Crickets, rainbows and ramen buns — OTT food at the CNE

There are two ways to indulge if you visit the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto: you can walk down the midway for grilled corn, waffle ice cream sandwiches and tart lemonade — or you can make a beeline for the food building, where a hotbed of outrageous foods await.

This year, the food building beckons food thrill-seekers with a wild array of frankenfoods. The infamous Bug Dog, sprinkled liberally with Entomo Farms’ dried crickets, jockeys for notoriety with this year’s cronut burger, the Philly Steaklair: a cheesesteak-éclair crossover. Add in Yorkshire pudding bowls (and all-in-one Sunday roast bonanza), rainbow grilled cheese, Poké bowls and deep-fried butter tarts, as just a few of the OTT items getting headlines this week.

If you’re heading to The Ex between now and Labour Day weekend, here are five booths we visited that are bringing something new to the CNE this year:

1. Rainbow Grilled Cheese
Vendor: The Cheesery Location: The Midway (by the Drop Zone) Price: $8 Verdict: Rainbow cheese pulls are highly Instagrammable.

2. Ramen Burger
Vendor: Yatai by Liberty Noodle Location: Food Building, booth 204 Price: $12 Verdict: Way better than that time we tried the cronut burger.

3. Sushi burrito
Vendor: Su&Bu Location: Food Building, booth 609 Price: $8 Verdict: Fun to try — but there was serious poké bowl FOMO post-order.

4. Bug Dog
Vendor: Bug Bistro Location: Food Building, booth 725 Price: $6 Verdict: The crickets were crunchy (and seasoned) so it looks a lot scarier than it tastes.

5. Deep-fried butter tart
Vendor: Pickle Pete’s Location: The Midway (by the Drop Zone) Price: $7 Verdict: Not for butter-tart purists.

The CNE runs until Sept 5, 2016 in Toronto. Visit TheEx for more details.

More:
The 5 things you should really eat at the CNE
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