2012-09-16 Munchies @ Summer Night Market 夏日夜市

12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond, BC

604-278-8000

It's the last day of vegetarian for Octopus and I, which landed on the last day of Summer Night Market 夏日夜市.  Me, being the generous and the sneaky one, comfortably reasoned with myself (and dragged down Octopus as my partner-in-crime) to break the rule and enjoy the food.  Hey, rules are meant to be broken right?

We arrive right at opening.  With less people around, Octopus, Buddha Boy and I all went our separate ways to do some treasure hunting.  Those big fat chubby whole squids on the grill caught my attention.  Yes, not some stupid hot-plate pan-fried texture-less crap that's usually blanched before cooking.  This BBQ Squid 燒魷魚 was the real deal.  The QQ meaty parts had the crunch while the tentacle ends were crispy.  I originally bought one order to share, but Buddha Boy went off hunting for more food after a few bites and Octopus was no where to be seen.  So, the poor me had to finish this pretty much all by myself...wahahaha!  This was so good that I returned and picked up one more to-go...but we ended up finishing it before leaving the market.  :p

Buddha Boy went straight for something that he wanted to try on our last visit (see post 2012-09-08 Snacks @ Summer Night Market 夏日夜市) but held back because he thought he wouldn't be able to finish it by himself (I was still on my vegetarian diet).  While the cheese was not proper and the stated "fresh green onions" were not present, this KBBQ Pork Poutine was pretty delicious.  The fries were crispy.  The pork and the opted chicken gravy were flavorful.  The grilled onions added a nice sweetness.  Buddha Boy wanted another one, but controlled himself because of carbs.

Octopus caught up with us with skewers from the popular stall, Chef James Xin Jiang Man BBQ 新疆佬.  This year, they have two locations, one at the Summer Night Market 夏日夜市 and the other at Richmond Night Market.  The Chicken Skewer 雞肉串 was tender.  The Honey Garlic Prawn Skewer 蜜汁蒜香蝦 maintained its crunch.  The Crispy Bun 香煎蔥花卷 was stale. 

One of my favorite snacks at local night markets is Toppoki 韓式炒年糕.  I don't know what's considered classic or authentic, but $3/order (the size of a small square take-out box commonly seen at Chinese restaurants), this satisfied my craving.

Yup, more skewers, this time, it was Buddha Boy's turn.  The AAA Ribeeye Steak 肉眼牛柳 was overdone.   The Garlic Chicken 蒜香雞柳 was tender but bland.  The Bacon Sausage 煙肉香腸 was, well...it had bacon.

Octopus needed more food.  She wandered off and came back with a bag of Taiwanese Chicken Nugget 台灣鹽酥雞.  Okay, honestly, each piece was chunky, flavor was not bad, texture was tender...but the oil...ewww...the bad oil just killed everything...yuck!

Lastly, just thought I would share something with readers from/in Taiwan.
(From Tung Bao Elementary School 東寶國小 in Taichung City 台中市.) 

2012-09-08 Snacks @ Summer Night Market 夏日夜市

12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond, BC

604-278-8000

I once read from an online article that the Summer Night Market is one of the top night markets in the world.  Stupid comments like that makes me cringe.  Our local night markets here are modeled after Asia.  After visiting markets in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, even their mediocre markets are miles better than what we have here.  If the article made the comment that our market here is perhaps the best in North America, then I'd be more open, but to put it in the same category as any markets in Hong Kong and/or Taiwan?  That's a joke.

The Sweet Potato Crunchy Dog (from Crunchy Dogs) was a corn dog that was battered then rolled in diced sweet potato fries.  The wiener was fried the topped with choices of sauces or toppings.  The batter was thick and salty, which ruined the textures of hot dog and sweet potato.  After a few bites, I began tearing off the coating and ate only the meat.  Avoid this by all costs.

One stall where we spent quite a bit of time and money was Little Thai Kitchen.  What caught my attention was their Thai Lemongrass Sausages 泰國香茅香腸.  The gritty sausages were not very juicy, but the flavors were deep, especially with the strong fragrance of lemongrass.  While waiting for our orders, we were offered a sample each (and later purchased one before leaving) of the Thai Iced Tea 泰國奶茶.  Buddha Girl said this reminded her of the old-style Taiwanese black tea 古早味台式紅茶 except it's a lot sweeter and with milk added.  The drink was way too sweet for me, and, unfortunately, as the base was pre-mixed, they couldn't give me a version with less sugar without compromising the flavor.

Being Buddhist/Taoist vegetarian, Buddha Girl had limited eating choices around the market.  From the Thai booth, Buddha Girl picked up a black rice "Kao Lam" 泰國竹椰子糯米飯, or Coconut Sticky Rice in Bamboo.  Like it's name, this was simply glutinous rice with coconut milk stuffed in a bamboo stalk.  Every order/stalk was opened with a small "show" by gently hammering down the bamboo against an apple corer.  The sticky rice was soft with a mild coconut flavor.  Buddha Girl enjoyed it so much that we ended up ordering two more to go.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit.  For a local market, this was acceptable.  Best in the world?  Again, what a joke.

2011-09-10 Eating @ Summer Night Market 夏日夜市

12631 Vulcan Way, Richmond, BC

604-278-8000

With only two weekends left, Buddha Boy and I wanted to visit the market one last time.  We got there right when they opened and it was an ease going up and down the two food aisles.

The first thing that attracted Buddha Boy was the Spring Rolls.  These rolls were piping hot but were extremely tasteless...we really needed that fish sauce.

We enjoyed the skewers from this stall previously (see post 2011-06-03 Munchies @ Summer Night Market 夏日夜市), however, not so much this time.  The Honey Garlic Prawn Skewers had no crunch and were not seasoned with enough flavors.  The Chicken Skewers, on the other hand, were tender and had a lot of cumin.

Yup, it's Stinky Tofu.  While these had the "fragrance" and were deep-fried nicely with crispy crusts, the massive load of sweet soy sauce ruined the overall taste and texture.  Moreover, not sure how these tofu were fermented, the inner "tofu" parts were still quite firm, not airy enough.  The pickled cabbage was refreshing.

The outside of the Custard Korean Waffle was crisp and the inside had Bavarian cream filling.  The filling was a bit too sweet for me.

 

The big boy picked up more skewers!!!  The Chicken Skewers were bland and dry.  The Pork Skewers were tender but were also quite flavorless.  Overall, meh.

The Taiwanese Salty Crispy Chicken tasted horrible.  Thick batter, bad oil and lots of "skin" pieces...just overall bad.  The Taiwanese Sausages weren't too impressive...not enough fat and flavor was kinda off...another disappointment.

"Real Japanese, real Japanese crepes"...yup, that's what the guy yelled to attract attention...well, he sure caught my attention!  Ok, the truth was...he was kind of cute...but shhhhh...hehehe!  Buddha Boy and I were surprised with how light the crepe was (or how light the batter was).  No, the crepe was not crisped, just simply cooked from batter than wrapped with banana, strawberries, nutella and whipped cream.

Buddha Boy went for another round while I waited patiently near the stage area.  I was immediately turned off when I saw the hoisin sauce overload.  The Peking Duck Wrap had very little meat and the pancake wrap was extremely tough to bite through.  The Shumai was nothing special...just meat on a stick...hahahaha!

I was looking forward to try the Butter Chicken Poutine, but due to some contract problems, the blue buses were shut down for business.