CNE Food 2023 – everything we ate and saw

The hidden gem we discovered at CNE 2023! Keep reading to find out what it is 😛

It feels just like yesterday that we attended the Canadian National Exhibition last year. Already, a full year has passed and it’s time for CNE 2023! This year, we looked at what crazy carnival eats there were ahead of time and tried to roughly plan our route because we were attending with a 2.11 year old and an 8-month-old. (Last summer was easier when the baby was in my womb still, haha.)

Despite travelling with two kids, we actually arrived early at 11:05 a.m. (We took the longer but faster route this year and Google Maps took us to the parking lot at OVO Athletic Centre, which is close to the Medieval Times building.) Parking was $40 on a Friday. Our adult tickets were $18 apiece (Presto deal) but with a $2.99 service fee plus tax = $23.72 each. Kids under 4 are free. It was a bit of a walk to the fairgrounds from where we parked. Next year, we will take note of this and park in the lot that’s right next to the midway again (faster entrance to the grounds).

Map of the CNE grounds 2023

The Food Building!

We headed towards the Food Building. *Cue heavens opening up music*. Already by 11:30 a.m., the Food Building was lively with lots of people. It definitely wasn’t as empty as last year around the same time. More people are out and about this year in 2023 now that the pandemic is mostly behind us. We wore masks last year. I didn’t wear them this year. In fact, I think only 1% of the attendees were seen wearing masks this year.

No line-ups and lots of available tables at 11:30 a.m.

Lick’s Burgers food vendor

After doing a walkthrough of the participating vendors this year, we started our food crawl: First up was a hamburger from Lick’s because I haven’t had their burgers in so long and I have fond memories of how delicious they were. We ordered the Homeburger ($10.99+tax = $12.42). It was freshly grilled and made on the spot. Unfortunately, this burger was quite underwhelming and didn’t taste as good as I remembered it to be. The burger patty was a little over grilled and wasn’t tender. The accompanying onions, tomatoes, pickles, and condiments were generous.

Homeburger – fresh lean ground steak. $10.99+tax = $12.42

Epic Burgers and Waffles food vendor

Secondly, the “Blueberry Chicken” sandwich from Epic Burgers and Waffles was a signature crispy chicken breast between 2 Classic Krispy Kreme glazed donuts with sweet and spicy whipped blueberry cream cheese. This was $18+tax = $20.34.

This was a sight to behold. So beautiful with the shiny Krispy Kreme glazed donuts on top. The toddler enjoyed the glazed donuts for the first time. I really enjoyed this sweet and savoury concoction! It was messy to eat though so be prepared to get your hands sticky and have napkins on hand. The cream cheese bits fell out easily and I couldn’t taste the “spicy” part of it. We split this in three so it wasn’t a lot for each of us and thus didn’t feel too heavy either. Great item to share!

“Blueberry Chicken” sandwich – Epic’s signature crispy chicken breast between 2 Classic Krispy Kreme glazed donuts with sweet and spicy whipped blueberry cream cheese. $18+tax = $20.34

Taqueria Burrito Bar food vendor

We got four 99 cent tacos from the Taqueria Burrito Bar. This was one of the only vendors we actually had to wait in line for. I mean 99 cent tacos is a steal, so everyone wanted to try it during the noontime hour. It was a basic soft corn tortilla with a choice of chicken or pulled pork, fresh shredded lettuce, a choice of 1 salsa (mild, medium, or hot), with no substitutions. For 99 cents, it was a small taco and very simple and light.

The 99 cent taco (four pictured). $0.99 each

Farm to Fryer food vendor

Farm to Fryer had some amazing offerings this year at the CNE! The special items showcased this year were the Quarter Pound Cheese Stuffed Doritos, Korean Frog Legs, and Mac & Triple Cheese Chimichanga. Basically, if you want your calcium needs fulfilled for the day and you aren’t lactose-intolerant, welcome to this heck of a food adventure. We tried the Korean Frog Legs and the Quarter Pound Cheese Stuffed Doritos! 🤩

Korean Frog Legs – crispy frog legs in Korean sweet chili sauce. $15.93+tax = $18

The Korean Frog Legs were amazing and so delicious!! Each piece came intact with both legs and were lightly battered with a sweet chili sauce (not spicy). There were four pieces in total for a price of $15.93+tax = $18. There was so much meat on the bones and the frog leg meat was so tender! It tasted like chicken, lol. It wasn’t our first time eating frog legs. This was a highlight and I definitely recommend this dish if you are up for the challenge.

