This post chronicles my visit to the Taste of Edmonton food festival that went on from July 17 to July 27 2025.
This blog post was mostly written on July 21 2025, which was the date of my primary visit to the event this year. Chronologically, my weekly blog entry that this page lines up with is (or will be, it’s not up yet as of writing) My Diary #200.
Table of Contents
ට Introduction
ට Gallery of Food Stalls
ට Gallery of Other Stalls
ට Misc Event Pictures
ට Food Pictures
ට Other Swag
Introduction
It’s been a while since I went to one of these! The last one I went to and catalogued was in 2021. Things have sure changed since then, but one thing that hasn’t changed is me getting rained on the first day that I went to the event. A light drizzle accompanied me on my trip there on Monday, Jul 21 2025, although this also contributed to keeping the temperatures cool and the crowds sparse. This rain eventually intensified and I left after a little bit, intending to come back on another day.
The official event page this year was located here (and backed up here: local). There’s also an online menu here (local) and venue map here (local). Tickets (local) cost:
40 tix – $69.50 ($1.7375/1)
20 – $37.00 ($1.85/1)
10 – $19.00 ($1.90/1)
5 – $9.75 ($1.95/1)
1 – $2.00 ($2.00/1)
Prices have risen in the interim since I came here four years ago — 20 tickets cost me $35 at the time. $37 now. But those were just the on-site prices, there was an early bird discount for buying them on the website, so I had already ordered 40 tickets for $59.50 (no tax) on July 2nd, and picked them up on site when I visited the event. So essentially, each ticket was worth $1.50 to me.
The food is still expensive, or rather the food portion offered by most of the stalls is very measly compared to the number of tickets they were charging for it, and this is a big reason why the event isn’t more popular than it is, as most people visit it once and balk at the prices and then never go back again on subsequent years. This event is notorious for being very overpriced and the helping stingy in the eyes of the Edmonton public. But it’s not that far over the top really, like when I visited the Richmond Night Market in Vancouver earlier this year, I think the food per dollar value of the items there that I tried were higher, but only slightly so. I think both are expensive and should be cheaper though, and food in Canada has outrageous prices as a whole, but Edmonton’s one isn’t specifically much more overpriced than similar events elsewhere.
Either way it’s still one of our city’s signature events, and I do like going around sampling the stuff that different restaurants have to offer.
And there was an event booklet that I picked up when I picked up my pre-bought tickets, this ran 6 pages and I scanned it when I got home. For easier reference, I’m putting this right at the top instead of down below.
Gallery of Food Stalls
A master list of the food stalls can be found above in the online menu page, or below in the Misc Event Pictures section. They ranged from stall numbers 01-47, plus a couple food trucks (A to E), and then a couple of sponsor alcohol booths that I will list separately.
What’s a little weird and perhaps slightly sleazy to me is that several of these stalls below are not even real restaurants… so who are they? Are they fronts for more famous companies that want to seem independent? Or people trying to make a quick buck by cooking for these events while pretending they’re real restaurants? Hmm. Isn’t this supposed to be a restaurant promotional event? The ones I listed below, #27 I Love Bubble Tea, #28 Coconut Jungle, #32 Love Kitchen Catering, and #33 Saluté, have no visible links to their parent stores and no promotional material that I saw at all, and do not have a Google presence or any sort of social media, even though they were listed as “restaurant partners” on the Taste of Edmonton site. I wonder who they are and what their story is. Everyone else is a legit restaurant, food truck, or catering service as far as I can see.
01. Blowers & Grafton:
02. The Three Amigos / The 3 Amigos:
03. Takopo:
04. Pasta Pantry:
05. Saigon Taste:
06. Transit Smokehouse & BBQ:
07. Choco N’ Dip:
08. The Lingnan (see my interesting history/memory with this store here):
09. Khazana:
10. Hong Kong Bakery:
11. La Catrina (the menu calls this La Catrina Wood Fire Pizza):
12. Irie Foods:
13. Sushi by Tokyo Noodle Shop (Assumedly affiliated with the next store):
14. Tokyo Noodle Shop (the menu calls this Tokyo Noodle House):
15. The Banquet Premium Dive Bar:
16. PiKanté:
17. The Canadian Brewhouse:
18. Gangnam Street Food:
19. Kissan Indian Cuisine:
20. Ribeye Butcher Shop:
21. Satay Madura:
22. El Afrik Lounge:
23. Chung Chun Rice Hot Dog:
24. Mr. Waffle:
They had a larger menu that I had to go in closer to snap.
