Summers in Metro Vancouver are marked by a number of things like the Celebration of Lights, trips to the PNE, occasional biking, and late nights spent with good people. Since high school, some of my favourite places to visit during the summer are the various night markets around the metro area.
The Vancouver Chinatown Night Market was in decline for a number of years, and has finally been shut down. During its decline, focus largely shifted to the two night markets in Richmond. There’s the one out by the River Rock Casino and the Bridgeport Canada Line Station, and then there’s the one out on Vulcan Way near the Richmond Ikea. Today, we will be venturing into the latter of the two, which just started its season this past weekend.
I’ll be hitting up both night markets in Richmond this year, and I’ll be making numerous food posts on the various things I have eaten and have yet to eat. Thus, this will be the first of many glorious food posts over the span of this summer.
For those of you not familiar with the location, it’s in the loading zone for a warehouse. You have to walk to the back of the building, and then you’ll see a bunch of lights, booths, and Asian people. That’s how you’ll know you are at the Night Market.
Previously this night market charged $4 for parking, but had free admission. This was the opposite of its counterpart, which, due to its accessibility to the Canada Line and free parking, charged for admission. This year it seems like they’ve both opted to not charge for parking, but slam you with an entrance fee. I preferred the charge for parking, considering that this location is harder to get to by bus, so the parking charge felt more justified. However they have to make money, so who am I to comment?
My friend and I decided to first try some fusion food. I’ve heard of the karaage taco from places like Tacofino, but I’ve never had a chance to try one. Kotako instantly caught my eye, so I decided to grab a taco, and my friend also caved into the temptation.
I had the chicken karaage taco. The karaage and veggies gave it a crunchiness, and the guacamole was creamier than most guacamoles. Thus the taco was creamy, warm, and crunchy all in one bite! Plus, it was spicy because I threw some siracha on half of the taco for good measure.
My friend grabbed the terimayo taco. Think of it like a chicken terimayo bowl, minus the bowl, and wrapped in a tortilla. My friend loved how well the elements worked together, and how fresh the taco tasted!
For our second round we decided to go the way of the old school night market by hitting up a Taiwanese stand. Our idea of a night market in Vancouver has been influenced by different styles of street food as Vancouver’s numerous Asian (and some non-Asian) cultures have begun to display common street dishes. However the larger textbook night markets hail from Taiwan.
My friend grabbed a Taiwanese noodle soup, which was quite a tasty bowl of noodles. The noodles themselves were quite thin, but the consistency of the soup and noodles together were thicker than it looked in the photo.
I grabbed a hot dog. However this was not just the regular ballpark frank. This is actually a hotdog inside of a hotdog. I know, it sounds kind of weird, but follow what I’m about to say. The “bun” is actually a hotdog casing that’s been stuffed with rice and grilled. Once the “bun” is cooked, it’s split open and the meat-filled hotdog is stuffed inside. The meat-filed hotdog is somewhere between a regular hotdog and one of those shrivelled Chinese sausages you get at the Asian supermarket.
I always loved these, because as a Filipino child I would often eat hotdogs, spam, bacon, corned beef, and other forms of preserved meat with rice. This totally brought me back to my childhood, but it also let me eat my memories in the form of a hotdog with a bun.
What about dessert? Don’t worry we got you covered.
I grabbed a cup of mango tapioca. It’s basically shaved ice, milk, mango juice, and mango cubes. They also serve this one at the other Richmond night market; and normally I’ll do this thing where I run over to Bubble Queen, grab a mango cube bubble tea, drink it, go to a night market, eat a bunch of skewers, and then have one of these. It’s mango-on-mango action!
Definitely go to a night market during the summer, and try the food. They also have things like cheap cell phone cases and chargers if you need that kind of stuff. However there is a concentration of good food, so bring some cash, and be ready to eat multiple dishes in one evening.
With the coming of the summer, be ready for more night market posts. Don’t worry, I’ll try to mix things up and eat different things. Perhaps a skewer themed post would be a good theme for another night market adventure!
Cheers,
D
blandcouver 