Taste of Calgary Food Festival - Top 5 Dishes

Every year I make it a point to take in the Taste of Calgary Food Festival. Restaurants from across the city bring samples of 3 or 4 of their dishes that you can try. In a very short time, you sample delicious foods of pretty much every culture you can think of.

The festival runs until Sunday. The weekend forecast is supposed to be great. Get out and enjoy the weather and the food!

The top 5 dishes we sampled were:

#5 - Oxtail with rice and beans from Green Grato. This was packed with flavour. I was particularly fond of the dumplings that were mixed in the sauce.

#4 Chinese Combo from China Rose. Our timing was good. We got there late and we were some of the last people left at the end of the night. Many of the restaurants were giving away food so that it wouldn't go to waste. The good people at China Rose gave us a box that included ginger beef, wings and noodles. While my hopes weren't very high because it looked like generic Chinese take-out, The taste of the food blew me away. I'll certainly be heading there next time I order Chinese.

#3 Strawberry and Mascarpone Waffle from Bubblemania. This was divine. They also had a blueberry waffle with Japanese yogurt that was incredible. The waffle was perfect and the strawberry might have been the best strawberry I ever ate in my life. Home run.

#2 Combo from Heritage Deli. The trip to the food fest was worth it to find the Heritage Deli. In all my years of going to the festival, I've never went to a restaurant that I tried from sampling there. That won't happen this year. I will definitely be going to the Heritage Deli. The combo was a polish sausage, perogies and cabbage rolls. Everything was homemade, and it tasted like awesome homemade food with every delicious bite.

#1 The winner this year was...Roasted Duck Omelet from Bubblemania. We decided on this as the best dish, not only because it was delicious, but because it was a little outside of the box. Most of the food at the festival was pre-cooked and sitting in warming trays. This omelet was made to order and the duck was roasted to perfection. If you go to the festival, it is a must try.

Honourable Mention goes to the Tzatziki sauce at Pegasus. Easily the best tzatziki I have ever had.


TOP 3 RESTAURANTS:
1. Bubblemania. They had 2 dishes in our top 5. Awesome presentation and very friendly staff.
2. Heritage Deli. Can't wait to see the real thing.
3. Pegasus (Greek). Everything looked awesome, and the tzatziki was to die for, but by the time we got there we were pretty full and couldn't try everything we wanted too. Definitely will visit their restaurant.