Eat Around the World

I recently attended an international food festival called, “Eat Around the World”. It sounded like it’d be a big event but it turned out to be a relatively small event. Regardless, I’m still glad I went to the festival. It was a free event, after all.

I had in mind what I wanted to try but as someone who’s not a foodie, I get turned off very easily when I see how expensive something is. But since I was already there, I decided to just go ahead and splurge a bit. It didn’t make much sense to me to attend an event revolving around food only to not buy a single thing.

So, what did I buy?

Q Cute Bun

Honestly, I don’t care about steamed buns because I find them bland and rather boring. You can easily find buns inside a Chinatown, a dim sum joint or even the freezer section of an Asian supermarket. Yes, most Asian supermarkets will carry some form of frozen bun that you could steam at home. But I thought I’d give this place the benefit of the doubt. If I was going to spend money, I wasn’t going to waste it on the same old buns that I could try anywhere else. So, I opted for what this place is supposedly known for and that is they’re so called cute looking edible buns. They offered “pig” buns in custard or red bean. 2 for $5. I didn’t eat it right away however when I did, all I can say is that it was overrated. Was it cute? I guess. Was it edible? Yes. Did I like it? Not enough to rave about the place. In fact, I didn’t really care for it at all. However, I did give one to a family member and she was very impressed with it. Either I have very high standards (or expectations) in food or this family member has no taste in food whatsoever.

People who are into aesthetics are going to like the cute buns regardless of how it tastes. I’m not a “bun” person to begin with so it makes a lot of sense as to why this item could not please me. I think I might have liked it more if there was more custard inside the bun and if the custard was actually oozing out whenever I took a bite. I don’t know if what I said makes sense but this custard was just meh.

And the girl working the booth was also meh after she got my money. The only props I can give to her is the part where she actually came prepared with foil so that you can take food for the road.

Oma’s Puffers

Danish desserts are known to the world for a reason. And although it wasn’t “pancakes” that I wanted, I still wanted to give these Danish puffers a try. I figured that it would be yummy if it was Danish in origin.

It was 5 puffers for $5. I find that to be pricey but it is what it is.

I stuck with original because I didn’t want to pay any more for extra toppings and I wanted to taste what it’s supposed to take like originally.

Let’s just say that I couldn’t taste the maple syrup in it and because of that it tasted rather bland for me. I suppose this would be a relatively good sweet treat for someone that doesn’t have a sweet tooth. If you like sweets, you’re going to have to opt in for extras.

I don’t know if it was supposed to be that bland but mine’s was rather bland…

Despite this, the customer service was pretty good. And similar to Q Cute Bun, Oma’s Puffers was actually well prepared to tend to customers that are ordering for the road. They even had a little baggie to put my order in which was nice.

Nok’s Kitchen

I visited this booth in order to get something for someone. I must say that I was very appalled at the price tag of the foods offered here. Nothing was cheap at this booth. And the item I ended up ordering was Laotian sausage which was a whopping $14. I’m aware that they actually have a restaurant in Orange County. I do not know if their sausages actually cost that much inside their restaurant or if this pricing is reserved for festivals and events. I say this because even though most meals are around this price, I couldn’t get over how expensive it was. $14 gives you two Lao sausages, three slices of cucumber and a dipping sauce. If you want rice, it’s another $3… Haha, talk about price gouging.

It wasn’t just the cost of their food that turned me off, it was the fact that they weren’t prepared for people that might want to order for someone else or order for the road. I understand that the average person that attends these events is going to eat the food received right then and there but that isn’t the case for everyone. Thus, I can’t really praise them for their lack of preparation in this regard, especially when I’m aware that they have an actual restaurant. As an actual restaurant, you should know better…

Both the young girl cashiering and the woman cooking in the back seemed nice. However, the man seemed caught off guard or wasn’t too thrilled with me asking for something to cover the food despite me already asking the cashier in advance. (Since I asked in advance, I already knew that they didn’t have take out boxes nor did they have foil to cover up the food but I knew from the cashier and the woman in the back that they could put an extra plate on top of it.) It just kind of annoyed me because I had already asked and kind of got the vibe that he could possibly be stingy when I doubt he would run out of plates or if they had come prepared with foil (or plastic wrap), this wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place for those that aren’t buying to eat instantly.

I can’t speak for the taste of the food since this was bought for someone else. Advice: If you know someone that makes Laotian or even Thai Northeastern sausage, you’re better off just eating it at their house.

So, that’s a wrap in regards to the vendors I decided to buy food from. Other vendors represented Hawaiian food, Cuban sandwiches, Filipino drinks and more. In addition to vendors selling food, I came across a vendor called Andes selling cute things with a bit of a focus on Peruvian things. Whether I wanted to buy from this vendor or not didn’t matter once I saw how unwelcoming the male employee was. There was no hello or anything like that but he seemed to have gotten up somewhat abruptly when he either saw me or another person looking at stuff that was on the side of his booth. Look, if you’re going to be that paranoid about the stuff you put out on sale, maybe you shouldn’t place it on the exterior of your booth next time around? Or maybe you should keep watch over it 24/7 like you somewhat decided to do later on?

I was just briefly photographing/videographing what I thought was cute but once I saw that behavior, I was appalled. And no, their booth isn’t in some Artist Alley section so there was definitely no “No Photos” sign. I’m disgusted and can’t recommend this vendor no matter how cute and reasonably priced some of their items are. I will be honest and say that the female employee seemed nice. While I didn’t interact with the female employee, I did see her interacting very friendly with someone but for all I know, that someone could be an acquaintance that happened to be attending the festival.

This event seems to be an annual festival that Center Street Promenade puts on. It’s nice in that it’s located in an area that has ample parking but honestly, it’s kind of weird since well established restaurants are all over the place in the area.

My stay at the festival wasn’t long since there wasn’t much to do. I’m sure foodies on the other hand would linger around much longer, though. Had there been entertainment, I might have stayed longer.

**Click HERE to watch my video of Eat Around the World.**