The 6 surprise bags I got from Too Good to Go stores in November 2023

Too Good to Go is an app where you can get discounted surplus or unsold food from restaurants, bakeries, and stores.  The participating store offers a “surprise bag” where they pack what is leftover or extra and you pay one third of the original price for it.  It is fun to see what you get in your surprise bag and good for the earth to save perfectly edible food from being tossed out! 

(Where there is a clear price tag of the goods, surprise bags that meet or are above the minimum value are marked with a green checkmark and surprise bags that do not meet the minimum value are marked with a red X.  E.g. If a surprise bag costs $5.99, the minimum value of goods received should be $18 worth.)

I noticed in mid to late November that TGTG started revamping the way their app shows the “sold out” bags.  It no longer shows the exact time that the last surprise bag is sold at.  It simply shows “sold out”.  When it’s the last hour of pickup, it shows “ending soon” instead of “last chance”.  If they made this change to make the app feel less competitive, it is working.  There is no longer a need to rush at the surprise bags.  Were users on the app complaining about this and that’s why they made this change?

It also shows when there are exactly 5 bags available or more than 5 bags by showing “5+”.  It used to only show up to 4 bags.  Anything more than 5, it wouldn’t even though the number of bags.  This was something I figured out from using the app.  But now with this new change, it is crystal clear how many surprise bags are available at any given store.

Here are my surprise bag hauls from Too Good to Go in November 2023 (6 surprise bags):

November 1, 2023:

Evana Patisserie & Cafe TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Evana Patisserie & Cafe
• 390 Silver Star Blvd., unit 118, Scarborough
• Beautiful Pastries:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Pick up time:  8 to 8:30 p.m.
• Contents:  1 Earl Grey Mille Crepe Cake slice $9, 1 Very Berry mini cake (strawberry mousse, blueberry compote, raspberry cremeux, vanilla sponge, white chocolate crispy pearls) $8.75, 1 savory goat cheese and spinach Danish $5.50.  Total value:  $23.25. ❌
• I had my eye on this patisserie for the longest time since downloading the TGTG app and often see their surprise bags available, but I don’t reside in this neighbourhood to be able to go to their late-night pickups.  Finally, I was able to get it to try since we were in this area late at night.  The crepe cake was really good and light.  The Very Berry cake was delicious with the surprise dollop of blueberry compote in the centre.  My toddler especially liked this one.  The Danish had a dense cheese filling with a light pastry.  I enjoyed this surprise bag.

November 3, 2023:

Maki Mart TGTG $6.99 surprise bag

• Maki Mart
• 3623 Hwy 7, unit 103, Markham
• Pick up time:  7 to 7:45 p.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $6.99 (no tax)
• 6 handrolls with accompanying soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger:  3 California ($2.95 each), 3 Spicy Whelk ($3.95 each).  Total value:  $20.70. ❌
• I was SO happy and felt lucky to catch this bag in the nick of time.  I was thinking of this bag and how they usually post around 6 p.m. (since they close at 7 p.m.).  I actually typed in the name in the search bar, but they had no bags.  And just when I clicked on the “favourites” tab again out of habit, there it was!  There were 4 bags.  I immediately called out to the husband who was in the other room to see if he wanted a bag and he said “yes” and quickly reserved it.  By the time I returned back to the favourites tab, there was only 1 bag left.  And when I clicked into it, it was then sold out.  Gone in a flash!
• We got only 2 types of maki rolls this time.  We had 8 rolls last time and more variety.  The rolls were very fresh and the seaweed was so crunchy, but I felt so slighted by the fact that this bag didn’t reach value.  So disappointing. 😦

November 8, 2023:

Taste Good BBQ TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Taste Good BBQ
• 7 Glen Watford Dr., Scarborough
• Pick up time:  5 to 7:30 p.m.
• BBQ and Chinese food:  $7.99 plus tax = $9.03
• Contents:  1 container of braised tofu and roast pork, 1 container of pork hock.
• Wow!  I was so surprised with this bag.  They were rated 3.3/5 stars on the app at the time of pickup and I have heard less-than-impressive surprise bags from others from this store.  I was so pleased to receive 2 full containers of food!
• The braised tofu and roast pork tasted great with lots of flavour.  The pork hock was meaty and right up my alley as well.  I was shocked that this bag is rated so poorly because the food was really great!

Daan Go Cake Lab TGTG $5.99 surprise bag

• Daan Go Cake Lab (Scarborough)
• 3380 Midland Ave., Scarborough
• Pick up time:  5 to 7 p.m.
• Surprise Bag Small:  $5.99 plus tax = $6.77
• Contents:  2 macarons (rabbit – Earl Grey flavour, bear – Mango flavour) ($4.25 each), incomplete Tira-Meow-Su (chocolate cup with tiramisu) $9.  Total value:  $17.50. ❌
• This was my first time getting a surprise bag from the Scarborough location of Daan Go.  At their Richmond Hill location, they mostly give just macarons in the surprise bags.  At this Scarborough one, they liven it up with a dessert too!  The Tira-meow-su was incomplete (didn’t have a marshmallow cat on top of it), but it tasted really good.  The tiramisu cake was light and creamy and the chocolate cup was rich and decadent.  The 2 macarons were delicious too.  It’s too bad they were at least 50 cents off of the minimum value.  They could have just added one more macaron to make it add up.  (They have so many macarons in their fridge — I spotted them when the staff opened the fridge to hand me the surprise bag.)

Aromaz Cake & Pastry TGTG $7.99 surprise bag

• Aromaz Cake & Pastry
• 390 Silver Star Blvd., Scarborough
• Pick up time:  8 to 8:45 p.m.
• Large Surprise Bag:  $7.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  10 assorted Chinese buns.
• So, so impressed and happy with this haul!  There were 10 different buns!  This is the first time that I got a haul from a Chinese bakery which obviously chose different buns to place into their surprise bag.  Usually, they place only what is left over, which means there might be similar items.  It might mean that Aromaz purposely wants to showcase an assortment of their buns while at the same time putting surplus goods on TGTG.  I felt so lucky to be in the neighbourhood already when this bag popped up at 7:45 p.m. too!  I opened the app right at the perfect time to snag this bag.  It helped that it was a rainy night too.

November 10, 2023:

Patisserie Gateau TGTG $6.99 surprise bag

• Patisserie Gateau (Richmond Hill)
• 90119 Bayview Ave., Richmond Hill
• Pick up time:  9 to 11 a.m.
• Surprise Bag:  $6.99 (no tax)
• Contents:  9 assorted Chinese buns.
• Happy to try a bag from this new location of Patisserie Gateau at Bayview and 16th.  I knew that the consistency and quality would be the same as their other Markham location and I was right.  We got an assortment of different buns (sausage, pineapple, cheese, etc.).  All were fresh and great to eat right away.

See what I got in my other TGTG hauls in:  January 2023,  February 2023,  March 2023,  April 2023,  May 2023,  June 2023,  July 2023,  August 2023,  September 2023,  October 2023,  November 2023 (this post),  December 2023.