Tonight is the first night of Folkfest, or as I like to call it, FolkFeast. Really, the cultural displays aren't all that interesting, and the entertainment varies between pavilion to pavilion, but the one thing that you can always count on is finding really tasty food. However, since it only runs in the evenings during the week, and from 3:00 onward on Saturday, it doesn't leave much time to sample all the fine cuisine. And so, to enrich your Folkfest dining, I offer you all a guide to my personal favorite pavilions. Ranked, of course, by how awesome the food is.
Philippine pavilion: My favorite pavilion for food, bar none. Ok, ok, I'll admit that I have a secret weakness for pansit (a noodle dish), which gives me a bit of a bias, but when backed up with the delicious bbq inihaw (meat on a stick) and lumpia (egg-roll type things), it is a winning combination. The tropical fruit ice-creams they serve for dessert are also quite nice. Plus, the dances are really, really cool, and the dancer's outfits make me want to sketch them for costume designs. So cool...
German pavilion: Bratwurst and sauerkraut? Nice, hot schnitzel washed down with a good German lager? Oh, please, stop. I'm drooling already. If that wasn't bad enough, they also roast an entire pig (or several!!), carve slices directly off it, and serve it on a bun with mustard. Your heart might not love you after this pavilion, but who cares? It's pig on a bun!!!!
Romanian pavilion: Though there are countless variations on the sausage/cabbage roll theme at Folkfest, the Romanian pavilion has my favorite version. The cabbage rolls have a very high meat-to-rice ratio in their filling, which means that you can peel the cabbage off, and it'll still hold together. A nice change from the usual, soupy cabbage rolls I'm used to. The sausage they serve will the rolls is coarse and has lots of garlic, which complements them nicely.
Scottish pavilion: Ach, I like me a little haggis and neeps. (Though, admittedly, not as much as Layne does.) Sadly, they don't seem to be serving Scotch eggs this year, so I have to rely on Layne's assertions that they made this pavilion one of the best places to eat. On the other hand, they do have tipsy laird, so they get bonus points from me.
Honorable Mentions:
Irish pavilion: Now, while the food here's good, hearty fare (Irish stew, potato soup), it's nothing that you can't make yourself. No, what really brings me out to the Irish pavilion is Guinness and singing. I'm not normally a big drinker, but I like me some dark ale, and there's just something wrong about singing Irish drinking songs without a good tall glass o' Guinness in hand. Since the singing only really starts late in the evening, it's the perfect pavilion to end your day at.
Afro-Carribean pavilion: I'm a big fan of jerk chicken and beef rotis, but it's rare that you find a year where the food really packs a punch. I guess that's what you get when you have to cater to the meat-and-potatoes crowd that is Saskatchewan. The rest of the food (rice and peas, coconut cake & snow-cones) is pretty generic. However, the reason this pavilion still makes my list is because of the entertainment. The Afro-Caribbean pavilion offers one of the most exciting, high-energy line-ups you can get. And, as an added bonus, it's in the same building as the Philippine, & Ukrainian pavilions, so even if the food's not top-notch, you can bring in snacks from the other two!
Norwegian pavilion: Pickled herring is not for everyone (though I love it!), but it's worth coming here just for the lefse. Yummy potato pancakes, sprinkled with sugar. Tasty! As an added bonus, a good friend of mine will be playing the Norwegian fiddle in the evenings, so I plan on stopping by to visit.
Philippine pavilion: My favorite pavilion for food, bar none. Ok, ok, I'll admit that I have a secret weakness for pansit (a noodle dish), which gives me a bit of a bias, but when backed up with the delicious bbq inihaw (meat on a stick) and lumpia (egg-roll type things), it is a winning combination. The tropical fruit ice-creams they serve for dessert are also quite nice. Plus, the dances are really, really cool, and the dancer's outfits make me want to sketch them for costume designs. So cool...
