Had a great day at the CNE today. It has been over 10 years since my last visit and our main purpose was to eat some good food.
Arrived around lunchtime and was a little taken aback by the 25 dollar parking and the 16 dollar entrance fee each (2 of us which basically just gets you in the door) but we sucked it up and didnt let that get us down for the main purpose of the trip. The FOOD!
As soon as we walked in Mike wanted a vendor hotdog so we got one (4 bucks). Delicious!!! But could have gotten a cheaper one perhaps if we had just waited for the food building. We headed straight for the food building and were pleasantly surprised to get free samples on the way of deep and delicious cake (carrot with cream cheese and original chocolate). Also free samples of hawaiian punch. When we arrived at the food building we felt it was important to do a lap before committing to buying anything. We had a rule not to buy anything we could get back in brampton (nothing against swiss chalet or pizza nova but we were there for something different).
I was in heaven. So many delicious options. I'll start with the highlight: Sweet Potato fries with nutella, icing sugar and sea salt. I decided to add peanut butter for an additional 1.50 and it was worth every penny. Wow - this will haunt my dreams it was so delicious. Almost 10 bucks...but oh so good!
Mike got a freshly squeezed orange juice which was also tasty (broke the rule since we could get that at home but he was thirsty after the hotdog)
For fun we tried the 99 cent spaghetti and the 99 cent taco. I wouldnt recommend but it was more for nostalgic reasons. We also got a steamie hot dog but the bun was a little stale.
Oh! Free samples of tums mints and toothpaste in the food building near the middle.
We left the food building and walked around...lots of great people watching and enjoyed a snow cone (another nostalgic treat). I also got a free sample of mini wheats with almond milk and it was great! They had some interesting combos of different cereals to choose from (e.g. cocoa and brown sugar) and gave out coupons too.
I had to try the gelato panini (Not in the food building!). I was disappointed to be honest. Not enough gelato and the sweet brioche which was warm made the gelato melt too quickly so we had to eat it really quickly and i am normally a slow eater so that was disappointing.
Things that looked yummy that i wanted to try but didnt have room:
The taco grilled cheese at the Mac and Cheese vendor (food building)
Waffle ice cream
Pizza in a cone
Montreal smoked meat
All in all a good day but you've gotta try those sweet potato fries. I wish I was eating them right now!