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.

Greek Food Festival 2008…and Loukoumades…

This is the second time we’ve been to the Greek Food Festival at the Hellenic Community of Vancouver.  This is something they hold every year around mid-October.  This year marks the 31st anniversary and it’s held from Oct 17-19.

There’s really not much to see inside, we’re here for the food obviously.  The east side of the hall houses the bakery and a small assortment of Greek jewelry, books, fragrances, etc.

The west side is the Taverna, Bar, and dining area.

Upstairs houses the Kafenion, which translates to “Cafe”.  Here they serve the same assortment of sweets from the bakery downstairs, plus Greek or regular coffee, pop, and here’s where you get the ticket for the scrumptious Loukoumades.  I will tell you more about that later.