25. Paraiso Tropical:
26. Royal Treats:
27. I Love Bubble Tea (not a real store as far as I can tell, their logo is some random stock image (local), and they’re affiliated with the next store):
28. Coconut Jungle (also not a real store as far as I can tell, but I didn’t find their logo anywhere):
29. Fantasia Caffé:
30. Szechuan Paramount:
What do you call a cow with orange hair? Ginger beef. — Oddly, this joke doesn’t appear anywhere else on Google. Probably partially because ginger beef isn’t even really widely known outside of Canada.
31. Joanne’s Food Truck / Joanne’s BBQ House:
32. Love Kitchen Catering (also not a real restaurant, they use this random Facebook page’s logo (local) or vice versa as their logo — they are an event sponsor (local) somehow though):
33. Saluté (yet another stall that is not a real restaurant as far as I can tell, and they also use a stock image (local) as their logo):
34. Miller’s Ice Cream:
35. Blue Willow:
36. Lemon Heaven:
37. Hoang Long 888:
38. Dagu Rice Noodle:
I went in to get a better look at their wheel:
39. Flurrries Café (the menu calls this Flurries Bingsoo Cafe and More):
40. Koutouki (the menu calls this Koutouki It’s All Greek to Me):
41. Yo Baba!:
42. L’Espresso Café:
43. Continental Treat:
44. Beya’s Catering:
45. Boualouang Laos & Thai Cuisine:
46. Spicebros:
47. Kokom’s Bannock Kitchen:
And here are the five food trucks.
A. Lemon Heaven:
They sell the same thing as the #36 Lemon Heaven stall above.
B. Curry N’ Hurry:
C. Native Delights:
D. Live Bowl’d:
E. The Cheesecake Cafe:
Gallery of Other Stalls
I don’t know about the intervening years, but when I came here back in 2021, there were no artisan market stalls in the festival at all. This time there were, and I endeavoured to collect as many pictures of those as I could as well.
Not all the stalls had names that I could see, I tried to catch them to list them too but sometimes they’re just unknown.
Dazzling Designs By Archana:
I had a version without the shop lady blocking her face but it seems she didn’t really want to be included in the photo so I respected that.
Amorin Jewelry & Accessories, and Witchwood Kitchens:
Pluto’s Palette:
I asked the lady and the dog’s name is indeed Pluto.
DoodlyDoo Doodles:
Oakbeez:
Elegence Henna By Simi:
Off the Clock Studio:
Fearless hART, and Woodnt it be nice if:
Misiyo Candle Co:
Knox Your Socks Off:
Standing Bear Sauces:
Inkstremity Tattoo, and Royce & Oak Permanent Jewelry:
I’m not certain what the names of these stores were:
And this one, Ecuathentic, was closing down when I arrived, they were completely gone the next time I came by a little bit later:
Down another aisle, there were these other stalls too.
Just Art by Mark, Linda Finstad Famous Coffee Artist, and Saeed Hojjati Saesae Art:
NOA (Night of Artists) Gallery and Gifts:
Gotta Be Candy:
Magic Pixie Entertainment Ltd.:
Choco N’ Dip:
These folks also have Stall 07 in the main food area, but they also had this cool 3D camera thing set up separately.
There was this tent by the Vegans & Vegetarians of Alberta, and they were advertising an Edmonton VegFest that will be held later on in the year. One of the ladies also told me about a free membership promotion that they were having to their club, which apparently includes member potlucks and stuff sometimes. I didn’t join, but I sure thought about it. I might visit that VegFest if I have time.
Then there were a bunch of sponsor and other miscellaneous tents. Like this North Central Co-op/DeanO’s Donut Holes’s truck here that looks like it should have been a booth but it wasn’t open.
