51 restaurants participating in 40th edition of Taste of Edmonton

Taste of Edmonton celebrates its 40th anniversary and presents dishes from different parts of the world.

Many restaurants returned to the festival. The oldest returnee: Japanese Village.

Japanese Village joined Taste of Edmonton in its first year – in 1984 – and has been a partner of the festival for many years.

Ten Kai, the general manager and son of the owner, has been personally involved with the festival since 1999 and has witnessed many changes over the years.

“It’s just the diversity of different cuisines that you see here,” Kai told CityNews. “So much diversity, you can pretty much get anything you want here and that wasn’t the case a long time ago. I think that’s the biggest change and I think that’s a fantastic change.”

This year, the festival featured 11 new restaurants, including Ribeye Butcher Shop, part of the Canadian Brewhouse group.

The butcher shop also has a mini restaurant where you can get hamburgers and fries.

“It’s the largest food festival in Alberta and we wanted to showcase our brand. Since it started on Thursday, it’s been a huge success,” said Patrick Kehdy, Regional Director of Canadian Brewhouse.

Taste of Edmonton has 51 restaurants with 88 brand new menus to try this year. The event runs until July 28.