Surrey Fusion Fest

Anyone else went to the Surrey Fusion Fest over the summer?  It was held over the weekend of July 16-17 and it’s basically a mini world cuisine/cultural event that included many food stalls and cultural presentations such as Korean drumming, belly-dancing, etc.  The big-ticket event was the 9pm show Sunday night featuring Jay Sean.  Bedouin Soundclash was featured the night before.

It was actually pretty big and featured quite a bit of stalls from different countries.  Some of whom I’ve never seen at other events of the like.  A downer was that it rained the whole weekend which explains the sorry amount of pictures I took as it was just too miserable to take out my camera and eat and handle things at the same time…plus my Tom’s got wet =(

One of my favorites was definitely the El Salvador stall. I went to the fest with Hitman and he actually recommended me try what’s called a pupusa, which is a traditional Salvadorean dish of handmade corn tortillas stuffed with various ingredients.

At this stall they offered either meat, cheese, or mix.  On my first try I tried the mix.

It was crumbly but very flavorful and savory.  I’m actually not sure what meat is in it but it was a ground meat of some sort.  The homemade salsas were pretty spicy though, especially the green stuff.  I enjoyed this so much we went back the next day and I had another one.

No this is not urine in a bag.

At the same stall I also got an import mango soda.  I actually wanted the mango juice but a miscommunication between Hitman and I and the guy resulted in the soda version.  It was interestingly served in a little flimsy plastic bag with a straw.  Actually I had to ask for the straw LOL.

Actually now that I think about it, what I REALLY wanted was the Tamarind juice but again…miscommunication….

Hitman  visited the Kenyan stall next and got a platter of curry plus a tortilla of some sort.  I tried a little and it really wasn’t that good.  The tortilla was premade and kept warm so it was a bit dry.  As for the curry, let’s just say I still prefer Indian/HK versions much, much more.

We actually tried more food the next day but the weather was just so damn miserable I didn’t take any pictures.  I did recall trying momo’s from the Tibetan stall, got Hitman to try some “Fries” from the Taiwan stall which really were deep-fried fish cake (‘tempura’) and Salt & Pepper Chicken nuggets.

All-in-all it was a nice event for spending a weekend on.

Sabai Thai

A friend from Surrey repaid a favor by taking me out for Thai dinner (actually I might’ve made him buy me dinner LOL…).  He suggested Sabai Thai from the Guildford area as he’s been there before and they seem authentic, as in it’s actually owned and operated by Thai’s.

We had quite an early dinner but the place was already half-full.  It got progressively fuller afterwards.  We also noticed that the clientele was all Caucasians, with me (and the owners/servers) being the only Asians.  We deduced that that could mean something about the authenticity of the food as in the actual supposed spiciness and such.

I had been craving Thai Tea for the longest time and so far the only place I’m able to get it is from Tapioca Express in Richmond.  I was happy to see that it was offered here too, but it certainly wasn’t cheap.  I believe it was around $3.50-4.

As with the authentic Thai Teas, this became a bright orange after mixing, and I was happy to see that.  Only wish the picture would do it justice in the bright “neon-ness” of the orange.  I was surprised that my friend hadn’t tried this before, having visited Thailand a few times…he wasn’t too impressed with it though.

I loved it.  It has a very distinct, almost herb-y flavor which I can’t quite describe.  You really gotta try it to appreciate it.