Dining Out: Downtown Markham Food Fest 2025

Since we didn't make it out to the CNE this year (which, aside from the hour-long commute from the GTA and the most anxiety-inducing parking space hunt, has become way too expensive — with a $25 admission fee this year, an all-time high — and way too crowded), I asked Minji and Daniel if they'd be interested in going to the Downtown Markham Food Fest after work yesterday, which has free admission and is way less stressful than going to downtown Toronto. 

Korean beef bulgogi tater tots from Crunch Alley
Beef, lamb, and sausage skewers from Chinese Northern BBQ
Tornado potato with garlic parmesan from Happy Twist
Taiwanese sweet potato balls from Sweet Potato Ball

Along with live music and performances, they have 40 local vendors this year. Since we got there right when they opened, it wasn't crowded yet and we could take the time to peruse all the food options. There were some vendors that we vetoed off the bat — mostly the Korean food ones that Minji insisted were way too overpriced (e.g. $13 for a Korean corn dog, $8 for a small cup of tteokbokki), but also the multiple vendors that are selling the exact same things (mostly the Chinese BBQ skewers), as well as the higher end local restaurants (like Pears and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse) because their price points were too high for what they were offering. (Also because they're quite literally across the street, so we could easily go to the actual restaurants if we wanted to.)

We ended up with Korean beef bulgogi tater tots (wish there was more kimchi and cucumbers, but the tots were super crunchy and the beef was well-seasoned — 4/5); a variety of Chinese BBQ skewers (9 skewers for $20 is a steal, but the vendor we ended up going to used pre-grilled skewers, so re-heating them on the grill made the beef and lamb a little too chewy, though the sausage was excellent — 3/5); a tornado potato that Minji added copious amounts of delicious garlic parmesan seasoning to (the potato was perfectly fried resulting in really nice crispy edges with the inside still giving a nice chew — 5/5); and Taiwanese sweet potato balls that are basically sweet potato-based donuts that have the most spectacular mochi-like chew (they were also dusted with this sweet-tart purple powder that made them taste like apple fritters and were INSANELY GOOD — 5/5). It was about $17 per person for everything, and we were surprisingly full. (I say "surprisingly," because I usually get way more than this at food festivals. But then again, there were no line-ups, so I guess there was no time to digest in between orders...)

It's not marketed as an Asian food fest which is why it was far less crowded than we expected (at least when we got there around 5:30PM which, admittedly, is a little earlier than most people's dinner times) and there's no stinky tofu (still not sure why people are so obsessed with it — it honestly tastes like regular fried tofu but just smells like sewer), but the majority of their offerings is exactly like an Asian night market, anyway. (It is in Markham, after all.) All of us wished there were more dessert options, but overall, I thought it was worth stopping by. And unlike the CNE or Ribfest, it's free to go in. Not sure why I had never bothered going before, but I will absolutely come back next year!

Downtown Markham Food Fest 2025

Downtown Markham

179 Enterprise Blvd.

Markham, ON L6G 0A2

Dining Out: A Belated Birthday All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Feast at Ichiban

When my friend Iris asked where I'd want to go for a belated birthday dinner, I was craving Japanese food but also just wanted to eat a lot, so what better place than Ichiban, my go-to AYCE Japanese restaurant?

Assorted sashimi: Salmon, surf clams, sweet shrimp, scallops, and white tuna

Beef tataki

Smoked duck and wagyu aburi sushi

Truffle wasabi tuna roll with jalapeño

Assorted aburi sushi: White tuna, snapper, shrimp, salmon, eel, and wagyu

Japanese-style cubed beef with garlic

Deep-fried scallops

Grilled jumbo shrimp skewer

Cream puffs

Deep-fried coconut custard

There was also steamed shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, Japanese steamed egg, enoki beef rolls, baked mussels with uni sauce, deep-fried calamari, deep-fried tofu, and a plethora of tempura. Unfortunately, we were too full to even touch the Asian stir-fried and noodle and rice sections, but you know, I think we did pretty well overall. GLUTTONOUS BIRTHDAY DINNER, SUCCESS!

