Tasting Plates: Fraser Edition - Try ALL The Food!!

Tasting Plates is a foodie adventure where you purchase tickets for a set price and you visit a variety of different restaurants in one night, all the while eating at each one when you're there. It's like a Pub Crawl, but for food! 

I've never been to one before and Curtis (Foodobyte) was kind enough to invite me to come along. This particular Tasting Plates event was held in the Kensington Cedar-Cottage neighbourhood.

Something to note, if registration is at, let's say... 6pm, you get there at 5:30pm to start lining up. If you come right at 6, you're bound to wait at least 30 mins before getting in the first restaurant. Our first restaurant was Graze Restaurant and they provided Yam and Eggplant Perogy (GF), Roasted Vegetable Strata, and Chocolate Torte with Raspberry Rose Cream as their three mini bites. My favourite of the three was the Perogy. I would definitely come back for that!

Next up was this little hole in the wall restaurant called Kilimanjaro Snack House which focuses on East African and Indian cuisine.

They offered a variety of items including: Barazi (Pigeon Pea Curry), Mandazi (East African Donut), Fried Beef Kebabs, Samosas, Chai Tea, and Fried Mogo.

I absolutely LOVED the Fried Beef Kebabs. Don't let the burnt looking exterior fool you... inside lays an explosion of aromatic spices and flavour thats not to be missed.

By the third restaurant, my waistband was already feeling really snug, and I had 5 more restaurants to go!! X.X #FirstWorldProblems. #YesIJustUsedHashtags. At Sal Y Limon, we got to try one taco with a choice of either pulled pork, pulled chicken, or tofu/veggies. I chose the pulled chicken and while it was tender, it lacked much flavour. Otherwise, the taco was pretty authentic.

Tigers Drink House is hidden in this residential neighourhood so it was not easy for us to find. If it wasn't for this event, I would have never heard about this cafe.

At first I didn't really like the Carrot Walnut Cinnamon Loaf because I thought it lacked sweetness but as I ate more and more of it, I actually appreciated it because it didn't overwhelm my tastebuds. The Cream Cheese Chocolate Brownie was a little hard in texture and was just alright for me.

I always love trying new Filipino food so Merinda Bakeshop was right up my alley! Unfortunately there was no way we could eat all that bread so we just took it home in a brown baggy. It consisted of 1) Hopia Mongo 2) Ube Loaf (Purple Yam Loaf) 3) Spanish Bread 4) Buko (Young Coconut) Pie 5) Pan de Sal. 

pics courtesy of foodobyte.com

When we got to our second last restaurant, Pizza Carano, I was already stuffed to the brim. So another word of advice, bring empty tupperware to bring food home because you won't be able to eat everything. On the plate was Kale Caesar Salad, Funghi Pizza, and Smoked Sopressata Pizza. Hands down the Funghi pizza won it for me. Truffle oil and mixed wild mushrooms? That's a match made in heaven right there.

pics courtesy of foodobyte.com

Last but not least is Earnest Ice Cream. I chose the Vegan Chocolate Ice-Cream (made with coconut milk) and Curtis got the Tahitian Vanilla Ice-Cream. Both came with half a gluten free ginger cookie. I actually really enjoyed my vegan ice-cream and it tasted just as silky and creamy as ice-cream made with milk.

All in all, our adventure took about 3 hours to complete (walking/driving to the different restaurants took time!) but we had a lot of fun doing it. I have actually never been to any of these restaurants prior to this event so this was a great way for me to try all these places without committing to a full meal at each!

Happy Eating!