I visited the Richmond Night Market this weekend with my Mom so I could compare it to the Summer Night Market.

Habanero Taco Grill is new to the night market this year and they sell a few different types of tacos. Habanero Taco Grill contacted me before the night market opened and ask me if I would come by and try a complimentary taco.

I got one slivered beef and one chicken marinado taco.

The slivered beef is made with sautéed seasoned beef, caramelized onions, and cilantro covered in a rich avocado sauce and Mexican crema. Every bite of this taco was delicious. The meat was very tender and had tons of flavour. I loved how creamy and rich the avocado and Mexican crema sauces made the taco.

The chicken marinado taco is made with shredded chicken in a chipotle tomato sauce with avocado and cilantro topped with a smooth green sauce, Mexican crema, and cheese. This taco was good, but not special. I preferred the beef one over this one.

Mogu is a food truck located in Vancouver that sells Japanese inspired street eats. They are also new to the night market this year. I’ve visited them before and I liked their food.

My mom and I shared the large size sweet and spicy chicken karaage ($7). This comes with five large pieces of chicken covered in a sweet chili sauce.

The batter was light and crunchy and the chicken was very juicy. This tasted really good, but a couple of the pieces were undercooked. I got sick after visiting the night market and I’m suspicious that the undercooked chicken is what caused it. It is a shame that this happened, because taste wise, this was actually my favourite item.

There was also a ramen stand, called Sho Ramen, that I had previously not noticed. I was going to get a cold, icy dessert, but since it was rainy, windy and cold out, I wanted some warming soup.

I got the miso tonkotsu ($5) soup. It was a bit challenging to eat while walking, but it was manageable.

The noodles were actually better than I was expecting. They weren’t the dried instant noodles and they had a good bouncy texture.

The toppings were also good. It was filled with corn, green onion, nori, bean sprouts, and some sliced pork. The portion of pork was tiny, but then again, the soup was only $5.

The broth was a bit bland and could have used some more depth and richness. This ramen was good, but don’t expect restaurant quality.

Wanting to try something different, I hit up the Korean food stand.

I got the spicy rice cakes ($5). They freshly made a new batch so these were very hot and fresh.

The rice cakes were thick and chewy. The spicy sauce got my nose running and it had great flavour. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have got this and ramen because I had so many carbs I thought I would die. This dish is very filling and best shared with a few people if you want to sample other items.

I can’t go to the night market and not get bubble waffles, so we stopped at QQ Egg Puff. This stand has more flavours than the other stand at the market and the logo is super cute.

I got the mango egg puff ($4.50). This waffle had a great texture. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The mango flavour was pretty strong and it had a sweet fragrant taste. My Mom ordered the coconut flavoured one and I still think that one is my favourite.

I had a good time at the Richmond Night Market, until I got sick after. This wasn’t all of the vendors faults though, and I would still probably return, I would just be more careful about the food that I eat.

Recommendation:

Yes, for a fun event with street food.

The ordering process here is very confusing. They have a separate menu for take out and for eating at the bar. I wanted to get some sushi to-go, but I had to sit at the bar and order it to go and they couldn’t take my order at the counter. It was all very weird and confusing and they definitely need a better system.

I ordered the Kona combo plate, which comes with a luau california roll, salmon sashimi, and tuna poke ($13.99). Many of the items on the menu are pretty expensive, but this combo plate is the best deal they have.

The luau California roll is made with jumbo lump crab, avocado, and pineapple. The roll tasted fresh and I liked the addition of the pineapple, but I wish that the pineapple had been a bit more ripe and flavourful.

The salmon sashimi was okay. It wasn’t cut in the best way and I’ve had fresher. I’m used to eating better salmon sashimi in Vancouver, so this item wasn’t great for me, but it was edible.

Lastly, the tuna poke was my favourite. Tuna poke is made with cut up tuna sashimi and it is mixed with a sauce and served with littler crackers or chips. Here they had wonton crisps, which I think was a good choice with the tuna. The tuna was in a spicy and creamy sauce and it was great. If I came back here, I think I would just get an order of that.

My experience here wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t bad, it was just a bit unorganized. Overall the food quality is decent, but I’m spoiled with incredible Vancouver sushi, so the only item that stood out to me was the tuna poke. There aren’t many sushi places on the Disney properties though, so it is fine if you just want to get your fix and you aren’t expecting the best sushi of your life.

Recommendation:

Yes, for tuna poke, but no for sashimi.

Like the Be Our Guest restaurant, the theming is from Beauty and the Beast. From the outside it looks like a quaint little tavern and the inside is like a man cave. It has a massive fire place with big chairs, wooden tables, taxidermy, and of course, large pictures of Gaston.

LeFou’s Brew ($4.49) is a special drink made with frozen apple juice, toasted marshmallow flavouring, and topped with passion fruit mango foam. This drink is delicious and something more special than all of other drinks in the park.

The apple slush is sweet and combined with the toasted marshmallow flavour, it tastes like a liquified caramel apple. I’m not sure why it tastes like caramel, but it does, and its delicious. The passion fruit mango foam is a nice touch. It adds a interesting foamy texture on top and it gives the drink another fruity layer.

This drink is a must try if you want something sweet that will also cool you down.

The main food item that they sell at Gaston’s Tavern is a roasted pork shank ($9.50). This is a similar idea to the popular turkey legs that you see around the park as it is a large chunk of meat and you eat it straight off the bone.

I love a good turkey leg, but as soon as I tried the pork shank I was converted. The pork meat is super moist and it is fall off the bone tender. Being roasted on the bone added so much flavour to the meat. There were some fatty pieces, but the fat just added to the deliciousness.

I loved both the pork shank and the LeFou’s Brew drink. The theming of Gaston’s Tavern is also special and it was just an all around good experience.

