Richmond Night Market

Shum and I had all intentions in going out for a summer salad somewhere, anywhere, and that is one milestone event to date considering that Shum never likes salads. But with one text from Ming that read "Where are you going? Night Market?", Shum and I looked at each other and had the same thought in mind. Screw the salad. Swing the car the other way! Off we went to the Night Market.

It might have been a couple years since I've last been there. I don't recall parking being $5! We parked a little further and walked a little further. It was just as before... with the bustling of people. It was packed but I could imagine it being shoulder-to-shoulder packed as the summer comes.

We decided to browse through the stands for any cheap goodies before we went for the food stands.  There were the usual stand of cellphone covers and knickknacks. There were a couple stands of Korean contact lenses. Shum taught me that it's the newest thing where these contact lenses make your pupils appear larger to make your eyes look bigger. Kinda freaky if you ask me. Shum checked out the stands of eyelashes and stocked up on some.

After a bit of shopping, we hit the food stands. There were a couple repeat stands, but the variety of food seems to have expanded. We made a round down the two aisle of food before we could decide what to eat. Neither of us had eaten dinner so we could have dove into anything.

First up, some dim sum.

Of course, it is nothing compared to the quality of dim sum in actual dim sum restaurants. But, there is something about eating food on a stick outside on the street amongst the hustling and bustling of people. The experience makes it super enjoyable.

Takoyaki's seem to be a staple at the Richmond Night Market from the start. Japanese dough balls filled with yummies and topped with teriyaki and mayo sauce and dried squid. We went with a combo of octopus and scallops. They had a couple other choices too. Here's Shum holding the takoyaki sporting her Canucks blue nails.



Next up, topokki. Topokki is chewy rice cake with spicy sauce. I love korean rice cake. Again, chewy! It wasn't bad but not a big fan of the spicy sauce. It tasted like spicy Chef Boyardee. Give it a try and let me know if you agree.

This was my FAVORITE. There is a stand there that sells mango desserts. All things have mango. If you love mangoes, this is the place to try out. We chose a dessert of mangos, grapefruit and sago. It is topped with a bit of coconut milk. Oh, it was so good! I love the bits of bitterness from the grapefruit with the sweetness of everything else. Again, sago? It's chewy. Would be more perfect if it was warm out. Definitely going back once more this year just to have this again!

There was a Japanese yam fries stand where they had a character called Mr. Yam to represent. Don't you think Mr. Yam looks a bit like Mr. Peanut? 

Sticking potatoes.

Sour cream hurricane potatoes. Also very good. There were three stands for these kind of potatoes and each of them had a super duper long lineup. Didn't matter. Pick up something to eat from another stand and enjoy it while lining up. We would eat at one stand, turn around, and conveniently find ourselves in a lineup for the next stand. You don't have to walk very far to get your goodies!

Shum was super duper excited when she saw this sign. "OMG, deep fried cheesecake!!!!!". And even though we were stuffed, she was still curious to try. Too bad, in the end, it was a disappointment. Instead of it actually being deep fried, it was rolled up in a spring roll wrap. It wasn't even crunchy.

All in all though, it was super fun. Satisfying. But, ugh.... my stomach is yelling, "Stupid, you should have had the salad!".