Review of 2012 Richmond Night Market

This weekend I went to the new Richmond Night Market near the River Rock Casino with fellow food bloggers Diana from Foodology and Angela from Food Punk. There are two night markets in Richmond this year and you can check out my review for the Summer Night Market here.

Our first stop was at the bakudanyaki stand, which sells these deep-fried balls stuffed full of fillings for $5. There is another stand that was selling these for $4, but I didn’t try them.

I ordered the curry bakudanyaki that came drenched in a sweet mild yellow curry sauce and bonito flakes. Inside there was squid, cabbage, corn, ginger, shrimp, rice cake, quail egg, and green onion. I was originally expecting the mixture inside to be chopped up but everything inside was in large chunks. The flavours all kind of blended together but I found this dish to be pretty tasty and I liked the outside batter. The only problem is it gets a bit soggy by the time you get to the bottom.

There are quite a few different egg puff/bubble waffle stands at the night market. I’ve never had one before so I was curious to try one. The basic ones are $3.50 for a bag and the other flavours are $4.

I ordered the coconut egg puff and they fold it up and put it into a paper bag for you. Essentially this is a flavoured filled waffle that is made in a special waffle maker so that it comes out in little bubble shapes. The outside of the waffle batter was nice and crispy and inside of each of these little guys is a sweet and soft coconut filling.

Le Tigre serves up modern Chinese cuisine and they specialize in skewers. Le Tigre also won one of the food cart spots downtown and they are opening up a food truck in the near future. Compared to the other skewer stands, they present their food much nicer and they are the same price and even cheaper in some cases.

I ordered the kick ass rice ($3.50) and pork belly skewer ($2.50). The rice was topped with a pretty poached egg, fresh herbs, and some spicy chilis. The rice had a lot of fresh flavour and a spicy kick. The poached egg was also a nice touch. My only complaint is that I wish they had something in the rice to give it a contrasting texture. The pork belly skewer had a few large pieces of delicious pork and it was topped with a drizzle of sauce and more cilantro and green onions. The pork was juicy, fatty, and full of flavour.

We were in need of something refreshing after all that food, so we stopped by Icy Bar for some fruity desserts. They have several different shave ice and ice cream desserts.

Like always, I was immediately drawn to the fresh mango dessert and I ordered the mango tapioca icy($5). This dessert is very light and refreshing and it would be perfect on a hot summer day. The mango was ripe and sweet and the tapioca were delightfully chewy. They topped the drink off with some condensed milk, which made it a bit creamy. This was my favourite item of the night.

Diana ordered some spicy squid and I tried a couple of pieces. This dish was quite spicy so avoid it if you can’t handle your spice. I liked the flavour of the squid, however, I found the texture to be a bit too tough and chewy for my liking.

I had a great time at the Richmond Night Market and there are lots of tasty eats to be had here. They have a wide variety of different vendors and all of the food is pretty affordable. It’s also a great place to try new things.

Tip:

It costs $1.50 to get into the night market.

Recommendation:

Yes, for a fun street eats experience.