It feels like over the past few years, many of the restaurants in The Annex have turned over. One of the more recent arrivals is Flaming Bull, a new restaurant featuring Taiwanese fusion cuisine. I was invited to enjoy a romantic evening at the stylish restaurant and experience an intimate dining experience with shareable dishes, live music and plenty of candlelight. With The Hubs traveling, my special someone for the evening was a fellow blogger, the perfect date to pose for photos and willing to wait before eating.

Disclaimer: All food and drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Flaming Bull’s decor was a combination of traditional Asian aesthetic and modern minimalism. Dark wood furniture, surrounded by dark walls were separated by tall geometric dividers, which created cozy, private tables. Before the 10 course feast began, we had the chance to try 5 of Flaming Bull’s colourful signature cocktails. This included a spiked bubble tea which looked deceptively non-alcoholic and 4 fruity creations. My favourite was the Peach Perfect with rum, peach juice, fresh peach slices, blueberry and soda. All of the peach ingredients used were incredibly fragrant, which translated to the flavour of the drink. Throughout dinner, our table maintained a continuous flow of cocktails.

Dinner began with a appetizer platter of traditional Taiwanese snacks like dried bean curd and sliced braised beef shank. I liked the familiar flavours and seasoning in the dish like five spice and anise. In general, I far prefered the menu items that were more traditional over the fusion dishes. Some of the entrees were playful and ambitious, but I wasn’t sold on their taste and value. A good example of this was the Shake and Shake salad. Iceberg lettuce was served in a large beaker and various toppings and dressing was served alongside in test tubes. Guests could pick which toppings to add to their salad, how much dressing they wanted, and then shake it all together. A fun concept, but without being able to choose the selection of toppings, the $8 salad felt like a gimmick.

One fusion dish that I did enjoy was the Cheese Mapo Tofu, a block of silken tofu covered with Sichuan pepper, green onion, soy sauce, Sichuan broad beans and melted cheese. This was a brilliant combination. The creamy cheese was a perfect match for the numbing Sichuan pepper and touch of spice. We also tried a Taiwanese Style Poutine, which was good.

My favourite dishes of the night were the noodles. A bowl of Sichuan Style Beef Noodles was served with Beef Shank, torched tableside, in a beef stock with Sichuan style broad bean paste. The noodles were chewy and the beef was AAA quality. I really enjoyed how flavourful the clear broth was and the strong asian seasoning. Next up was the Spicy Beef Tossed noodle, that was delicious. Again, the texture of the noodle was bang on and the flavours hit home. I would happily order this dish again.

Night it Up! is an annual outdoor summer food event in Markham that highlights street food from Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. The style is set up to feel like a “night market” with vendor booths in aisles, a performance stage and sports area with competition and events. The event this year was the 12th edition and I was kindly invited to take part in a blogger taste tour on the Saturday.

I haven’t been to Night it Up! for at least 3-4 years, but I used to go annually during university before the venue was moved to the Markham Civic Centre. The event has grown so much with more corporate sponsorships, food and merchandising booths in the larger location.

In total, I was able to sample the wares of 11 booths. Many of these vendors appear at events only and will also be participating in T&T’s Waterfront Night Market this weekend (July 19-21) so be sure to swing by.

Disclaimer: All food samples were provided free of charge by the vendors. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Saturday was hot, heat stroke inducing hot. I was very thankful our first stop was at Juicy Melons. The watermelon juice was fresh, rich and you had the option of with or without fresh mint. We also tried their chilled watermelon balls, topped with coconut brittle, which was sweet and crunchy.

El Perro Heffe Tacos – Octopus ‘El Diablo’: This was an octopus (non-battered) taco with a spicy sauce topped with cilantro and bonito flakes. I loved the texture of the octopus and the big meaty chunks. The cilantro and bonito flakes contrasted the spicy sauce and was a nice East meets West flavour combination, highly recommended.

Papa Chang – Fried Fish/Chicken skewers with Japanese Mayo and Seaweed, Stinky Tofu: Yes! Stinky Tofu! I love stinky tofu and when visiting China will stop at literally every instance to grab a serving. The tofu at Papa Chang’s was the softer kind and didn’t have too strong a smell. I really liked the pickled cabbage that was served with it, which also helps mellow out the taste for those trying the dish for the first time. I liked the fried fish more than the chicken, both skewers were lightly battered, moist and tender inside.

OH OH Hotgod (Japadog?) – Japanese Hotdogs: This booth offered 3 types of Asian inspired hotdogs. They are not affiliated with Japadogs from the West coast, but their menu items were pretty much the same offering. I tried the hotdog topped with kimchi and green onions and it was great. The sausage was homemade, large meaty and cooked to a crisp outside.

Me.n.u – Porkzilla: A fried rice ball stuffed with pork belly and mozzarella. This was again bit of a fusion dish and done so well. The deep fried rice was crunchy on the outside and creamy and sticky, soaking up all the nice fat from the pork belly on the inside. The filling was amazing with melted fresh mozzarella cheese that oozed out. I would’ve gone back for seconds and to try all the flavours if I had the room left to eat.

Tacocat – Calamari Taco: The taco was topped with pineapple salsa and pineapple mayo. I didn’t taste much pineapple in the taco, it was more sour than sweet. I would’ve liked to try the Mapo Tofu Fritters which sounded interesting, deep fried spicy pork stuffed tofu pockets with mapo aioli and cilantro.

Sugar Love – Deep Fried Mochi and Ice Cream: I had the mango ice cream and peanut mochi combination. Portions were really great with each serving coming with 4 mochi balls, a giant scoop of ice cream and 2 wafer cookies. You’re able to choose your mochi (sesame, peanut or red bean) and ice cream (mango, green tea, black sesame or vanilla) flavour combination along with toppings (wafers, pocky, frosted flakes, etc). The ice cream was great relief on the hot day and the fried mochi were nice bites, soft and chewy on the inside, lightly battered and crispy on the outside.

Cup Cup Dessert – Bubble Waffles: Cup Cup Dessert served up classic bubble waffles with 5 different topping flavours, four sweet and one savoury. My favourite was the savoury choice with imitation crab, julienned cucumber and wasabi mayo. It had the same feel as a savoury crepe and I loved the contrast of the wasabi mayo to the sweet batter. For the sweet flavours the cinnaberry stuck out the most for me with it’s unique pairing of cinnamon with a berry sauce. The chocolate and bacon topping was also a great mix of flavours.

Dat Chick Craze – Fried Chicken: We sampled all three kinds of fried chicken from Dat Chick Craze, the pop’n chicken (a dry spice rub with basil), hot blazin’ chicken (a sweet spicy sauce) and the chicken waffle (sandwiched between two half waffles and topped with syrup). The fried chicken was crisp and had a nice batter. My favourite was the pop’n chicken. The dry spice and basil was salty and really accented the natural fried chicken flavour without masking it.

Maobo – Bubble Waffles: Maobo offered bubble waffles in 3 different flavours, green tea, original or chocolate and a variety of toppings (mini marshmallows, syrups, cookie bits, etc). They made a sample for us with all three flavours in the waffle and a selection of toppings. I liked the amount of choice you had and the green tea base was a nice change. This reminded me a bit of funnel cake where I use the cake 80% as a vessel for the toppings.