I'm Only Here for the Food!

As far as I can remember here in Vancouver (but, then again, I have been here only that long), the Chinese night markets have been part of the summer activities. From what I have been told, the idea behind these night markets is to emulate the night market settings you might get in Asia. Whether this has been accomplished or not, I can’t say for certain, since I have not been in Asia for ages. But regardless, the event itself is fun.

In Metro Vancouver, there are two main ones, Summer Night Market which “replaced” the Richmond Night Market (they are in the same location, the name is due to licencing issues since they are different operators) and Vancouver’s Chinatown Night Market. It is unfair for me to make a comparison between them: I only went to Richmond Night Market once (and that was long time ago) while have not been to the Summer Night Market. However, if the Summer Night Market is at least 75% of what the Richmond Night Market used to be, I can only say the following:

1) Size-wise, Richmond Night Market is way larger than Chinatown Night Market. Think something close to a big-box store size vs. one of the streets in the big-box store perimeter.
2) Transportation. The one in Richmond might be a pain mainly because Bridgeport (the closest major road) is not a major bus route. Driving is an option though it depends if you want to pay for parking ($5, can’t confirm, though) or you want to park for free but walk several blocks away. As for Chinatown’s, there are several bus routes passing nearby not to mention the Skytrain. This was the reason I chose to visit Chinatown Night Market rather than Richmond’s.

Regardless, there are two reasons I think people go there for two reasons: cheap/odd “stuff” and food.

The cheap stuff, well, I will leave that to the reader and/or the visitor. Most of the merchandise available for sale can easily fit in the “if it is too good to be true” category. That does not mean they are all rip-offs either. For example, in one stand, there were “swords” and “axes” for sale. Obviously, they are not real weapons, more of a novelty. If they are, I am sure the Vancouver Police Department would like to have a word with them. Likewise, there is a ginseng stand. I can’t vouch for its quality but, from afar, it looked like the real thing, as they sold them in pieces rather than grounded. But, in other cases, who are we kidding? The fact they were preventing me of taking some pictures would have indicated me something. Anyway, I don’t visit the night market for this reason, I visit the night market for… Food! I mentioned above I have not been in Asia for ages but in Panama, in some places of the city, you could find food street vendors. Now, it is a single stand, not a whole block like in Asia. But one thing I can say almost for certain: it is not gourment nor necessarily healthy food but it is down-to-earth tasty good eats. I remember getting out of University and, on my way back home, stop to grab some food. Depending on the stand, you could get chicken rice, potato salad, grilled chicken, patacones (a double-fried plantain chips), fried fish, etc. That was Panama; here, you will get more Asian fare – sort of. There were stands with noodles, (imitation for sure) shark fin soup, dim sum items like har gao and siu mai, takoyaki (a Japanese fare, pieces of octopus in a batter, served with mayo, okonomiyaki sauce and fish shavings) and bubble tea. In this visit, I had two items: corn cob (not Asian, but, hey, it is summer!) and grilled sardine. It was really tasty. Price of the dishes vary, in my case, each was for less than $5.

Wii vs WÜ???

Takoyaki!

Had grilled sardine. It was delicious!

Overall, it was a fun night. Depending on the night, there might have a stand with dances or other presentations. Because the place is relatively small, you can walk around in less than an hour (slightly more if you are in shopping mode). But, hey, why the hurry!