Ichiban Asian All You Can Eat

4261 Highway 7, Unit C-8

Markham, ON L3R 9W6

(905) 305-8825

Hong Kong 2024 Travel Log: Day 4 — Jumbo Shrimp and Seafood Flower Pizza at Pizza Hut

So one thing that both my mom and I wanted to try out here was pizza. Not authentic pizza, obviously. Chain restaurant pizza. Because the fast food pizza culture in Asia is vastly different than what we have in North America. So we went to Pizza Hut and ordered the one that sounded the most interesting: the Jumbo Shrimp and Seafood Flower Pizza.

Jumbo Shrimp and Seafood Flower Pizza

Like its namesake, it includes shrimp and seafood, but also cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, red onions, mushrooms, and TOFU. Yes, TOFU. Like, slices of firm tofu. Maybe to add protein? To make it feel meatier? Give it some heft? I don't know, but I will say that I normally eat 5 slices of pizza to get full. Here, I only needed 3, so I guess it's doing its job. (Then again, this is more like garlic bread with toppings than pizza, so I digress.) But I wouldn't get it again. Forget about the tofu. Cream cheese on pizza is an abomination.

Pizza Hut

12 Humphrey Ave., 1/F

Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Hong Kong

(852) 2739-1800

Hong Kong 2024 Travel Log: Day 1 — Hainanese Chicken Rice at Bugis Junction

Hainanese chicken rice

Since we were already exploring K11 Art Mall, we decided to have dinner there and my mom ended up picking a Singaporean restaurant called Bugis Junction. We both decided to get the Hainanese chicken rice, of course — super-tender, boneless chicken with plump, juicy skin served with perfectly flavoured, not-too-greasy oil rice. A far more satisfying dinner than lunch!

Bugis Junction

K11 Art Mall, B232, B2/F

18 Hanoi Rd.

Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Hong Kong

(852) 3188-0060

Food Delivery: Original and Crabmeat Foldable Egg Sandwiches and Chicken Karaage from Tamago Jirou 蛋治郎

I was so excited about all the food adventures I was going to have in the new year... and then I got hit with COVID two weeks ago. I just thought I had a particularly nasty cold but my mom dropped off a box of rapid tests, which I do have some trust issues with, but I took one anyway and wow, did those two lines show up fast. I somehow managed to avoid it for 3 years, so I guess it was finally my turn. Anyway, that was all to preface the fact that I have not gone out to eat since that New Year's hot pot outing three weeks ago. Basically, life has sucked.

Original and crabmeat foldable egg sandwiches
Chicken karaage

Now that I've been back at work for just over a week, I decided to celebrate the return of my tastebuds with my co-worker by ordering lunch from Tamago Jirou. They specialize in "foldable egg sandwiches," so we got two of the crabmeat sandwiches (crabmeat with homemade creamy sauce, spicy mayo, egg, and lettuce) and two orders of the karaage because they were both on BOGO specials, as well as the original sandwich (homemade creamy sauce, egg, teriyaki sauce, onion, corn, and cheese) because it's  their signature dish (and also we were just super hungry and feeling ambitious).

Surprisingly, we both liked the crabmeat sandwiches significantly more the original — the sandwich was loaded with crab meat tossed in a tangy, creamy mayo that had a hint of yuzu which made it fresh and addictive — but the toasty, fluffy bread pockets are positively delightful, and the fillings are abundant. But what really surprised us was how good the karaage was — all dark meat (which I prefer), juicy and tender on the inside, crispy and well-seasoned on the outside, served with a wedge of lemon and the aforementioned yuzu-tinged mayo. An extremely successful first "dining out" meal after COVID. I will absolutely be ordering from Tamago Jirou again because I obviously need to go through their entire sandwich menu now.

Tamago Jirou 蛋治郎

Langham Square

8321 Kennedy Rd., Unit 1070

Markham, ON L3R 5N4

(905) 475-7357

Dining Out: Holiday All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Feast at Ichiban

Took my friend Iris out for a belated birthday/holiday dinner tonight at Ichiban, where we ate and ate and ate some more:

Surf clams, sweet shrimp, snapper, scallop, octopus, and salmon sashimi
Avocado salmon, salmon, and fish roe temaki
Fish roe, salmon, BBQ eel, snapper, and mackerel nigiri
Shrimp, salmon, smoked duck, BBQ eel, and salmon box aburi sushi
Beef tataki
Shrimp, zucchini, yam, and pumpkin tempura
Agedashi tofu
Japanese-style cubed garlic steak
Enoki mushroom beef rolls
Torched mussels with house sauce
Stir-fried shrimp with vegetables
Cream puffs
Banana tempura
Deep-fried coconut custard

I have a massive food baby right now (twins, actually), but I can conclude from this second visit that Ichiban is officially my go-to Japanese AYCE restaurant. Although, judging from the line-up out the door on this Thursday evening (and the 15 minutes we had to wait even though we had a reservation), it's everyone else's, too. 