The Quarter Pound Cheese Stuffed Doritos ($11.50+tax = $13) was a giant piece of cheese fried with a coated layer of Doritos crumbs/crust. It was fried with a popsicle stick in it so you could hold it up to eat if you wanted to. A handful of Doritos chips topped the dish too.

Quarter Pound Cheese Stuffed Doritos – deep fried cheese, coated with a Doritos crust. $11.50+tax = $13

Cheese pull of the Quarter Pound Cheese Stuffed Doritos

This was unique to try and definitely a “carnival food”. Deep fried cheese! I pulled the piece apart and the cheese was so gooey and stringy. The cheese itself didn’t taste overly salty too, which I was pleasantly surprised about. The Doritos layer had a nice umami kick. It definitely was heavy though, so this is something best shared with friends. (I’m glad we brought some apple slices for the toddler, which I ate two slices of in order to help cut the fattiness of the heavy cheese.)

Look at the gooey cheese!

“Time Flies” – acrobatic and skating show

After this first meal, we walked towards the Enercare Centre and coincidentally made it in time to see “Time Flies” at 2 p.m., CNE’s new acrobatic and skating show, inside of the Coca-Cola Coliseum. There were plenty of seats available and we easily found four on the upper rows directly facing the stage. It was a great view! The toddler quietly sat through the entire 30-minute show while the baby actually fell asleep nursing as it was her nap time. I was glad she wasn’t affected by all the strobe lights and loud music and slept so soundly too. It was nice to see all the skaters and acrobats jumping and dancing through the decades. Elvis Stojko was the special guest skater — a joy to watch him skate in person.

Toys for the kids

Adjacent to the Gaming Garage, there was again a section for kids to play with large Legos and light-up sticks. Though the area was smaller this year, the toddler still enjoyed the hands-on activities.

Hot Ice Cream Waffles in the Midway

We checked out the midway games and had an ice cream waffle snack from the “Hot Ice Cream Waffles” vendor. We had wanted to try this last summer but the line-up was super long and it was so hot outside. (This year’s weather was so mild and temperate). For just $5, we got a vanilla ice cream waffle sandwich. It’s such a great deal! The block of cold vanilla ice cream really hits your taste buds when contrasted with the freshly toasted waffle. An amazing dessert you have to try if you haven’t tried it before. It was my first time having it at the CNE!

Ice cream waffle sandwich. $5 each

They also prepare it fresh in front of you. It’s fascinating to watch the staff slice the ice cream from the block of cold ice cream and then bookend the waffles on it. (I appreciated that the ice cream waffle sandwich was handed to us in a big wad of napkins for easy mess-free consumption.)

Patio burgers and hot dogs near the Enercare Centre

We passed by the outdoor stage area with live performances next to the Enercare Centre where people were enjoying alcoholic beverages on the patio when I noticed that the stall there also served burgers and hot dogs. I was previously contemplating getting a hot dog from the Food Building as well as from the midway. The hot dogs there are about $7+, so when I noticed that the sign showed $3.99 for a hot dog, I was immediately pulled in and ordered one. The hot dog was warm off the grill and basically looked the same as the ones for $7+. Why buy it for $7+ when you can buy it for $4.50?! It’s even cheaper than the hot dog stalls downtown! There were packets of ketchup, mustard, and relish available for you to dress your hot dog in. I enjoyed this simple treat inside of the Enercare Centre where there was plenty of seating on the windowsills. Satisfying hot dog craving fulfilled!

Hot dog. $3.99+tax = $4.50

Food Truck Frenzy and Craft Beerfest

We checked out the food trucks at the “Food Truck Frenzy and Craft Beerfest” located on Princes’ Boulevard (just inside the Princes’ Gates in front of the Beanfield Centre and Enercare Centre). Specifically, the hubby was looking for the “Butter Chicken Overload” food item that we had seen advertised this year. We found it at the Rick’s Good Eats food truck. There was no price listed. When we asked about it, we were told the CNE Special cost $25.80. Hmm, the cost seemed quite hefty and we didn’t think it was worth it. (The 4-pound taco from Machete and the turkey legs this year are $30 each, for example. That’s not cheap!)

Rick’s Good Eats food truck

Maple Lodge Farms food truck free samples – Ultimate Chicken Sausage

Funnily enough, as we passed by the merchants on Princes’ Boulevard, we noticed the Maple Lodge Farms food truck giving away free samples of their Ultimate Chicken Sausage and had some of those. The chicken sausage had some herby flavouring to it but ultimately tasted a bit dry to me.

