I love to eat out, it’s fun, it’s tasty and it gives me material for my blog. The biggest downfall to eating out is that it’s expensive! This past year has seen the popularity of websites like Groupon and Kahoot explode. While some may argue the business sense of restaurants participating in these group buying sites, I love them! These sites let me go out to eat more often and also introduce me to restaurants I either never thought of going to or have never heard of. I have already taken advantage of some great deals at local eateries like; Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro, Whalesbone Oyster House, Farbs Kitchen & Wine Bar, Hintonburger, Todrics and others. My biggest issue is that every day I need to look through each of the emails I get from 5 different group buying sites and there is no way I will buy most of the deals they promote (who gets laser hair removal from their ‘gluteal  crease’?) Only every couple of weeks, do I find a cool food related coupon I want to buy.  Some very smart and cool people noticed this problem as well and came have come up with a solution for Ottawa foodies.

 Taste This Deal is a new website that offers different food related coupons to deal hunting foodies. Taste This Deal launched today (June 2^nd, 2011) with a coupon to Sidedoor restaurant for a tasting menu, the coupon is valued at $55 and is going for $25, if you like Asian inspired food you should get one! There are a couple of things that make Taste This Deal different from other coupon sites. The first is that they focus on one thing, FOOD! If you like to eat out in Ottawa, make your own wine, buy kitchen gadgets, shop at local butcheries, or get the best baked goods from local bakeries, Taste This Deal is the place to go! The other thing that makes Taste This Deal different from other sites is that every time you buy one of the deals, 20% of the profits go to their charity partners. The current charity partners include; United Way Ottawa, the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, the Ottawa Food Bank, Royal Ottawa, St. Joes Women’s Centre and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. So not only do you get a tasty deal, you get to help make a difference in the community!

Today’s deal at Sidedoor restaurant is worth it! Last night I was at the Sidedoor for the Taste This Deal launch. At the launch we got a small sampling of what Sidedoor has to offer. The three things that I tried were the spring roll, salmon ceviche and the Asian meat loaf. The spring roll was filled with delicious mushrooms and was nice and crispy. The salmon ceviche was melt in your mouth good! The salmon was topped with a small piece of ginger and creamy piece of avocado. The ginger is what made this dish for me, it gave a great explosion of flavour. The Asian meatball was super yummy; I think I had about 6 or 7! I will definitely be going back for a full meal!

So if you want some tasty deals and want help out some charities go to TasteThisDeal.com and check it out. Go, do it, NOW!!!

(For transparency both my girlfriend and I work for charities that are partnered with Taste This Deal)