Richmond Night Market 2011: A must stop eat and shop.

I. Love. The. Night. Market. Stop.

For obvious reasons i totally love the night market: street food and vendors stocked with random crap nobody needs (see last picture).  It's true, you could probably get the food cheaper somewhere else, in a sit down or Aberdeen (or any other asian mall food court) but its the excitement of it all! and little chubby asian girls singing justin beiber in the background, the pushing, the crowds, what is there not to love?

I went twice this time back, it was high on my priority list, especially since Toronto only gets weekend night markets. plus (like this weekend's T&T 2nd annual night market, that i attended last year, was only in the parking lot), lines are waaay too long (like 20-30 mins!!!) cause there's not enough vendors and space for the demand. I say Toronto, take a hint and stop being so multicultural and accommodating to all cultures every weekend, and make an asian night market staple!

NIGHT ONE!

I went with my friend Jenny, and with my Mom and Dad who drove us! hehe, the parentals let us get our eat on, and my mom let my dad get his shop on, so we were suppose to meet up after we gorged ourselves.  First Stop! Ha Gows! in a spicey soy. (shrimp dumplings for the unfamiliar)

Dish 2! Sui Mai! 

Dish 3. I wanted to try something new. and although this isnt new to me, as i've had some amazing version at the Richmond Public Market, it was new at the night market, i also felt bad for the stand, it was 2 ladies, one kept yelling out "BEEF PIES BEEF PIES" so i went to try it.

It was actually really really good! I recommended it to 2 white dudes who were confused on what to get. I hope they liked it, i didnt bother to hang back to check. if i were a better person i would.

Up next was some vietnamese treats!

They also sold birds nest there too! It looked really good, but seemed pretty difficult to eat standing up.

we settled on some spring rolls!  

And now comes the part where i tell you how i ate some random guy's food.

OK so this year, there's a bunch of new "western" vendors at the night market (beaver tails, deep fried snickers/mars/lycee???), which i would personally call "lap sap"... (or garbage) cause im at a freaking chinese night market, not the national fair, not that i wouldnt eat it, im all for buying mini donuts at the PNE/CNE, but i will not give a second look to the mini donut vendor at the night market.

Anyway, me and jenny were kinda intrigued with this new Butter Chicken Poutine truck, like when a puppy cocks its head to the side. but not enough effort to sniff it out.  

There was this older dude holding his new purchase and im like, "how's the butter chicken poutine?"

"pretty good, you see the unused fork, why dont you try it yourself?"

i'm a lil apprehensive about eating a stranger's food. but i figure. i'm the one who approached him! it's not like he walks around with poisoned poutine! so im like "ohhh. ok"

and he's trying to be cute at this point and is like "so you go around asking guys how their poutine is?"

and i'm like. ha. ha?

So i take it! and im like, can i take a picture? you know for my blog. and he's like, 

"do you have a card?"

i'm like "no"

he's like "do you want my card"

i'm like... "no... i just... wanted a bite..... of your poutine"

i got jenny to take a bite. and went on our merry way.

i gotta say. that combination is WEIRD. i would not have paid for it. and will not again solicite free butter chicken poutine.

There was a huge crowed around this Jiang Man BBQ place, i THOUGHT he was selling "san geen baos", like pan fried beef buns on a stick, but it was just bun. so we ended up getting a lamb, beef and chicken skewer.  The wait is ridiculous. i swear i stood there for 20 minutes. which i shouldnt be complaining cause beats being on the other side of the fire.  I'm starting to like lamb more and more. 

skewers galore!

While i was waiting, Jenny went to get some japanese yam fries. smothered in japanese mayo and whatever that green stuff is. i know so little about anything.

Along our travels there were some stands we passed:

Since i live in Korean town in Toronto, no need for a Korean party of my mouth when i get it whenever i want at home.

Was pretty full at this point, so passed on the grilled squid.

Passed on the Thai Satay. for no reason really!

NIGHT MARKET PART DEUX

I hung out with my friends Pam, Kris and Josette after a dinner at the Afghan Horseman, where the waiter, upon finding out our pilgrimage to the night market after dinner, was like, you guys shoulda just eaten there! i love honesty.

