Showing posts with label amusement parks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amusement parks. Show all posts

Canadian National Exhibition: Summer 2024

on
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Over the course of nine hours at the CNE (by far the longest I have ever spent there), Minji, Daniel, and I managed to go through all the exhibitions, play roulette at the casino, buy some air plants (me) and an Italian squeegee kit (them), and eat all the extraordinarily overpriced junk food we wanted to try this year:

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Dilly Ranch Twisted Pickle

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Tanghulu Mochi Doughnut

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Wasabi Soft Serve Ice Cream

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Fruity Pebbles Fried Chicken with Lime Dipping Sauce

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Ruffles All Dressed Fried Chicken with Dill Pickle Dipping Sauce

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Fried Soft Shell Crab "Kaarage" with Sriracha Mayo

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Crème Brûlée Soft Serve Chimney Cone

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Deep-Fried Pickle Oreos

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Ube Sesame Corn

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Deep-Fried Pickles

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Deep-Fried Hickory Corn Ribs

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Deep-Fried Cheese Curds and Curly Fries

Winners for me were the twisted pickle (so good, we almost got two), the Fruity Pebbles fried chicken (especially with the lime dip — a perfect combination of sweet, salty, and tangy), the soft shell crab (amazing texture and flavour — if it wasn't $20 each, we would've gotten another one), and the Tiny Tom's doughnuts (a classic for a reason; and did you really go to the CNE if you didn't get some Tiny Tom's doughnuts?). The most disappointing was the tanghulu mochi doughnut (sickly sweet, and I thought the fruit would be more incorporated into the doughnut somehow rather than just a skewer sitting on top), the Ruffles All Dressed fried chicken (the fried chicken was decent enough, but we could barely taste the All Dressed chips), the crème brûlée soft serve Chimney Cone (the burnt sugar and custard were just sitting on top so once you get past that top layer, it's just vanilla soft serve), and the deep-fried pickle Oreos (even the thick layer of sweet deep-fried dough could not hide the fact that pickles and Oreos just do not go together). 

And in case you're wondering, all of this cost $90.34 per person (not including entry tickets and parking). I wasn't kidding when I said "extraordinarily overpriced," because we could each have had a pretty lavish steak dinner for the cost of all this junk food. I guess we really made up for not going during the pandemic years. On another note, thank you to the guy at "Fool the Guesser" who thought I was still 27. At least Minji's $10 didn't go to waste and she got a stuffed frog plushie out of it. 


Canadian National Exhibition
Exhibition Place
210 Princes' Blvd.
Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
(416) 263-3330

Winterfest 2023 at Canada's Wonderland

on
Sunday, December 10, 2023
For some reason, I didn't know that Canada's Wonderland was open during the winter. For years, I thought they closed right after Halloween Haunt and then re-opened in the spring. But I saw someone's post on IG about the Winterfest funnel cakes at Canada's Wonderland a couple of weeks ago and I was like, "I MUST GO." So I asked my friend Iris if she was interested in going since she loves all things Christmas, and she immediately agreed. 

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

Even with a discounted price through Perkopolis, one admission ticket with parking still added up to $48 per person. Pretty goddamn steep for a three-hour visit, but once we walked in, we were met with a truly spectacular sight. And I gotta admit, with the amount of time and labour it took to set all of those lights, it's worth the price. It's once a year, after all.

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Turkey Dinner Ball at the Holiday Dining Hall

Our main goal, aside from looking at all the pretty lights, was to eat as many Christmas-themed foods as possible. Of the main dishes, the Turkey Dinner Ball ($14.99) surprisingly ended up being the unanimous favourite. It's exactly as it sounds: turkey meat and stuffing shaped into a ball, battered and deep-fried, and then sat atop a bed of mashed potatoes, with gravy drizzled on top and cranberry sauce on the side. I do wish there was more gravy on the side because the batter ends up absorbing most of it, but the cranberry sauce was a saviour to keep the turkey from getting too dry. 

