to the vat to get your bhoona on. It had chicken, bell peppers, and onions...and bhoona. I'm sorry, I don't know what that means, but it was pretty tasty.

Alberta Prime Rib Stuffed Mini Yorkshire Pudding from On the Rocks for 3 tickets! P and I lucked out because they gave us a larger mini yorkshire pudding and more prime rib than our friends got. Haaa... It was basically that - a mini yorkshire pudding with some slices of prime rib, and some creamy, tangy sauce on top.

Falafel from Drift for 2 tickets! For 2 tickets, this was probably one of the better deals. It came with lettuce, onion, a falafel pattie made of chickpeas and other sorts of beans, on a little bun. My first epicurean taste into the land of food trucks. 

House-Made Alberta Cannelloni from Bistecca Italian Steakhouse & Wine Bar for 3 tickets! Fresh cannelloni pasta with ground bison, and a cream sauce on top. It actually tasted like your average cream-based lasagna to be honest :/ But not bad, and it was somewhat filling, which is pretty good for Taste of Edmonton.

Who says dessert has to come last? Not us - that's for sure. Crepe Glace Au Chocolat from The Creperie for 3 tickets! It was a frozen dessert crepe filled with vanilla ice cream, with a spoonful of dark chocolate sauce, a sprinkle of sliced almonds, and a healthy dollop of whipped cream. Mmm... They also gave each customer a $5 off gift certificate :D Yay!

P really wanted spinach pie, so spinach pie, he had. Spanakopita from It's All Greek To Me for 3 tickets! A spanakopita is a greek spinach pie consisting of phyllo pastry, creamed spinach, and cheese. It tastes pretty good, but it was a bit too buttery and rich for me :/ My tummy isn't built to handle immense amounts of dairy...especially considering I just had a crepe filled with icecream, and ate all of the remaining whipped cream.

"Mac" Scone with Whipped Cream and Berry Compote for 4 tickets from Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. Nothing less than expected from such an expensive place. It was so good...and there was definitely mascarpone in the whipped cream...it was so tiramisu-like, and the sweetness was ever so slight...sigh...I had to let P finish all of the rest because I was reaching my dairy limit :(

Wild Mushroom Bisque, Truffle Oil, and Puff Pastry Stick from Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. Probably one of the best mushroom bisques I've ever tasted...so...mushroomy...and only 2 tickets! 

The last item that we tried was the Mini Mac Melt from Molly's Eats for 3 tickets. It was one of the longest lines at the event, so we left it until the end to try. The melt was very interesting...it was bacon mac 'n cheese and pulled pork inside a grilled cheese sandwich o_O I had never had pasta inside a sandwich before, so that was definitely something. I think it was good that it was a small portion though...it was interesting, but not my favourite. 

Overall, I'd say that P and I had a pretty successful haul from this year's Taste of Edmonton! Most items that we picked were 2-3 tickets which equated to a bit less than $2-3 each, and for the most part had decent portions. We got a good variety of dishes for a bit less than $30!

There was a lot of East Indian cuisine featured at the Taste of Edmonton this year, and a lot of ice cream. Some of the foods vended were more carnival-esque than anything else... You had your deep-fried Mars Bar, candied bacon on a stick (that without the stick was novelty-free candied bacon), deep-fried pickles, and "pig balls", which were made of pulled pork, wrapped in risotto and deep-fried.

Nonetheless, it was a fun summery thing to do in Edmonton, especially with one of our friends who hadn't spent a summer in Edmonton yet. I wonder what we should do next...

-M