Ichiban Asian All You Can Eat

4261 Highway 7, Unit C-8

Markham, ON L3R 9W6

(905) 305-8825

New York City 2023 Travel Log: Day 3 — A Little Midtown International Food Crawl

The best thing to do with a free afternoon in NYC when you just like eating? A little international food crawl across midtown:

Chicken tikka masala naan wrap from Mysttik Masaala at Bryant Park Winter Village
Adobada corn tortilla tacos from Los Tacos No. 1
Chicken and beef gyro platter from The Halal Guys
Kaya butter toast from Kopifellas at Urban Hawker

Everything was incredible, but especially those adobada tacos from Los Tacos No. 1, which are easily my new favourite tacos of all time. If the long line-up out the door on a super-cold November day is any indication, it's everyone else's favourite tacos, too. And speaking of international, I just gotta mention how crazy huge The Halal Guys have gotten. The first time I ever ate there was when I was visiting my brother in 2008. He was working at BlackRock at the time (which used to be located at Park Avenue Plaza), and he was like, "I'll take you to my favourite lunch spot." So we walked a few blocks to this little cart with a giant line-up and I was like, "Really?" And he just said, "Trust me." Indeed, the chicken and rice was one of the most tasty, satisfying, and cheap (it was $5 back then) meals I'd ever had. I went back a few more times on that trip. And since then, I have trusted my brother on all his food picks.

Mystiik Masaala

Winter Village at Bryant Park

W 41st St. and 6th Ave.

New York, NY 10018

(917) 438-5166

Los Tacos No. 1

Times Square

229 W 43rd St.

New York, NY 10036

(212) 574-4696

The Halal Guys

W 53rd St. and 6th Ave.

New York, NY 10019

(347) 527-1505

Kopifellas

Urban Hawker

135 W 50th St.

New York, NY 10020

(917) 769-5513

Dining Out: An Early Birthday All-You-Can-Eat Japanese Feast at Ichiban

My mom and her best friend took me out for an early birthday dinner at the newly opened Ichiban Japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant this evening and we became absolute gluttons:

Beef tataki
Assorted sashimi: Salmon, sweet shrimp, white tuna, and octopus
Assorted aburi sushi: salmon, shrimp, smoked duck, eel oshizushi, and salmon oshizushi
Assorted nigiri: Eel, white tuna, salmon, and salmon roses
Ichiban Golden Roll
Enoki beef rolls
Shrimp tempura
Fried chicken cartilage
Grilled scallop skewers
Grilled galbi
Grilled chicken skewers
Japanese-style garlic beef

There's a lot of the standard fare that you get at Asian AYCE restaurants, but they do offer some items that you'd typically only find at à la carte Japanese restaurants like aburi sushi and oshizushi. They also have self-serve sections for salad, soup, dessert, shaved ice, and ice cream that also set them apart from the typical Japanese AYCE place. (My advice is to limit yourself at the self-serves because they have so many great offerings on their regular menu.) Quality-wise, I would put it above most of the other AYCE restaurants I've been to; no freshly defrosted fish, no hard sushi rice, no maki or nigiri falling apart, no overly dry or chewy meat. Presentation is top-notch, decor is clean and modern, and service was fantastic — our server, Wendy, was attentive, efficient, and helpful. (She was on it with the water refills and clearing the table.) 

The key here, however, is to make sure you get your server's attention when you're ready to put in your order — they do use tablets here, but only a server can actually submit your order (which, admittedly, negates the efficiency of a tablet) — otherwise, you'll be waiting forever for food that you thought was automatically input into their system. 

Ichiban Asian All You Can Eat

4261 Highway 7, Unit C-8

Markham, ON L3R 9W6

(905) 305-8825