Menchies Blogurt Fest Event (Garneau)- Edmonton, AB

Menchie’s Garneau hosted their Grand Opening party this Saturday June 1st and for the celebration, they were giving away FREE frozen yogurt to their customers! Now they have already opened shop for a while and I found their FroYo quite enjoyable (see blog here), so when they invited All Eric Can Eat to a special event for food bloggers as part of their grand opening, I was there.

The owners of Menchie’s immediately greeted us as we gathered in for the special event. They shared with us the story of how Menchie’s came to creation and its expansion across the globe. Menchie’s started in California with a young couple (Adam & Dana) who both had a mutual love for frozen yogurt. Interestingly, the “Menchie” was the nickname Adam called Dana and it is Yiddish for “good person”.

The premise of the event was a contest between local food bloggers to see who could design the most creative, tasty, and best looking FroYo combo, evaluated by a panel of experienced judges. Top prizes were an ipad mini and Menchie’s gift cards and of course, getting to eat our own delicious creations! As we were all sampling the flavors for the contest, you could see the creativity and competitiveness brewing.

The Judges

I have always been a fan of the cake and chocolate flavors, even though the fruity flavors are also quite delicious. For this contest, they added a couple of new flavors (along with the regulars): Hawaiian pineapple, Freshly shredded Coconut, Fruity Cereal, Peanut Butter Smores, Cookies n Cream & Irish Mint. As well, we also had the option of using Sobert flavors Strawberry and Green Apple. (Note: the Irish mint is very strong)

I picked a waffle bowl and started filling my cup with my two favorite flavors. I swirled Red Velvet on the outside and filled the center with Cookies n Cream. I then created a mountain of toppings with cake theme: cookie dough, cheesecake, nanaimo bars,  and peanut butter krisp. I called it “Cake Coma”.

It was difficult for the judges to dig in and not cause an avalanche of the toppings but they did it! We then got to eat our own creations.. best part. My creation was so huge the girl next to me asked if I was going to finish all of it. (Sadly, I did and sugar crashed hard). Checking out other people’s creations, I noticed a popular “tropical” theme of pineapple and coconut yogurt with fruity toppings.

The event ended with announcing the winners of the best FroYo creation & appearance of “Menchie” himself.

3rd place winner received a $50 gift card to Menchie’s.

2nd place winner received $100 gift card to Menchie’s.

1st place winner received an iPad mini!

I was quite surprised and happy to hear “Cake Coma” being chosen as one of the winners and will definitely be returning with my gift card!

We just want to thank Menchies Garneau of Edmonton from the team of "All Eric Can Eat" for the wonderful experience had today. We hope the best for Menchies in the near future!