German pavilion: Bratwurst and sauerkraut? Nice, hot schnitzel washed down with a good German lager? Oh, please, stop. I'm drooling already. If that wasn't bad enough, they also roast an entire pig (or several!!), carve slices directly off it, and serve it on a bun with mustard. Your heart might not love you after this pavilion, but who cares? It's pig on a bun!!!!
Romanian pavilion: Though there are countless variations on the sausage/cabbage roll theme at Folkfest, the Romanian pavilion has my favorite version. The cabbage rolls have a very high meat-to-rice ratio in their filling, which means that you can peel the cabbage off, and it'll still hold together. A nice change from the usual, soupy cabbage rolls I'm used to. The sausage they serve will the rolls is coarse and has lots of garlic, which complements them nicely.
Scottish pavilion: Ach, I like me a little haggis and neeps. (Though, admittedly, not as much as Layne does.) Sadly, they don't seem to be serving Scotch eggs this year, so I have to rely on Layne's assertions that they made this pavilion one of the best places to eat. On the other hand, they do have tipsy laird, so they get bonus points from me.
Honorable Mentions:
Irish pavilion: Now, while the food here's good, hearty fare (Irish stew, potato soup), it's nothing that you can't make yourself. No, what really brings me out to the Irish pavilion is Guinness and singing. I'm not normally a big drinker, but I like me some dark ale, and there's just something wrong about singing Irish drinking songs without a good tall glass o' Guinness in hand. Since the singing only really starts late in the evening, it's the perfect pavilion to end your day at.
Afro-Carribean pavilion: I'm a big fan of jerk chicken and beef rotis, but it's rare that you find a year where the food really packs a punch. I guess that's what you get when you have to cater to the meat-and-potatoes crowd that is Saskatchewan. The rest of the food (rice and peas, coconut cake & snow-cones) is pretty generic. However, the reason this pavilion still makes my list is because of the entertainment. The Afro-Caribbean pavilion offers one of the most exciting, high-energy line-ups you can get. And, as an added bonus, it's in the same building as the Philippine, & Ukrainian pavilions, so even if the food's not top-notch, you can bring in snacks from the other two!
Norwegian pavilion: Pickled herring is not for everyone (though I love it!), but it's worth coming here just for the lefse. Yummy potato pancakes, sprinkled with sugar. Tasty! As an added bonus, a good friend of mine will be playing the Norwegian fiddle in the evenings, so I plan on stopping by to visit.
posted by Alina at
11:17 AM
4 Comments:
It is only really the heritage festival (the allitrative "Folk Fest", which is the extent of the name (never "folk festival") is catchier), except ours is spread out across the city, allowing the various groups to have continual entertainment and occaisionally use their cultural centre (very few groups actually have a cultural centre, instead being placed in various other venues such as High Schools, our Soccer center, etc). This spreading, the smaller size of the city and the increased size of make the number of venues smaller. Click on my name to go to the official site (if you care that much).
By
Anonymous, at 5:50 PM
Hey girlie...
Is that Pauline that you meant when you said a good friend was playing Norwegian fiddle? I got to see her here in Winnipeg during our own Folk'lo'rama during the past two weeks (although I only saw one of her performances on Saturday for 45 minutes and only had time for a 10 minute chat afterwards...) and that was pretty spiffy. Hope you had fun and ate tonnes! ;)
By
Anonymous, at 7:33 PM
Hey girlie...
Is that Pauline that you meant when you said a good friend was playing Norwegian fiddle? I got to see her here in Winnipeg during our own Folk'lo'rama during the past two weeks (although I only saw one of her performances on Saturday for 45 minutes and only had time for a 10 minute chat afterwards...) and that was pretty spiffy. Hope you had fun and ate tonnes! ;)
By
Anonymous, at 7:40 PM
Yup! PJ was still on the schedule, so I went out on Thursday night to try to catch her performing. I'd thought that the Folk'o'rama was the next week! Glad you managed to see her while she was in town!
Speaking of which, I hear you're headed into town soon. Give me a call when you get in!!
By
Alina, at 9:31 AM
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