A Yelp Event for Sampling Great Local Eats
What a great Yelp Night at the Markham Museum event, put on by Yelp GTA (Greater Toronto Area). I want to thank everyone involved as I know these are tough to organize. And to do it in the pouring rain? Well, that was pretty hardcore. Good on the organizers for having a well-thought-out back-up plan.
We had a good time. We discovered new restaurants and bakeries we’ll be stopping at for a more extensive review. And we have some new beer, wine and mixers to buy. Most of all, we are so happy to have been invited.
The only disappointments were the missing food establishments/empty tables for Philthy Philly’s and Fuwa Fuwa Japanese Pancakes. Most upsetting was the Cheez Headz food truck that left at 8:30pm, after we stood in line for 20 minutes.
Start the Night with a Massage
What WAS AMAZING was the Wellcalm Wellness chair massage that Joe enjoyed. Boy would it be great to hire them for a home or work table massage!
Now on to the Food Sampling
We loved the cheese tarts from Bake Code. And the servers were extra nice, too.
Chatime milk tea staff were so welcoming. We tried both the Grass Jelly milk tea and Snow Pear green tea (a first time for both). While both drinks were unusual and had different textures, they were both tasty and worth trying.
The men serving samples at Saigon Star chatted us up and convinced us to give them a try at their restaurant. The Vietnamese style pork and vermicelli sample was a good start.
A beautiful paella pan dotted with black muscle shells was the showstopper the guys from Tapagria tapas restaurant brought with them. This rice meal had many different meats and vegetables like a traditional paella.
The Kimchi Korean sandwich from the Galleria Supermarket was delicious. They served half a small dinner roll with fried chicken and a dollop of The Kimchi, designed for Canadian tastes. The Galleria is already a regular stop for me. Next time I’ll buy a jar of The Kimchi, which even Joe (who doesn’t like cabbage or spicy stuff) enjoyed.
The best food of Yelp Night at the Markham Museum, though, was the Me N U roti tacos. Wow oh wow were they tasty. Great combination of flavours.
Even better, the food truck hung in until the end of the night, in spite of them having the longest lineups.
Drink Up – Beer and Wine Samples at Yelp Night at the Markham Museum
We found out that Vin Bon has recently opened in Ajax. I’d like to stop in and find out more about their winemaking programs. I’ve never made wine before. Their sample of Cabernet Merlot was great. Could I make it that well? Not so sure.
Joe had a great time with the Muskoka Brewery. He got the Hazed & Confused craft beer. I like the darker porters and stouts, so I skipped it, but we were so glad to have them there.
The people from McClelland Premium Beers took a moment with us. They asked all the right questions, and found the perfect samples for us both. Joe liked best the Huyghe Brewery Früli Strawberry Beer with real strawberry juice in a wheat beer. While I liked the strawberry, the winner was the Brouwerij Verhaeghe ‘Duchesse de Bourgogne’ Flemish Red Ale. It had a gorgeous colour and a taste of cherries and red wine. McClelland also import the Stiegl Grapefruit Radler, which is a favourite of mine.
Time for Cocktails, Too
I liked that Walter Caesar was trying to pair the right Caesar mixer to the right person, too. Walter’s craft in small batches. They do not include MSG, food colour or high fructose corn syrup in their Caesar mixes. They’ve just introduced a Smoky Maple version of their Caesar mix. They even create a vegan version. Their original Walter Craft Caesar Mix was really good and I’ll be looking for it at my nearby grocer.
We didn’t try the BlackFly Booze or Tito’s Handmade Vodka as we were driving. Both looked really good, and people were enjoying them.
Yelp Night at the Markham Museum Set Up Indoors/Outdoors
Yelp Night at the Markham Museum had a few different activities for attendees. Right near the entrance was a construction project on tables which was popular with guests. We stopped in to take in the pottery demonstration earlier in the evening. There was a giant Jenga and a couple of Cornhole games set up inside the Transportation building.
I also meant to stop by the printing press to sample the calligraphy and print a crossword puzzle. But we ran out of time. Soon enough the prizes were being called out and the party was ending. We’ll have to come back to the Markham Museum to check into all the period buildings.
Thanks again to all the sponsors. Without you and the Yelp GTA volunteers we’d have no event. It is much appreciated. We’re looking forward to the next one.
Yelping since 2012.
