Toronto Underground Market

Having missed out on the past few TUM’s we made sure to grab tickets to the November event. Upon arrival, we made a beeline for La Carnita’s stand to get another taste of their voltron fish tacos, and to grab an amazing free print by Ashley Barron. Although it was only 6:30 PM, the wait time was already an hour! Thankfully, nearby was an empanada stand with no line.

$5 for 2 Empanadas: “Would you like to know what’s inside (chicken) or just bite into it for a surprise?”

The La Carnita line having barely moved, I wandered off to Element’s stand, baited by their ingredients (lobster, bacon, chocolate, all fried!). I ordered the Lobster Yaki ($5) and the Chocolate-bacon-banana spring roll ($4). Oddly I received pork spring rolls instead of the chocolate bacon ones, but they were fresh from the fryer and quite delicious, so no complaints – especially as while I was waiting, I was offered a sample of a lemony-kumquat drink.

$9 Elements: Lobster yaki & spring rolls

After about 45 minutes, La Carnita folks brought out some free samples – chips with guacamole. Small, but so damn tasty! And free! As we neared the front of the line the hardest decision was… how many? chorizo or fish or both? We ended up with 3 voltron fish tacos, and 1 chorizo taco.

$16 La Carnita: 3 fish tacos & a chorizo taco

Having satisfied the taco-quota, we set off to try other items, and had this pork chop on a bun, topped with a perfectly sunny-side up egg, and fried sweet potato threads by Oxala.

$5 Pork bun with egg and sweet potato threads

Next we sampled some smoked haddock chowder from Tuxedos and T-shirts who were also offering a sticky toffee pudding (which we should’ve tried!). The chowder which was nicely smokey and creamy, perfect for the chilly night.

$4 Tuxedos and T-shirts: Smoked Haddock Chowder

Next up, Bistro Filipino Bakery who offered not only one of the tastiest foods, but also the best name. “Kwek-kwek” are deep-fried soft boiled quail eggs, small orbs of awesome. I can’t imagine how much work is involved – boiling, peeling, battering, frying?! We also tried the savory “batchoy” noodles in soup with a side of puto, and the oddly familiar tasting “butterfly ice tea”, a carbonated lime ice tea concoction.

$7.50 Bistro Filipino Bakery: kwek kwek, butterfly ice tea, batchoy

We continued with more Filipino food at Tita Flips, with a large portion of beef bone marrow stew. We received a marrow bone, bread to mop up the marrow, and a large bowl of stew with chunks of beef and veggies. Bone marrow + stew could never be bad, and this stew was delicious! Balut and other Filipino delicacies were also available to order. Apart from selling interesting good food, these two Filipino stands were definitely offering the best deals, from a $ vs quality+quantity perspective.

$4 Tita Flips: Beef bone marrow stew

The rain stopped so we wandered out to the Chimney Court. First up, a cup of ol’ smokey chili from West Side Beef while waiting in line for pizza.

$4 West Side Beef: Ol’ smokey chili

Personal sized Neapolitan pizzas churned out in a constant stream from a wood fired oven would pretty much be my dream Rube Goldberg machine, so we were happy to wait and watch the folks from Craig Ovenstone make pizza after pizza. We were lucky enough to split with another yumtum-er in line, and we inhaled half a margherita and porchetta pizza moments from the oven.

$5 Craig Ovenstone: Margherita & Porchetta Pizzas

Craving something sweet, we tasted the blowtorched-on-the-spot cedar marshmallows from Waterloo’s Hard Food guys. I remember laughing a year ago when I read that “tree flavours” would become popular, but I definitely liked these marshmallows more than other vanilla/chocolate/strawberry ones I’ve tried.

$2 Hard Food: Cedar Marshmallows

Proof’s hot apple cider with whiskey was a great warm drink to end the night with, before wandering into the cold.

$5 Proof Whiskey Hot Apple Cider

Though a bit pricey overall, TUM was a memorable night worth trying at least once!
All photos by Andrew, because I was too busy eating.
–
Saturday night, November 16 2011.
Toronto Underground Market
Evergreen Brickworks