We are on the hunt for Hamilton’s best restaurant! A group of local food bloggers and I are battling it out (double elimination style) to find the best food within the new City of Hamilton boundaries (Hamilton, Ancaster, Stoney Creek, Glanbrook, Dundas, Winona, and Flamborough). Follow #HamOnt #FoodieFights on Twitter for instant updates during a competition. We decided to hold our first match at the Dundurn Castle Pavillion. We quickly called dibs on restaurants and 5 Alarm, Right Wingers, and Buffalo Wild Wings were the first few to be taken.

The Rules

1. A food item will be determined before a #FoodieFight
2. Each foodie will represent 1 restaurant of their choice (foodies can choose different restaurants for each competition)
3. Samplings must cost $15 or under, taxes included
4. All food items must come as-is from the restaurant

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Full Line Up

Hamilton Small Fries  ·  Pheasant Plucker
Eating Your Content  ·  Royal Pizza
Hungry in the Hammer  ·  Red Rockets
I’m Mad Hungry  ·  Buffalo Wild Wings
Hamilton Gastronomy  ·  5 Alarm Wings
The Hungry Gnome  ·  Wing King
Sid  ·  Supreme Chinese BBQ
Blondie and a Fork  ·  Right Wingers

Boxes of wings filled the picnic table, ready for us to devour. BUT since we were all bloggers, we had to let our cameras eat first. The aroma of freshly fried chicken with the combination of dry seasonings and sticky sauces was a torturous tease. These are the sacrifices we endure to bring our readers and followers spectacular, mouth-watering content. Onto the food!

Let the Battle Begin

Eating Your Content knocked out a few of us with Royal Pizza’s wings and came in third. I fell in love with the batter and the wings were able to hold its freshness till the end – crunchy and salty with bites of juicy meat. Hamilton Small Fries came in gun blazing with 40 Creek BBQ wings from Pheasant Plucker. The wings were big and the sauce was smoky and tasty. The batter became a bit soggy from sitting out too long, but the sauce hit the spot. The lemon pepper Buffalo Wild Wings I brought were pretty neutral. The skin was thin, crispy, and lightly seasoned. It could’ve used more lemon but I guess the meat was pretty average too. Hamilton Gastronomy heated up the competition with 5 Alarm’s ‘Troll Dust’.. like actually created heat because they were the spiciest. If we had an award for the most creative seasoning/sauce name, Troll Dust would win. These big wings were tossed in a delicious spice blend that was too much for me to handle. My tongue got trolled by their spice dust.

The Hungry Gnome rep’d Wing King with a tender, saucy, and sweet BBQ wing. It was finger lickin’ good. Hungry in the Hammer’s Red Rocket honey mustard goodies sweet-talked us into happiness. Sid surprised us with Chinese style chicken wings from Supreme BBQ. Of all the Chinese BBQ meats I’ve devoured throughout my life, I’ve never had this type of chicken. The sauce reminded me of BBQ pork but the texture was similar to cured meats. It was sticky and beautifully flavoured with charred tips. These weren’t your traditional North American fried wings. The meat was chewy and the flavour penetrated into the meat, making it even more addicting! Lastly, Blondie and a Fork’s Right Wingers, took home the title of Hamilton’s Best Wing!! The wings’ crunchy batter held up even after an hour and a half. Perfect seasoning along with mouthfuls of tender meat.

These were the best wings out of all the contestants, can’t beat good ole classic fried chicken. Congrats Blondie with a Fork and Right Wingers!

Recap

Our first #FoodieFight went surprisingly well and we didn’t run into any hiccups along the way! Well, other than forgetting which restaurant each box of wings were from or who was up against who…. “Wait, where are these wings from? Hold on, are these two going against each other? Who’s batting who?!” And we all have to give it to Chanry (The Hungry Gnome) for being a bro. She came prepared and laid down kraft paper on the table for keeping score and it made a better backdrop for photos! There were a few tense moments where the significant-others had to step in to determine the winners of some tied matches, a disqualification happened, and I kissed a bee that fell into my blood orange San Pellegrino. I’m just glad it was nice enough not to shove its stinger into my lip, thanks bee. Stay tuned for our next #FoodieFight where we will be battling with pizza! Where do you go for bomb pizza?

Check out the bracket below to see how it went down!