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Turkey Dinner Poutine at the Holiday Dining Hall

The Turkey Dinner Poutine ($14.99) was decent; the quality of the gravy and the cheese curds were great, but the turkey meat sitting on top was a little too dry and also way too smoked. To the point where it overwhelmed all the other flavours of the poutine. Even the cranberry sauce couldn't save it. We ended up taking the turkey off and just ate the poutine as it was meant to be. (Surprised that we found such a good poutine at Canada's Wonderland, of all places.) 

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Turkey Maple Cranberry Stromboli at the Holiday Dining Hall

We also decided to get the Maple Turkey Cranberry Stromboli ($13.99), which actually sounded really promising, like a turkey dinner pizza pocket. Except when we got our stromboli, which is made to order, it didn't have maple or cranberry. Upon first bite, we found tomato sauce, cheese, and turkey as expected, but also... beets. Yes, beets. I'm not that mad about it because I love beets, but did they really think we wouldn't notice the replacement of cranberry sauce for beets? (NOT ALL DARK PINK FOOD IS CREATED EQUAL.) So it was basically a pizza pocket with turkey and beets. Like the poutine, you're better off getting the original. 

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Gingerbread funnel cake at Festive Funnel Cakes

Finally, we lined up to get a funnel cake — the main reason for our visit to Winterfest. There are three Winterfest options on top of the original Strawberry, but we decided to go for Gingerbread since it seemed the most festive but also the most enticing. Like all the funnel cake options, it comes with the vanilla soft serve ice cream, but this one is topped with gingerbread pieces, drizzled with caramel sauce, and then topped with sprinkles and a sugar cookie. (It was supposed to be a gingerbread man-shaped cookie, but they ran out, so we got a tree-shaped one instead. A little disappointing when gingerbread is actually the theme of your food.) I don't need to tell you that it was hecking delicious, but I do think that it could have benefitted with more sauce because the addition of gingerbread pieces made the funnel cake a little dry. Then again, it probably has two days' worth of calories, fat, and sugar so... maybe not.

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

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Winterfest at Canada's Wonderland

We did want to end the night with some hot chocolate, which was surprisingly inexpensive (for a theme park) at $4.99 a cup, but then we saw that they were using the instant Carnation hot chocolate and realized why it was so affordable. We refused to get it because you can literally get a 7-sachet variety pack of Carnation hot chocolate for $5.99 at any supermarket here, so we decided to get some apple cider instead. But upon closer look at the menu board, we saw that one cup (with no alcohol, mind you) started at $11.99, which is just highway robbery. So we refused that, too. But we made up for our failed drink quest with getting some ginger molasses cookies (3 for $10, a total steal) in the Christmas Market, which turned out to be one of the best cookies I've ever eaten in my life.

Overall, I'd say that Winterfest was a success. This is as Christmassy as I'm gonna get.


Canada's Wonderland
1 Canada's Wonderland Drive
Vaughan, ON L6A 1S6
(905) 832-8131

Canadian National Exhibition: Summer 2022

on
Friday, September 2, 2022
After an hour of getting through rush hour traffic to get downtown, another hour of getting through downtown traffic, and another 30 minutes of finding a parking space, Ronsee, Val, and I finally made it to The Ex.

No dilly-dallying. We went straight for the food. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. And it was way more crowded this year than previous years. Nearly every stall worth getting food at had a minimum 30-minute wait time. It was already 8:00PM by the time we got into the grounds, so we only had 2 hours to get any kind of food. However, our goal was to get foods that were both appealing and that we had never tried before, which was harder than expected. Since the last time we went to The Ex (in 2019, pre-COVID, the last time it was open), we also eat significantly less. (The worst part about aging. I swear we used to be able to eat at least double the amount we do now.) So we had to make our choices count:

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Funnel cake and fried chicken sandwich from Deep Fried Chicken Sandwiches

