Things To See And Do

Stay tuned and updated on all my new travels and experiences during the following 14 months.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Week 50: Annex Festival on Bloor

In search of something to do I found another free city event on Sunday called the Annex Festival on Bloor.  We finally had a nice and sunny spring-like day which was perfect for walking along Bloor Street checking out the vendors, entertainment, and general sights.  I've been to similar street festivals so not much here was new to me.

I did, however, find an interesting food vendor called Malaysian Murtabak.  Trying new foods from around the world is always a great experience that I enjoy.  Wikipedia says, "Martabak or murtabak, also mutabbaq, (Arabic: مطبق‎) is a stuffed pancake or pan-fried bread which is commonly found in Saudi Arabia (especially the Tihamahand the Hejaz regions), Yemen, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Brunei. Depending on the location, the name and ingredients can significantly vary. The name mutabbaq (or sometimes mutabbag) in Arabic means "folded". In Indonesia, the Murtabak is one of the most popular street food menu and is well known as Martabak.
In Malaysia, where it is called "Murtabak", it is sold in Indian Muslim restaurants and stalls, and usually includes minced mutton, along with garlicegg and onion, and is eaten with curry gravy, sliced cucumber, onions and tomato sauce."  
The murtabak that I tried had chicken and egg.  They also gave you a white sweet bread as a dessert.  I liked the murtabak with barbecue sauce, but once I got a taste of the egg I was done.  The white sweet bread was really yummy.  The cost was a bit high at $10.  Overall, I'm glad I tried it.    













Sweet bread on left; Chicken murtabak on right


What I really learned from this event was that every neighbourhood in Toronto seems to have a street festival at some point in time in the spring and summer to boost revenue and highlight their area.  I guess I was a bit foolish to think that my neighbourhood was special.  Oh well.  On to the next one!

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