YYC Noodle Festival 2026 across Calgary restaurants

YYC Noodle Festival is back for eleven days, Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 15, 2026. It is not a single plaza. You pick restaurants from the contestant list, order the festival noodle dish at each place, pay the kitchen directly, then rate what you ate on yycnoodlefestival.com. There is no gate ticket and no set tasting menu.

Hung's Noodle Factory, Roots Collective, and Mach Media co-organize the run. The 2026 charity partner is the Leftovers Foundation, which rescues surplus food in Calgary. Organizers say a portion of each festival noodle sale goes to that work. Awards at the end include best overall noodle by customer rating, most creative noodle, and the restaurant that raises the most for charity.

The 2026 contestant page names kitchens across town: Fuji Ramen & Sushi, Chicking.YYC, Mamak Dang, ExpatAsia, IBU, Y93, Amihan's downtown, northeast, and Macleod rooms, Ramen Arashi, Day Day Bistro, Bas Noodle, Bangkok Kitchen, Chili Island, Pho Express, Pure Street Food, Nan's Noodle House, Lai Rai, Goro + Gun, Lonely Mouth Bar, and Aloha Modern Kitchen. Treat that list as the current map. Hours and dish names live with each restaurant, so check before you drive across Deerfoot for a bowl that sold out at lunch.

November 5 also carries a launch party at Chop Value YYC on Blackburn Road SE, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., 19 and up, on Eventbrite. That is a separate room for founders, Asian-owned makers, and Leftovers Foundation remarks. The eleven-day restaurant crawl is the public product. Do not confuse the launch with the festival itself.

This sits right through Diwali week. RED FM Diwali Dhamaka was November 1 at Dera Banquet. CMA's Diwali day is November 7 at the Chinese Cultural Centre. Indian Society Utsav is November 14 at Genesis Centre. Use the noodle crawl for the weeknights and the hall dates for the big Saturday nights. You can eat a bowl in Bridgeland or the northeast before a Diwali show without treating them as the same outing.

Who this is for: people who already chase Calgary's Asian restaurant corridors and want a dated reason to try a second or third kitchen. Skip it if you needed one outdoor night market with a stage. This is a self-paced map, not a parking-lot festival.

Build a short list of two or three restaurants near the same CTrain stop or northeast plaza. Rate after you eat. Refresh the contestant page mid-week if a kitchen drops out. Email and volunteer notes live on the festival site if you want to help instead of only eat.

When: November 5–15, 2026 (restaurant hours vary)
Where: Participating restaurants across Calgary

Contestant list and rating path at yycnoodlefestival.com.