Food Trippin’ goes Kensington Market

My Saturday all started with just the intent to let my friend Valerie sample Filipino food.  All these posts and tweets about Kanto, I got her curious about its location and taste some Filipino comfort food.  We agreed to meet by Scadding Court Community Centre, southeast of Bathurst and Dundas for brunch and I arrived the place first.  It is quite different from the first time I once came here one day last winter.  There was more traffic and the Scadding Court’s food booths were busier.  There was a steady stream of pedestrians whose pace would slow down as they check a variety of menus from the different food booths.  I am happy to say that my friend Diona’s booth was quite popular.  I think I can also add another fan after my friend Valerie tasted what I would let her try.

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Valerie finally arrived and our food binge started.  I dared her to eat just like a Filipino and she was agreeable to try anything.  We get servings of Pancit Palabok (noodles with chicken, tofu, spring onions, pork cracklings, egg and garlic bits), Dinuguan (pork stewed in blood), Lechon Kawali (crispy pork belly), and Munggo (mung beans).  I was amazed how Valerie was able to keep up with me, no queasiness (especially with the dinuguan) nor hesitation on her face.  It was safe to say I gave TitaFlips another fan!

After that hearty meal, Valerie and I decided to walk off our guilt and go shopping at nearby Kensington Market.  We both agreed that we needed a caffeine jolt and went to Sublime Espresso Bar to get our fix.  A small café along Augusta Avenue, the place injected a retro feel to its interiors.  Retro art adorned its walls and a shelving of a good choice of old records tucked neatly on the other side.  Onto the back was the espresso bar and from its menu, I zeroed in to a latte.  Getting good coffee was a very good idea as it sustained me for the rest of the afternoon of walking in and out of shops in Kensington Market.  This market never ceased to amaze me with the variety of discoveries I find each time I go.  Midway to the shopping trek, I made a stop at Pancho’s Bakery for some churros.  For the longest time, I have my eye on this place, wanting to try their churros but for one reason or the other, I seem cannot make it there.  I finally made it last Saturday and was impishly happy like a little kid with a big lollipop.  Perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with sprinkle of sugar gave me such bliss.  Simple life pleasures just cannot go wrong.

Toys and trinkets, hair accessories, asian mat and two vases later, we ended up our day for a beer at Village Idiot by McCaul St.  I have been to this place before and know they have a good selection of beers.  I asked our server to recommend a pale beer to me and he made me try Alberta’s Grasshopper.  He was quite right about it and it was smooth to the palate.  I mentally added it to my list of beers as I know I would want to taste this again.  Just my kind of beer.  Valerie went for a Samuel Adams.  With our beers we ordered a Fool’s Pizza (with Italian Sausage, green and jalapeño peppers, mushrooms and tomato sauce) and medium spicy chicken wings with fries.  The kitchen made a mistake and served me Idiot fries (fries tossed in BBQ sauce and herbs) and our server was overly apologetic about it being wrong.  I didn’t mind really as I enjoy potato any which way it comes.  After tasting it, I was happy the cook made that oversight as the fries were delicious and were a perfect match to the wings.

I sit contentedly after eating about half of my meal and I recollect how much food  Valerie and I ate for the day.  If it weren’t for the hours we walked at Kensington Market, I would have probably fallen into a definite food coma.  The day went so well.  This foodie was completely sated.