Every year in August, the Eau Claire plaza area gets flooded with people, booths, vendors, and FOOD. That’s because every year in August, the Taste of Calgary takes place!
For those who don’t know, the Taste of Calgary is a festival where you buy multiple tickets for $1 each, and then you use these tickets to get sample dishes from different booths. The booths are all run by different restaurants around town, giving everyone the chance to fall in love with their food and want to go to (and spend money at) their restaurant.
Desserts, juices, fried food, burgers, Chinese, pasta, pizza, crepes… you can try just about everything. Before heading to the Taste of Calgary, I had to Google some of the things on the menu, because I didn’t know what half of the things were. For example, “Medu Wada” from Curry Club, and “Gai Dan Jai” from Wing Tat. But really, once you get to Eau Claire plaza and see the booths, the decision of what to get is then fuelled by the delicious things on everyone’s plates and the aromas coming from here and there.
After much touring of the booths, my mom and I ended up with some really good food.
First was yellow veggie curry from Jackie’s Thai. I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy food, so I had to ask if the heat of this dish would be tolerable, and much to my satisfaction, I was given the go-ahead. I am a veggie fan, and that adoration of mine is strengthened when veggies are cooked in a flavourful sauce over a bed of rice. Curry is something I love the flavour of, but as I said, I can’t do spicy food, so this dish was very much appreciated by me. Yummm zucchini and squash and other vegetables swimming in curry sauce…
To add some protein to the mix, the next dish we chose was tandoori chicken tikka from Delice Pastryshop and Cafe. Although the amount of fatty meat on my piece was a bit disappointing, the meat was quite nice. I love trying ethnic foods, and this was definitely a good opportunity for me to try something new without pushing my tastebuds out of their comfort zone.
My mom and I couldn’t help but notice the numerous people walking around chowing down on mini burgers that looked really yummy. So, we gave in to the temptation and got a mini tex burger from Jamesons Irish Pubs. This burger, my friends, was my favourite dish of the day. A fresh, moist patty topped with lettuce and tomato, a few cheese curds, some sort of refreshing yummy relish, and probably some other spread, all encased in a pretzel bun. Each bite was full of flavour, fresh texture, and outstanding deliciousness.
Of course, we needed dessert, so next up was the maple bacon ice cream sandwich from Black Betty Burgers & Wine Bar. As a general rule, I believe that ice cream sandwiches that use real cookies are the best. Because then you get the joy of a cookie along with the joy of ice cream, combined to further add the joy of the two together. Now, take the ice cream and make it maple bacon, and ooh la la you’ve got something good. Especially on a hot summer day. Yummm
Last but not least, we returned to a booth we had looked at earlier, to get ourselves a green tea sandwich.
This sweet treat from Lava Dining is hard to explain. Decadent cream was sandwiched by soft, foam-like bread/cake of some sort, making for a dish that was both unique and delicious. A great end to a great lunch 🙂