Han Drama: Back to Edmonton, Wedding Reception & Taste of Edmonton

One of the benefits of being in Winnipeg is that it is close enough to afford the occasional visit back home to Edmonton. A week after Marilyn left, I found myself boarding the cozy confines of an Air Canada jet to Edmonton. One of our mutual friends, a preceptor of mine, kindly had invited us to his sons' wedding. Never to miss a time to connect with old friends, we jumped on the opportunity. It was just our luck that the Taste of Edmonton was occuring on the weekend that I was back. For those not famaliar, the Taste of Edmonton is a food festival where numerous restaurants bring out tasting portions of popular menu items.

We started off purchasing $25 worth of tickets and seeing where it got us.

We got two items from Hoang Long: Grilled Quail with Pomegranate Sauce and a Beef Lemongrass Skewer. Both delicious. The quail had a wonderful aroma and the accompanying BBQ sauce was excellent.

Next up was the Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Corn Salsa from Mercer Tavern. Definitely a difficult dish to pull off at a place like Taste of Edmonton. Our scallops were a tad overcooked.

Sometimes I do not understand where Marilyn gets her cravings but she REALLY wanted to try the Jamaician Beef Patties from Irie Foods. After a bite I could tell why. Delectable chunks of ground beef in a soft pastry shell.

Fried chicken is one of the unhealthy items I often get a craving for. These Southern Briend Fried Chicken from Creole Envie were excellent: crisp on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside. The aoili was mostly extraneous but good nonetheless.

Our favourite: the Jack Daniels Apple Crumble with Ice Cream from On The Rocks was SO GOOD, we could have gone for seconds. The ice cream on the side was no slouch, but the soft buttery crumble with the tartness of the apples made this a crowdpleaser.

One of our most memorable dates was to The Melting Pot and so we felt obligated to get their Cheese and Chocolate fondue. Tasted great but exactly what you would expect fondue to taste.

I am a sucker for Indian cuisine. The offering from New Asian Village was a Chicken Tikki Masala. Wonderful chunks of chicken with mixed vegetables made this a wonderful dish.

The setup for the wedding was classy. We were located at the Delta Edmonton South

Cream of Mushroom Soup started the evening off. Well seasoned but altogether not terribly exciting.

Bundled Baby Greens with White Salad Dressing was the next offering. The dressing was excellent and added a nice tartness to the salad.

Definitely the surprise of the night. The Passion Fruit Sorbet was an amazing mixture of sweet and sour. Works well as an aperitif and as a dish on its own

The main was a significant portion. Initially we though we would have to choose between the Seared Breast of Chicken Supreme or the Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Ragout. To our surprise, both came to our plate. Overall unremarkable, but one cannot fault the portion size.