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The Brick Works were packed for Toronto Underground Market’s debut
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Albert Tan’s savoury take on the ice cream sandwich is the sort of thing you might expect to find on the dessert round of Iron Chef’s salmon battle. Is it a dessert? An app? A snack? An amuse-bouche? Who knows? But how can a marriage between smoked salmon, lemon rind, cream cheese ice cream and a lemon dill cookie ($4) be a bad thing?
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Katrina’s macarons ($1.75) came in five flavours: vanilla bean, maple pecan, raspberry, lemon mascarpone and salted caramel.
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The crisps came in three flavours at Nice Bake Shop: sea salt; thyme and cracked pepper; and rosemary, garlic and sea salt. When Deirdre Crampton and her hubby moved back to Canada from the U.K. (where she operated a bakery out of her home), she longed for good old-fashioned—and greasy—English crisps.
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Nice Bake Shop’s thyme and cracked pepper crisps.
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The eager crowd
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Chicken and smoked cheddar spring rolls with house ketchup and barbecue sauce by the L-Eat Catering. For those hankering to get some of their canned goods post-market, L-Eat is one of the few vendors with permanent lodgings (located at Adelaide and Brant).
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TUM tried to tread lightly on the earth. The plates and cutlery were all biodegradable and bottled water was nowhere to be seen. And although hydration was encouraged, most diners opted to quench their thirst at one of the four microbrew stands (Amsterdam, Beau’s, Flying Monkeys and Stonehammer).
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Tita Flips is a family business that started 30 years ago in the Philippines. Luckily for us, they brought their garlic peanuts (along with a slew of other scrumptious secret family recipes) to Toronto. Diona Joyce’s ukoys—shrimp fritters with pumpkin squash, corn and sprouts—were selling faster than she could fry them up.
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The Tita Flips crew
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Some excited diners
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Shi-Naki’s pulled pork quesadilla with buffalo mozzarella and salsa verde.
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Liora Ipsum, the woman behind the Picnic Society, served some of the more creative lemonades in the city, including a refreshing watermelon and basil number. The only thing missing was an ounce of vodka. Next up for Ipsum? Pre-packaged picnic baskets and a breakfast-in-bed delivery service.
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Jessica Brooks of Tartina’s cute three-bite tarts were available in coconut cream or Dutch apple caramel ($2.75).
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Guy Rawlings, whose simple yet inventive food made a splash when he worked the stoves at Brockton General, was selling unpasteurized mustard in three flavours: hot, super hot and grape ($5).
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Les Amis D’Oeuf, a team made up of three 20-somethings, served up fried bacon and egg dumplings. These self-described “kids” apparently have no real interest in opening a more permanent egg-focused endeavour, but they were having a heck of a good time at the market. What we loved most about these little delights (the dumplings, not the people) was how the yolk ran once you bit into them.
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Wes Allen is a spice chemist who likes to dabble in global flavours. His spice roster on Saturday included curry powder, Ethiopian berbere mixture, Chinese five-spice powder and garam masala. $3.
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Even Allen’s business cards had a charming DIY feel to them.
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Big Smoke Coffee Company doesn’t usually do food (normally they’re strictly into micro-roasting coffee), but they decided to showcase how java isn’t just for drinking. Their coffee-marinated pork-belly slider with Brazilian inspired fixings was much sought after.
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Andrew Richmond is the design director at OneMethod, the chef of roving pop-up La Carnita and the husband of TUM organizer Hassel Aviles. Here, he served up some mean tacos with such speed that we couldn’t catch him on camera. La Carnita had a 45-minute wait—at minimum!—well into the night.
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Long-time friends and co-workers Steve Bertram and Derrick Payton decided to have a sandwich showdown. Steve’s Danish sandwich was inspired by the 10 years he spent living and cooking in Copenhagen, while Derrick’s was inspired by a dream and his grandma (bless!).
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Competitor number one: The Frikadelle, a Danish pork meatball with nutmeg and milk, served with duck fat–braised red cabbage and remoulade and garnished with crispy onions and homemade pickles.
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Competitor number two: The Coco Bun, jerk chicken thigh in a sesame-seed coco bun with fresh apple coleslaw.
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Long-time friends and co-workers Steve Bertram and Derrick Payton
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Rumours abounded throughout the market about Bistro Filipino’s deep-fried quail eggs.
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Here, five golden eggs (the annatto seeds give it that golden colour) are accompanied by banana ketchup and toasted-rice sweet-and-sour sauce, served on a paper-thin sheaf of pine folded into the shape of a banana leaf from Bistro Filipino.
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The Beech Tree is a pub with a logo, a full menu and mood lighting. The fact that it’s lacking four walls and a roof doesn’t seem to be holding it back one bit. By 9:30 it had nearly sold out of everything.
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Comida del Pueblo’s grilled cheese—refried black beans, vegetarian tinga and cheddar cheese sandwiched between slices of jalapeño corn bread and topped with sour cream, guacamole and cilantro—was a huge hit, although a little hard to eat (the corn bread crumbled under pressure, but that didn’t stop people from eating up every last morsel). With any luck, this sandwich, along with their South American take on bánh mì, should be appearing at a food truck near you before long.
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