1. Funnel Cake + Fried Chicken Sandwich from Deep Fried Chicken Sandwiches: Yes, that is a piece of fried chicken in between two funnel cakes with strawberry sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. Plus a side of coleslaw. (Even shared between the three of us, this is easily over 1,000 calories per person.) Funnel cake was crispy, chicken had good flavour and remained juicy, and it actually worked really well with the strawberry sauce and the whipped cream. But what really surprised us was how good it was with the coleslaw on it, too. It sounds like the grossest combo but it totally works. If only they gave us a knife that would actually cut through the damn thing. Rating: 7/10

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Seoul-ful Taters from Get Your Own Taters

2. "Seoul-ful Taters" from Get Your Own Taters: This was exceptional, the unanimous favourite of the night. Perfectly golden, crispy tater tots with fluffy, potato-y innards. Flavourful, nicely marinated, tender beef bulgogi. The combination of these with the spicy, tangy flavour and crunchy texture of the kimchi was perfection. And this might be controversial, but I gotta say: Tater Tots work better than fries. Rating: 10/10

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The Tiramisu and Signature Croffles + Lychee Strawberry Soda from Fuwa Fuwa

3. Tiramisu and Signature Croffles + Lychee Strawberry Soda from Fuwa Fuwa: Croffles are the latest craze in the pastry world right now and I am obsessed. So when I saw that Fuwa Fuwa, who are known for their soufflé pancakes, opened an entire stall just for croffles, I had to get some. We decided on the Signature (topped with whipped cream and berries) and the Tiramisu (topped with whipped cream, cocoa powder, and chocolate syrup). It was insanely hot in the Food Building so the whipped cream was pretty much melted by the time we actually sat down, but I gotta say, they were still really good. The croffle was buttery with a good chew and still had crispy edges despite the melting whipped cream. Both flavours were excellent, though the Tiramisu held up better in the heat. Rating: 8/10

Okay, so we didn't go as wild as we used to. Previously, we'd go The Ex just to try the weirdest or grossest new foods, but there was nothing particularly exciting this year (mustard soft serve and pickle ice cream splits just didn't intrigue us), so we just went with what looked interesting but would still taste good. And I think we did pretty well considering the time constraints. We only wished we could eat more. 


Canadian National Exhibition
Exhibition Place
210 Princes' Blvd.
Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
(416) 263-3330

Photolog 2019: Day 231 of 365

on
Monday, August 19, 2019
Ronsee and I made our first trip to The Ex this evening. It's become tradition for us to go to The Ex every year for the ridiculous food offerings. This year's selections weren't as exciting or innovative as previous years, but we managed to get four things in before the Food Building closed:

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1. "K-Pop Bulgogi Fries" from Supa Fries — Crispy fresh cut fries with marinated bulgogi ribeye beef, kimchi, green onions, lime, sriracha mayo, and toasted sesame seeds. Asian fusion fries are nothing new, but this combination works really well together. I wish there was more kimchi, but overall, worth getting. Rating: 9/10

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2. "Southern Slang" from Fran's — Buttermilk fried chicken served on a sweet bun, topped with house-made slaw and a spicy chocolate sriracha sauce. They fried the chicken fresh for us so it took a bit longer to get our food, but it was piping hot with excellent crispy batter. The slaw gives a good texture but the chocolate sauce drowns it — both literally and in flavour. I wish they had coated the chicken with the chocolate sauce and put more slaw on top, like the menu picture indicates. Still, the sweet-salty combo works well, and it is somewhat reminiscent of chicken and waffles, but in burger form. Rating 7/10

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3. "Fuwa Fuwa Mango" from Fuwa Fuwa Japanese Pancakes — Original soufflé pancake with mango sauce and fresh mango. This popular Japanese pancake restaurant serves up really tasty, fluffy, almost mousse-like pancakes, and it's their first time at the CNE. The pancake is light and airy, so it makes a good option for CNE food adventurers 'cause it's not too filling. The mango option is actually only available at the CNE, and it was very reminiscent of a mango mousse cake. Delicious, though not very original in flavour profile. For the price ($11) and the wait time (at least 10 minutes), though, I was expecting more than one pancake. Rating: 7.5/10

