Taste Of Asia — Attraction in Markham

It Keeps Getting Better Every Year!!

I've been going to A Taste of Asia for many years. It seems to get better and better every year. Now that I'm a father, I've been bringing my kids there for the last for the past 5 years, and they absolutely love it!! The festival itself is put on by The City of Markham, The Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham (FCCM), the Association of Progressive Muslims of Canada (APMC). This event is for everyone and its a celebration of the rich and amazing Asian culture that is now deep-rooted into our wonderful city. As a Foodie I always have a soft spot for great Asian food, and you find vendors here from restaurants, food trucks, and other travelling food vendors that you see at other festivals throughout the GTA and Ontario. here you will find food from all corners of Southeast Asia even some serving North American fare.

Some of the foods and drinks you will find here are Barbecued Squid. Skewers of all types, Bao, Pho, Seafood, Sushi, Popcorn Chicken, Fried rice, Milk tea, bubble, Papaya drinks and the list goes on and on. There was even a vendor selling insects to eat, now how creative is that? My kids love the food, but they also now like the performances on stage, and the rides, last year they had a Ferris wheel. There is so much to do, and so much to eat, it just keeps getting better and better...

Having thoroughly enjoyed the Taste of the Danforth for many years, we marked this festival in the calendar and eagerly headed down towards thw end of the afternoon on the last day, hoping the lineups and crowds had eased. No such luck. Even half an hour before closing there were lineups everywhere - the shortest about 5 minutes, the longest several hundred people strong. Even though crews were circulating and emptying the garbage bins regularly, they were quickly overflowing again, much of it easily recyclable - but clearly headed for the dump. There were very loud generators - with no effort at silencers - every dozen booths or so, and many of the booths were playing prerecorded messages at full volume, competing with the other booths that had serious sound systems playing music - also at full volume. The food was good, with some really unusual offerings, and good flavours. There is no clear signage or website information about parking, so it is pretty much a wild west of parking in nearby malls, and suburban streets. So if you can handle huge crowds, long lines, and a lot of noise for the sake of some good food, plan ahead and...

You're looking for that one review, lets keep it simple

Asiafest? No... SKEWER-FEST.

Squid, beef/chicken or lamb. Even some fruits.

You can get anything on a stick but there is no diversity, its Satay, or Squid.

Its so dang smokey we smelt like smoke even once we got home.

The prices arent as exorbitant as others claimed, there were some folks selling skewers as low as $5 $10. The big ones, that are more like a meal are $15-$20 for sure.

There was some booths with Thai tea and other drinks but, its been described by other reviews even going back the last five years.

Crowded, people really do bring their dogs. Overpriced, depending on what you want or expect. 3 tiny skewers for $10 or one big skewer for $10. Smokey as hell, we even coughed a few times and it wasnt like a Nice "mmm bbbq" no it was like burnt ash.

If you wanna experience SKEWER-FEST go for it, when you're disappointed you can go to Pacific Mall after to get...