There were three Canada Dry Beverage Centres located on premises:
And a large central alcohol area called The Bar, managed by Sidebar Saloon:
A Rogers truck that definitely was not serving food or drinks:
A Costco tent:
And a Telus tent:
Misc Event Pictures
These are more “infrastructure” pictures than actual tent or food pictures, but they very much deserve to be chronicled anyway, so here we are.
Here’s a picture of one of the entrances to the event, specifically the one I came in from:
A picture of The Market by Wholly Handmade and a little balloon arch thing going over it:
A much later picture of one of the food rows when it was drizzling heavily. Some people were using umbrellas and some just didn’t care. I did bring one along but didn’t care.
An on-location signboard with a map of the event venue:
The 880 CHED Info Centre and ticket pickup tent. People coming to pick up their pre-bought tickets were asked to split into one of four lines depending on the first letter of their surname, but because it wasn’t the first day, only one sprightly Chinese lady was there handling all four lines in turn. Also pictured, ticket booths 1-4.
Ticket booths 5-16:
The two 50-50 booths where people could buy lottery tickets if they wanted:
A first aid tent and battery recharge station:
A children’s bouncy castle, axe throw, and hooleyball (what’s that?) game area:
That was early on when it hadn’t started drizzling yet. Later on, the bouncy toys were supposed to be deflated and decommissioned when it was raining but one of them was still left up anyway, I guess because it was only heavily drizzling:
There was a private function area for I don’t know who, but it looks like there was a personal instance of The Bar in there too, among other things.
And a central stage area called the McLennan Ross stage that wasn’t in use:
With performances listed on a banner on the side:
And finally, there were no porta-potties this year but there was a washroom area next to the Epcor Waterfall anyway. This is a permanent part of Sir Winston Churchill Square and not technically a special part of the event, but nonetheless, infrastructure.
Food Pictures
These are the things I bought this year.
Stall 01. Blowers & Grafton — Lobster Roll (5 tickets). Jul 22 2025. Was this worth $7.50?
This thing was tiny, so I thought that this was the most grossly overpriced thing I ate, but the bread was very nicely toasted.
Stall 16. PiKanté — Tres Leches Cake (2 tickets). Jul 22 2025. Was this worth $3.00?
The first day I visited this event was also Mell‘s birthday, and this was in tribute to her as I was soliciting ideas to what to eat from my main Discord server. So yes, this one was tiny but 2 tickets for it was very fine.
Stall 20. Ribeye Butcher Shop — Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos (3 tickets). Jul 22 2025. Was this worth $4.50?
This one was nice. I thought it was a bit of a waste that they gave so much sauce with each order though. I think everyone who ordered this had to toss most of it away due to running out of the small jalapenos very quickly.
Stall 37. Hoang Long 888 — Pad Thai & Tofu (4 tickets). Jul 22 2025. Was this worth $6.00?
The helping was small and it was the last bit of food from the current tray too. But Mell wished me to have a tofu dish as well, and I wasn’t about to disappoint her on her birthday. The amount was not worth it though but the taste was good and lingered with me long after.
Also see how wet the tables were due to the rain.
Other Swag
One of the food booths, 45. Boualouang Laos & Thai Cuisine, had a promotion where you could post a picture of their booth at the Taste of Edmonton on Instagram, and receive a free keychain! I took a picture of the keychain stand itself and posted that temporarily. I did remove it soon after as I don’t like Instagram as a social media platform, but to hold up my end of the deal, I’ll feature it here in my blog post instead.
There were 3 different keychains, and I picked up this one:
The Lobster Roll that I picked up from Blowers & Grafton came with a scratchcard, with various prizes that one could use when they visit the stall’s actual parent store. I noticed a few different stalls were running promotions like this to try to convert eventgoers into actual patrons, and I thought this was pretty clever. Anyway, this was my card and my prize:
And lastly, here’s a photo of my ticket sheet before I had used any of it (but after I had detached a couple to use). It was very windy so it was hard to get a good picture of it.
I did scan my remaining tickets after Day 1 but won’t post that yet because posting good scans of both the back and front might allow people to print it out and use them or something nefarious like that. I might post that after the event is fully over. I also came back with a handful of business cards and various things like that, and did scan them all, but I don’t see a compelling reason to post them here. I will eventually upload all those ephemera onto archive.org though.