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4. "Apple Cheesecake Poutine" from Granny Smith Apple Fries — Apple "fries" topped with cheesecake chunks, salted caramel sauce, and whipped cream. Flavour profile is exactly like apple pie. The apple "fries" are literally deep-fried apple strips and coated with cinnamon sugar. The cheesecake chunks didn't really add to the apples at all because it has such a mild flavour, but it did add a nice texture contrast. I only wish that we had gone earlier in the day because by the time we got there, the apples weren't freshly fried, so they had already absorbed a lot of the oil making them soggier than they should be. There also wasn't sufficient sauce, so the fries got quite dry halfway through. Good in theory, not that great in execution. Rating: 5/10

I'm planning to go back to The Ex next week, so hopefully I'll get a good variety next time. I'm eyeing the pierogi burger, the funnel cake fried chicken sandwich, the cherry pie deep-fried cheese curds, and the cookie dough ice cream "spaghetti." We'll see how much stomach power I have. I better start eating ultra-healthy until then...

Photolog 2018: Day 241 of 365

on
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
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Big Poppa Burger

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Cheesecake Panini

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Movie Night Cheesecake Bar

Made my second food trip to the CNE today with my friends Tuta, Sam, and Elisa. We went really early and got there for noon (admission was free before 1:00PM today!), but I think because it was still early in the day, we all got full a lot faster than the last time I went. We weren't as ambitious today, but we still made solid picks:
  1. Big Poppa (a mega burger combining a premium beef patty, luncheon meat, chicken katsu, cheddar cheese, shogun sauce, and all the toppings between ramen noodle buns) from Yatai Japanese Street Food
  2. Cheesecake Panini (creamy cheesecake topped with cheddar cheese and bacon bits, served on a sweet Long John doughnut, pressed to a crisp, golden brown) from Fran's Restaurant
  3. Movie Night Cheesecake Bar (a chilled cheesecake bar dipped in chocolate, drizzled with caramel, and topped with caramel popcorn and M&M's) from Cake Shack
We did also have the Cheeseburger Mac & Cheese and the deep-fried Mac & Cheese Balls from Mac & Cheesery, but I didn't get a picture in before Sam and Elisa started eating them (Tuta and I were still in line at Yatai when they got their orders and I guess they were too hungry to wait). They weren't particularly photogenic so I don't feel too bad, but rest assured, they were also fatteningly delicious. Oh, and we also got a bag of Tiny Tom's doughnuts. My only regret was not getting some to bring home before we left the grounds. Ah, well. Until next year!

Photolog 2018: Day 238 of 365

on
Sunday, August 26, 2018
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Fried Cheeseburger & Fries Chimichanga

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Izakaya Dog

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The Juicy Crab!

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Pineapple Float

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Watermelon Charcoal Cone

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Hong Kong Style French "Toast"

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Ronsee and I made our annual CNE food trip today! This year's picks, in the order we ate them:
  1. Fried cheeseburger and fries chimichanga from Farm to Fryer
  2. Izakaya Dog (an all beef corn dog topped with nori flakes, crispy onions, pickled ginger, wasabi mayo, an teriyaki ketchup) from Hungry Husky Waffle Dog
  3. The Juicy Crab! (a freshly baked brioche bun stuffed with East Coast lobster in brown butter, Thai shrimp, whitefish, Atlantic smoked salmon, smoked aged cheddar, and braised short rib topped with a crab xiao long bao, lemon Kewpie mayo and tarragon dijon slaw) from Hot Bunzz Street Cuisine
  4. Pineapple ice cream float from Fran's Restaurant
  5. Watermelon soft serve in a charcoal waffle cone from Black Halo
  6. Hong Kong Style French "Toast" (deep-fried cheese curds topped with peanut butter, condensed milk, and butter) from The King of Curds
Another successful food adventure at The Ex! I'll be going back on Wednesday for more.

Canadian National Exhibition: Summer 2017

on
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
My friend Ronsee and I made our annual trip to The Ex last night. As per tradition, we skipped all the rides and games and went straight for the food. This year's new food items aren't as exciting as some previous years (like, chicken feet isn't a "new" thing — Chinese people eat it at dim sum every damn day) but one thing we had to try was The Juicy Oink! from a new fusion stall called Hot Bunzz.