Vietnamese Snacks vendor

One of the last merchants we noticed at the other end of the boulevard was “Vietnamese Snacks”. Their cold drinks were usually $8 but the owner was selling them for $5 as a special that day. We got the fresh sugar cane drink for $5 and the Vietnamese coffee for $5. I also noticed they had banana ice cream for $4 and decided to try it. It was the best $4 we spent at CNE this year! It was a frozen treat wrapped in plastic. When you bit into it, there were chunks of not just banana but what tasted like mango, jackfruit, and kiwi too! It was so refreshing and good! What! How is this not talked more? We found a hidden gem at the CNE! Run, don’t walk, to try this!

Fresh sugar cane drink. $5

Banana Ice Cream. $4

Vietnamese coffee. $5

Tokyo Hot x Nashville Hot Fried Chicken CNE

Tokyo Hot x Nashville Hot Fried Chicken food vendor

It was around 5:20 p.m. at this time and I was ready for some more savoury foods. We ventured back to the Food Building and I tried the Nashville Chicken Box from Tokyo Hot x Nashville Hot Fried Chicken. I was influenced by Mary’s Happy Belly to try their fried chicken bites and tater tots but didn’t realize that the Nashville Hot Box would contain lots of spicy chicken! Silly me. It was a box filled to the brim also with crispy tater tots, coleslaw, and sliced dill pickles for $17.50+tax = $19.78.

Tokyo Hot prices and close-up of the Nashville Chicken Box

Nashville Chicken Box – served with crispy tater tots, coleslaw, and sliced dill pickles. $17.50+tax = $19.78

The chicken itself was really good; there were about five large pieces in total. The spice was insane though. I immediately needed something dairy to cool off, so the hubby was awesome enough to get us some vanilla ice cream from Reid’s Dairy. Tater tots were amazing though. They tasted so good — the insides of it tasted like hash browns! The sliced dill pickles were great and I wish there was much more of the coleslaw than was in the box. We ended up taking the rest of the box home; we had lots of tater tots left!

Reid’s Dairy food vendor

The vanilla ice cream single cone ($6) from Reid’s Dairy was so creamy. The hubs said that they scooped it and that it wasn’t soft serve. The toddler really enjoyed this ice cream too and polished off the cone.

Single cone. $6

Reptilia Mobile Zoo

It was time to walk it off again. We headed towards the exit but not before I turned back (it was too early to say good-bye to the CNE) and we visited the Reptilia Mobile Zoo. Such a cool way to see snakes, lizards, turtles, and more! There was a Reptilia host holding a live snake for petting too, followed by a 20-plus-year-old tortoise named Cherry. There was a fun beanbag toss game too in the design of a crocodile.

Lots of reptiles and close encounters too!

Kids’ World map

Reid’s Dairy food stall

I couldn’t help but notice that lots of people were buying soft serve ice cream from the Reid’s Dairy stalls and gave into temptation. I got a chocolate swirl soft serve regular cone for $6! (You can choose vanilla or a swirl of both chocolate and vanilla. There is a a cup or waffle cone option too — $7 and $9 respectively). The portion was so generous and I loved the perfect swirl of chocolaty goodness. It was very filling too. I didn’t expect to eat so much ice cream at the CNE this year, but we truly landed on some great deals.

Chocolate swirl soft serve regular cone. $6

And alas, we finally left the CNE gates around 7:30 p.m. What a long day. We were there from 11 a.m.! A full day for everyone. I walked over 12,000 steps. The toddler was exhausted and spent. The baby was fine with lots of naps dispersed throughout the day in her car seat. She can sleep anywhere lol.

(Side note, but the CNE is one of the best places to “window shop” for a stroller. You see so many types of different baby strollers (and wagons). Same thing for when going to the zoo or Wonderland. Strollers galore! This was where I was marvelling over the Joovy double stroller last year.)

It was a really fun and fulfilling day at the CNE with some great eats. We didn’t anticipate eating so much ice cream. The CNE is open this year from August 18 to September 4 (we visited on Friday, August 25). Go and have some fun and make more memories before summer is over! 😀

Oh, and here are some vendors that I didn’t buy from but which I want to share about their new foods this year. These included deep fried pizza from Pizza Pizza ($13), 4-pound taco from Machete ($40), jumbo turkey legs ($30) from Smoked BBQ Pit, watermelon burger from Sam’s Grill, and the cheeseburger ice cream and sweet corn ice cream ($13) from So Cute Ice Cream. So Cute Ice Cream were the vendors that offered the ketchup and mustard ice cream last year (which we tried) and they have it this year again too.