I think the theme of that night was: Balls.

Jo got some takoyaki balls, which she shared with us. 

Passed by these super cute bean curd coin purses!

Krissy eventually got some of that Dragon Beard candy, can someone tell me how they make that stuff? hmm according to wiki "It is common for street vendors of dragon's beard candy to carry out the folding process at their stall, which attracts customers fascinated by the process as much as by a desire to purchase the candy..".... wow. that really does work!

On our journeys, we found this stand of giant turkey legs

the penny for comparison photo

Pam got the 6 for $5.00 to share with us, i've only ever had the red bean version so it was cool to try the other fillers: Custard and Chocolate.  I have a personal fishie food vendor a few blocks from my place in toronto, so i think i know all about the fishie waffles. but these were super yummy!

fish face krissy totally agrees!

oh on the theme of stuff nobody needs. i present the stuffed toy bouquet. 

And that's it for this year! On my second trip we ended up getting a bunch of stuff! tights, coloured contacts (why does everyone tell me i'm going to go blind with those! is it really that weird to buy prescription contacts at a night fair???? lol) I'm hoping to check out the T&T night market again this year, though this sweltering toronto heat is starting to deter me, but would be nice to see if they expanded their venue and vendors!

I ate his liver with edamame beans and a nice... green tea

Ew... Monk fish a friggin ugly looking fella. I forgot to do my penny for comparrison cause this thing is friggin huge! However, as ugly as he looks, his LIVER is delicious!!! (Pic courtesy of my Sunny Supermarket at Leslie and Finch!)

Richmond:

my awesome cousin Link took me to this Japanese restaurant in Stevesten, Richmond: Ichiron Japanese Restaurant and it was the first time i had monk fish liver and it was... kinda frigging awesome. My cousin is kind of a food snob, ok not kind of, he's self proclaimed, and when it comes to Japanese, he frequents only 3 restaurants in the lower mainland. Last time i was in vancouver, he took me and my other cousin, the food is awesome, and we ate like crazy (thanks cuz!).  It's Japanese run, so it's got all those Japanese elements... like cleaniness and simplicity, and super fresh. 

Toronto:

So I come back to Toronto, and here's a pic of the steamed monk fish liver, with daikon and ponzu, that I had at this new izakaya place: Tsuki Izakaya on 5182 Yonge St. Toronto that opened up by me. I'll try to get the name when I pass by it. But it's around the yonge and sheppard area. This version of monk liver was pretty tasty, but it could have been fresher, and it really deters from the full enjoyment of letting the morsel melt in your mouth, when there's a scent of blech in it. The experience at this new place was pretty good, it's a little more expensive than Guu, however, Izakaya is still a rising phenomenon in Toronto, so there's less to choose from.  The chef came out to bring us a comp'ed dish, deep fried salmon in sweet and sour vinegar -served cold, he was like, you picked very unusual dishes, have you been to Japan? I should have said, no, i'm from Vancouver! he would have understood. 

We also had the tuna tataki with tofu sauce and ponzu jelly. What exactly is tofu sauce than mashed up tofu, it didn't really add anything to for me, also the tuna was a lil dry on the outside.

Other dishes we had, that I didnt take pics of cause I was busy eating, was this braised black cod dish in special soy with daikon, which was great actually, the pieces were big, and flavour was warm and considerate.. haha that's something that would totally be said by the actress on iron chef. "tastes reasonable, yet concerned...", had a basic udon, and a spicy tuna roll.  The bill came to around $60 bucks, we had no drinks, so I think it's a lil pricey izakaya place for 5 dishes, but then again, beggars... have no money...and can't be choosers... unless you have a voice of gold,

For another Izakaya treat, check out my Guu Church review as i get to check out 6 out of 7 Guus... damn it why do they keep opening up a new one once i think i've finally checked them all out!

For Guu Gastown in Vancouver check THIS out

And for another near by review just a couple of blocks down on yonge, the new Raa Izakaya Sushi and Sake Bar