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The Juicy Oink! from Hot Bunzz

Hot Bunzz offers many Asian-fusion stuffed buns, but The Juicy Oink! made its debut at the Ex this year, which is why there's so much buzz about it. Aptly named, this bun consists of five-spice pork belly, BBQ pulled pork, sweet longanisa sausage, and chicharron (crispy pork skin), topped with a single Shanghai pork soup dumpling (xiao long bao) and chipotle apple slaw, and then drizzled with okonomiyaki sauce and Japanese mayo. The different preparations of pork actually worked really well together; each component had a distinct texture and flavour, and the apple slaw added a zesty kick and a nice crunch. The line up at Hot Bunzz was definitely the longest out of any of the booths inside the Food Building, and while I don't think that The Juicy Oink! merits a 30-minute minimum wait time, it was actually tasty and surprisingly unique, and I'd definitely check them out again if they opened a permanent shop. For now, they have a pop-up at the Eaton Centre for those who can't make it to The Ex this year.

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Dirty Bird from Bub's Bad@ss Burgers

Next up was a Dirty Bird from Bub's Bad@ass Burgers. We had a similar burger from Bub's a couple years ago, and decided to return because we remember having loved it. It is, however, important to us not to order the same thing twice, so we went with the Dirty Bird this year, which consists of crispy fried chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions, shredded cheese, and chipotle mayo in between two Jamaican chicken patties. Not quite as well-executed in flavours as the Bad Boy burger we had two years ago, but still reliably delicious. As it turns out, you can't go wrong with replacing burger buns with Jamaican patties.

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Frog Legs & Cod Tongue and Cheese Stuffed Doritos from Farm to Fryer

Another new item that everyone was hyped up about this year is the deep-fried, cheese-stuffed Doritos from Farm to Fryer. They are exactly what you imagine them to be: A mound of cheese is coated in a Doritos-laden batter and then deep-fried to a golden, crispy perfection. So, basically, they're like mozzarella sticks, except with Doritos. Not the most inventive, but definitely satisfies that deep-fried junk food craving. Each order comes with three pieces, which is more than enough if you want room for other foods at The Ex. On that note, a truly noteworthy item at Farm to Fryer is the Frog Legs & Cod Tongue. Yep, frog legs and cod tongue, a pairing that I had never heard of (honestly, I didn't even know eating fish tongues was a thing), but surprisingly delicious. For those who are less adventurous with food, this is totally worth trying if you can get over the fact that it's frog legs and cod tongues. The frog legs honestly taste like chicken wings, but with smoother meat and smaller bones. And the cod tongues taste like deep-fried fish, except silkier and less flaky. More proof that anything can taste good when it's deep-fried.

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Peanut Butter Sriracha Bites from Fran's

Because we are getting soft in our old age, Ronsee and I were pretty full after all that deep-fried shit, so we went on a hunt for dessert. Because charcoal-based and nitrogen-frozen ice cream is old news for us, and the highly anticipated "Sugar Mountain" from Cake Shack looked sickeningly sweet, we settled on the new Peanut Butter Sriracha Bites and a good ol' root beer float from Fran's. The bites are deep-fried sweet dough (so, mini doughnuts) with a peanut butter sriracha filling, dusted with cinnamon icing sugar and drizzled with chocolate syrup. The sriracha flavour definitely gets lost because peanut butter is so much more overpowering but there is the tiniest hint of spice in between bites of peanut butter, doughnut, and chocolate syrup. Definitely not as exotic or unique as it had the potential to be, but anyone who likes doughnuts and peanut butter will definitely enjoy it. Between the bites and the root beer float, though, I had my fill of sweets for the night. 

Overall, the food we tried this year was good, but I'm hoping next year will be more exciting. Not a lot of the new offerings intrigued me, and I think it's because food trends are changing so constantly now that it's getting harder and harder to one-up all the crazy, inventive dishes that have come out previously. I mean, when deep-fried butter launched, everyone went apeshit for it. So that's what I'm hoping for next year. A deep-fried butter revolution.


