Delicious Eats at the T.O. Food & Drink Fest

You know Spring is in the air in Toronto when the food festivals begin. National Event Management organized T.O. Food & Drink Fest, an indoor festival with more than 150 vendors selling everything from dumplings, to frozen pies, cocktails, smoothies, and hot sauces. Lots of hot sauces.

Situating the event indoors meant visitors and vendors didn’t have to contend with the inclement weather over the three days of the festival, especially since each day of the event, from March 31-April 2 brought its own challenges. While the event was well-organized, there were areas that felt too packed and claustrophobic and they held up entire sections of the crowd. No one was masked, which is unfortunately par for the course these days, but not ideal, especially indoors. While there were standing-only tables, there were only a couple of seated areas and most were around the food trucks. The organizers should have added a few more tables and seats to accommodate the large crowds.

The fest had an entry fee and vendors sold items at discounted rates. It was great to grab bites that cost single figures (a rarity in much of Toronto nowadays), but there should have been more sampling offers included with the fee. Unless one is attending as a member of the press or industry (which I didn’t), the costs do mount up by the end.

Though the fest, when it returns, can do with some minor improvements, my experience at T.O. Food & Drink Fest was delightful. Most of the vendors were friendly, and the visitors were more than accommodating about sharing table space with strangers and starting conversations about what they were eating. We all walked away with more recommendations to try out.

Random Samples

There weren’t many samples available, or at least not many that I was offered, but I did try some random things. I tried a breadstick from Puro Artigianale—they introduced it as dough, so I thought it would be soft, but it was just a bread stick. They also told us about their cheese and meat boxes but unfortunately didn’t offer up any for tastings. I tried a sip of their sister company TIFA Wine’s lemon spritz, while my fellow writer and twin had the grapefruit spritz. Both were tart and bitter, but I’m sure some people will like them. Honestly, we’re the wrong audience for spritz because they taste bitter to us.

We also ended up enjoying some free pickle tastings at Matt & Steve’s. Unfortunately, North American pickles don’t quite have the punch or layered flavour profiles of Sub-Continental and Middle Eastern pickles. I can imagine dunking the pickled dill and asparagus in a salad, but not much else. But we had a great chat, so that was fun.

We also tried a delicious mint olive from Kalamata Ltd., but they were so busy we couldn’t try much else, forget getting the opportunity to learn more about their Turkish Delights, nougats, and ganaches. We had better luck with Truffles and Circumstance, a hot sauce company where we tried their divine Black truffle hot sauce. One little bottle came home with us and has already been put to good use.

We stopped by Foodicyn Alkaline Beverages where they offered samplers of their Gold Energy Tonic and their Green and Red Energy Cocktails. The Gold Tonic actually tasted good, while the Energy Cocktails were familiar because of the ingredients. It’s tempting to buy these packs simply because they make breakfast sound so simple.

We also tried the special filling that makes Gertie’s Peanut Butter Pies so unique—the mascarpone and peanut butter mix makes it quite soft, but I felt like it diluted the peanut butter flavour too much.

While waiting in line, we checked out Flor de Caña. They manufacture rum, but we decided against trying any, so they gave us a virgin cool punch cocktail, their version of a pina colada, for visiting their stand. Just the kind of cooling drink we needed on a warm day.

Delectable Delights

One of my favourite cuisines is Japanese and I particularly love sushi. In North America, we have a lot of sushi joints and fusion cuisine. We had to give Albi Sushi another try, after enjoying their food at the Smorgasburg Toronto in 2022. Their sushi tacos are delicious. Each set comes with one tuna taco and one seared salmon taco. The nori is crunchy but not oily despite being fried. And they really pack in the fish, so it’s worth the price.

We also tried the sushi at Roll This Way. They’re known for their sushi classes and kits, but they had some ready-to-eat items at their station. I had some Red Dragon Rolls, while my twin had a California handroll. Both were wonderful.

As a dumpling lover, I had The Daily Dumpling Wonton Co. on my list, and they didn’t disappoint. We tried the pork dumplings and they gave us samples of all three of their sauces—ginger soy, chilli oil, and Shanghai peanut. They also added a generous sprinkling of green onions on the dumplings for that extra crunch. The dumplings were soft and packed with meat filling. Each of the sauces enhanced the dumplings in new ways. The chilli oil was my favourite, but that peanut sauce was memorable.

Unfortunately, our other foray into dumplings, or rather momos, was not that successful. I love a good momo, and Toronto has some really good ones. But at the T.O. Food & Drink Fest, Feed Me Fine Foods’ chicken momos were hard, rubbery and the filling was dry. The curry sauce on top did somewhat make up for the underwhelming momo.

One of the surprises for me was K-Sweets Tea. I don’t know if they even had tea on the menu because everyone homed in on the food they had on display. While the spring rolls looked inviting, I couldn’t pass up the chance to munch on the slim and tiny summer rolls they were selling. They were fresh and tasty, though I wish the flavour of the special pork sausage that the rolls were filled with was more distinct. What I particularly loved were the fried quail eggs with toppings. Such a simple but delicious dish. I could have eaten plenty more of those.

When you’re trying out spicy flavours, you need a respite, and it came in the form of Good Gang Ice Cream. We had also tried them at Smoragasburg, but they brought different flavours to T.O. Food & Drink Fest. They kindly let customers try a spoonful of their ice cream before ordering—I tried the Majicha Brownie, but decided against ordering it. My twin tried the Chocolate Soba ice cream, but the chocolate flavour was too mild. We settled on a snack-sized cup of Cà Phê Misu, a genuinely intriguing mix of mascarpone-marsala custard base, savoiardi (lady fingers), Vietnamese coffee syrup, and cocoa. The coffee flavour was the perfect amount to reel us in, and the dynamic textures of the custard and savoiardi kept us going back for more. I loved that they really packed in the snack cup with ice cream.

For me, the highlight of T.O. Food & Drink Fest was Euro Desserts. They had a mind-boggling range of donuts on display, and while I wanted to eat all of them, I finally chose the churros donut. Best. Decision. Ever. The donuts were light, soft, and fluffy, and had a perfectly balanced amount of cinnamon sugar that brought the churros flavour to life. But the pièce de resistance of the donut was the piped caramel sauce. It was such a pleasant and surprising burst of flavour. Unforgettable stuff.

Festivals like T.O. Food & Drink Fest are a great way to explore the wide range of foods available in Toronto. I just wish I’d been able to taste more of the vendors’ fares. Maybe next time.