Being a guy who grew up in Toronto, I realized I haven’t been to many of the festivities Toronto have to offer. So this year, I’ve decided to see if I can get an excuse to go to the Taste of the Danforth and I was able to find one, I asked that Chinese girl who I have been teasing since I was at Seneca if she wanna go with me. She told me that this wouldn’t be the first time she’s there, actually she and her sisters are pretty familiar with the place and knew exactly where to get some of the better foods at Taste of the Danforth. So there we went, the two of us and her elder sister.
It seems I have been here before with a Greek female friend of mine a few years back when I was in a mental crisis. She was studying to become a psychiatrist or something and I definitely can use some mental support, if that’s the least she can do. Well, it was Greek town that she took me and apparently, that’s where Taste of the Danforth is held.
The difference is, there are loads of people here and the roads are closed just for this festival.
Greek sweets are pretty awesome from my recollection, my friend said she just had honey balls (Loukoumades) the night before, so instead, she purchased some Baklava. We shared and she made me eat most of it because it was super sweet. Sure, that’s what guys are for when they are going out with girls, clean up duty.
As I was taking this shot, her elder sister whips out her own phone to take a snap. She told me quietly that she is glad that I am here as normally, if she was to do this, my friend would have scold her for ‘allowing the camera to eat first’, as I was in their company my friend didn’t object to this practice and she was definitely going to take advantage of this. 😀
This place is definitely being treated as if it is a festival and not just a place for foodies to eat. Look at those Minions!
Interestingly, in Greek town, we found a place selling Japanese Taiyaki and Takoyaki.
The Takoyaki is awesome, not that I can really taste anything as I was enjoying her company too much.
Ukulele! I was tempted to buy one… but isn’t that Hawaiian? What is it doing in Greek town?
Greek quail, I was admiring the roasting tool these quails are on as they seems to be on an auto rotating device. Another shock is that I didn’t know the Greeks ate quails. I thought only the Chinese ate quails, it seems there is another common thing between the Greeks and the Chinese. However, it is here that I made a small mistake. My friend was lining up for some quails when I said something along the lines of how are we going to eat this? She immediately left the line and met up with her sister. From her sister’s reaction, it seems quails maybe one of her favorites and she may have just given up on that because of something I said. Worst part is, I didn’t even noticed that until the next day… Now I am thinking of a way to make amends.
There are Souvlaki or meat on a stick everywhere, chicken, duck, pork, and sometimes beef but where’s the lamb? I can’t seem to find the lamb Souvlakis.
There is even some Sharwarma places, wow!
And a stand selling gelato.
If I wasn’t with the two girls, I’d definitely get some Greek Fries. I was introduced to them by my Greek friend. It is one of those rare forms of Poutine, where you get Feta instead of cheese curds. It is so damn good!
When it comes to Souvlaki, the girl’s claim to being familiar with Taste of the Danforth really shone through. Astoria is one of the better restaurants in Greek town, according to my Greek friend, and when we came close to it, my friend just lined up immediately to buy Souvlakis from them. Interesting that they charge extra for Taztziki so I didn’t ask for it, but normally I would love Tzatziki on my Souvlakis.
There were so much garbage cans around the place, however, many of the normal ones were wrapped up. That is because they have specialized extra large garbage cans dedicated for this event. If the normal ones were used, they’d overflow within minutes.
Minus that little incident at the quail, where the fault was entirely mine, I’d say this was a great experience. Personally, I would love to take more time to walk around slowly and explore the event in depth. However my friend’s elder sister just came off work and being a guy, I can’t ask a girl to suffer because of my selfish desire to explore.