Canadian National Exhibition
200 Princes' Boulevard
Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
(416) 393-6300

Canadian National Exhibition: Summer 2016

on
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
My friends and I made our annual trip to The Ex a couple weeks ago but I totally forgot to post about our food adventures, so here it is, better late than never (because it is a tradition, damn it). We actually couldn't care less about the midway rides or games there, or even the actual exhibitions themselves. We just care about food. So we went straight to the Food Building and just stayed there until we had satisfied our gluttonous foodie dreams (which, as it turns out, is when they closed).

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"Duece Pigalow" from Porkies

This year, we were more focused on procuring truly delicious eats rather than bordering-on-gross food finds (especially since insects were the buzzworthy food at The Ex this year — I'm not paying to eat bugs, thanks). We started at Porkies, who specializes in authentic porchetta sandwiches. We shared a Duece Pigalow sandwich, which features both porchetta and pork belly, topped with crackle, caramelized onions, arugula, salsa verde, and provolone in between a crusty roll. As far as The Ex goes, this was a pretty basic choice, but it actually ended up being one of our favourites.

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Canadian Bacon Tacos from Bacon Nation

Next stop was Bacon Nation, which has now become a staple at The Ex. We decided to get the Canadian bacon tacos, which features BBQ pulled pork piled high on two tender pieces of Canadian bacon, topped with mango salsa and burrito sauce. They were actually very tasty and all the flavours worked really well together, but I only wished that they had used tortillas or taco shells to hold all of ingredients together. With Canadian bacon as the "holders," they just seemed too flimsy and messy, making them seem too deconstructed to be called tacos. I'd be more inclined to get the classic Bacon Wrapped Grilled Cheese next year.

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Thanksgiving Waffle from Fran's

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Orange Creamsicle Float from Fran's

Of course, we had to stop by Fran's. There were a couple new items this year, but we ultimately decided to indulge in the famous Thanksgiving Waffle, which debuted a couple years ago. It was actually our first time trying it because the line-ups were far too long in previous years, but I think it ended up being the unanimous favourite between the three of us. If you've never had it, it's roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and thick housemade gravy stuffed into a savoury, aromatic waffle that is made of classic bread dressing. It's incredibly heavy, so sharing is recommended, but it is epic. I mean, we all know that Thanksgiving foods are great on their own, but if you've ever wondered whether Thanksgiving foods are still tasty when mixed together, the answer is: yes. Yes, they really, really are. And because we're fatties, we washed that calorie-laden waffle down with Creamsicle floats. And it was absolutely glorious.

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Churro Cheeseburger from Epic Burgers & Waffles

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Deep Fried Mac 'n' Cheese Curds from Mac & Cheesery

A trip to The Ex wouldn't be complete without a stop at Epic Burgers. After their grilled cheese sandwich burger put them on the scene, their doughnut cheeseburger started a craze, and their big cronut food poisoning fiasco last year made them newsworthy, they decided to collaborate with I Love Churros this year to create a Churro Cheeseburger. It's exactly as it sounds: a burger patty topped with cheese in between two churro "buns." It is good in concept, but not so great in execution. The cinnamon sweetness works well with the smoky-salty flavour of the meat and it almost tastes like a McGriddle, but the churros get hardened so fast that your jaw literally starts hurting from the amount of chewing it takes to get through the dough. I've always loved everything I've tried from Epic Burgers, but the Churro Cheeseburger was a flop. We couldn't end the night like that, though, so we got ourselves some deep fried mac 'n' cheese curds from Mac & Cheesery. Balls of mac 'n' cheese rolled in breadcrumbs and then deep fried. You really can't go wrong.

My fellow Torontonians, did you go to The Ex this year? Did you win any prizes or go on any rides? Did you see any of the actual exhibitions? Or did you just go for the eats like us? And if so, what'd you get?


Canadian National Exhibition
200 Princes' Boulevard
Toronto, ON M6K 3C3
(416) 393-6300

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