Taste of Lawrence Festival 2015: At A Glance

The Taste of Lawrence Festival kicks off the street festival season in Toronto, featuring many of the street food vendors you’re likely to see at other insanely crowded festivals. I think it’s one of the few festivals that is still a manageable size/crowd, yet still offers a huge variety of ethnic offerings. I took a stroll through the festival on Friday night, to scout out and highlight some of the stalls and grills.

Grills & Sizzles

Chifles on the Run had these plump Colombian sausages on skewers that were definitely enticing me to try. First time I’ve seen them on the scene, and I hope they’ll be sticking around for a while!

colombian

Filipino grocer FV Foods set up tents and seating in front of their store, with wonderful aromas wafting.

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Liko’s Hawaiian BBQ were grilling pineapple meat skewers, with grass hut storefront that stood out from the other stalls.

liko

liko_bbq

Old & New Classics

I’m glad to see so many non-traditional food vendors returning to the Taste of Lawrence Festival. It’s certainly a sign that there is a market for global street food – from Malaysian Murtabak to chinese seafood grills,

For the less adventurous, Blooming Onions, Tornado Fries, and Funnel Cakes are still a mainstay of the street fest scene, so there’s something for everyone.

Malaysian Murtabak, one of two Murtabak regulars on the streetfood scene. I prefer Malaysian Kitchen aka Pondicherri catering, but still a nice treat to see roti tossed to order!

murtabak

The plantains and pulled pork looked incredible enticing!

plantain_pork

onion_bloomseafood_grill squid

cane_juice

New Stalls

Several stalls were new to me, that I didn’t recognize from previous events. They attracted reasonably large crowds, so kudos to them for their hard work and brave new ventures!

thai

kaboom_chicken

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Food Trucks

Food Trucks were more numerous than in past years. While old stand-bys like Tiny Tom’s Donuts and Burger/Fries trucks were in attendance, a fair number of food trucks seemed to be new to the festival. Samosas, tacos, and a dessert pastry called “Chimneys” (soft tube-shaped pastry, filled with nutella) were on the scene.

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samosa

rebezos

chimney

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