Recommendation:

Yes, for a great drink and a meaty meal.

I came here with my friend Melissa after telling her about it for weeks. The owners are super nice and were talking to us while we were there. They told us about some upcoming changes that will be coming to the restaurant. Their one year anniversary is in June and after this point, they are redoing the menu to focus more on sushi items and less on the cooked kitchen items, because that is what they want to specialize in. The sushi here is special, so I think that is a good move on their part.

I love the simplicity of the seared yam roll and how delicately it is made (it’s not on the menu, but you can just ask them to sear it). The roll is filled with small slices of tempura yam, avocado, and cucumber. On top they put this spicy creamy sauce and then sear it. This is a great vegetarian option and one of my favourites when I come here. It is also significantly cheaper than the special rolls and still very tasty.

The house roll is filled with crab, tuna, salmon, and avocado and then topped with the same spicy, creamy sauce and then torched. Once again, this roll is not overly complicated, but it was very delicious. When the ingredients are super fresh and good quality, sushi doesn’t need to be fancy to taste good. This is definitely a new favourite.

The oceanwiser roll is one of their specialty rolls that is filled with marinated salmon belly , cucumber, and shrimp and then topped with more salmon and avocado. There is also a drizzle of some sort of black sesame sauce.

This roll was super creamy from the avocado and had a smooth cool texture from all of the salmon. The addition of sauce to the roll added a nice moisture and hints of flavour, but still allowed the main ingredients of salmon and avocado to be savoured.

The goodbye yellow brick roll is filled with crab, yam tempura, shrimp and cucumber. It is then topped with mango salsa and a mango and raspberry drizzle.

I really like the sweetness that the mango and raspberry sauces added to the dish. It wasn’t over powering, but it was definitely present. The mango salsa had a bit of spice to it, which helped to offset the sweetness of the other sauces.

The roll itself was also great. Nothing inside of it really stood out flavour wise, but everything tasted great together. I especially loved the bit of crunch that the yam tempura added.

The seared tuna toro nigiri is another one of my favourite items I always end up getting when I’m here. It is a must try if you come here.

Like always, the tuna toro was incredibly tender and it almost melts in your mouth. The searing adds a wonderful smokey flavour that goes really well with the tuna.

Once again, I was very pleased with my experience at Sushi K Kamizato. It’s rare when you can have a meal where you order a bunch of items and everything was equally delicious. I will definitely continue to come here on a regular basis.

Recommendation:

Yes, for the best sushi in the Tri-Cities.

The restaurant is a bit hard to find. I assumed it was in the big mall complex on North Road, but it is slightly further down the road. Be warned, it has a super small parking lot with only a couple of stalls. Luckily I came here at an awkward time in the late afternoon so the lot was empty.

You can choose the type of meat you want in the soup and the level of spiciness. I ordered the pork tofu soup ($9.99) with regular spiciness.

When the soup came out it looked like a bubbling hot cauldron of deliciousness. The broth was very flavourful and definitely the best part of the dish. The medium level of spice had enjoyable flavour, but not burn your mouth heat. If you like it really spicy, you should get hot.

There was tons of soft tofu in the soup. I liked the texture of it because it was smooth and it almost melted in your mouth. The tofu actually made the soup pretty filling and it soaked up all of the lovely flavour from the broth.

The pork in the soup was thinly sliced, but got a bit overcooked from the hot broth. It was still edible though, just a bit tough.

The soup also comes with a bowl of rice. I poured some of the delicious broth over mine.

Like most Korean restaurants, the meal also came with complimentary banchan (I forgot to take pictures). There was a seaweed salad, mashed potatoes, kimchi, and some other pickle vegetables. I’m not crazy about banchan, mostly because I just don’t find eating cold vegetables on their own that exciting, but free food is free food right?

I have nothing to compare House of Tofu soup too, but I enjoyed the soup. It was hearty, comforting, and warmed your whole body up. This would be an excellent meal on a cold, rainy day.

Recommendation:

Yes, for tasty tofu soup.

Since I had been non-stop eating all morning, I didn’t want a full meal to myself, so my Mom and I shared a chicken shawarma platter ($11.99). The platter comes with your choice of meat, hummus, fresh moroccan bread, tabouleh, and a couscous salad. I like platters better than wraps because you can taste each item individually and mix them up if you want to.

The chicken was very juicy and moist. It was covered in savoury and aromatic spices and a cool creamy yogurt sauce.

The portion of hummus was a decent size and made the meal pretty filling. I enjoyed both of the salads, as they were both fresh and flavourful.

The food at Tangierine Cafe was tasty and flavourful and one of the best quick service restaurants in the Epcot park. The meat here is on par with any good shawarma place and it was a filling meal. If you need a break from greasy food and want something different, I would highly recommend coming here.

Recommendation:

Yes, for a flavourful and quick meal.

The Summer Night Market just opened yesterday and I came here with my friend Melissa on opening day to check it out and eat tons of food.

Mango Yummy is definitely one of my consistent favourite stands at the night market. I love all of the fruity drinks and desserts they have.

I am obsessed with the fresh mango tapioca ($5) dessert from here. It is made with layers of fresh mango, small tapioca pearls, and coconut milk.

Fruity desserts are my favourite and I am especially fond of mangos. The mangos they have here are perfectly ripened and sweet. I love the bit of bouncy texture you get from the tapioca pearls and the coconut milk adds a creamy, but refreshing twist. I loved this dessert, but I wish that the coconut milk had been slightly colder.

Takoyaki is another one of my night market favourites, because who doesn’t love little deep-fried balls of deliciousness? This stand sells a few different flavours of the takoyaki, like octopus, squid, vegetable, shrimp, and scallop. I wanted the traditional octopus ones, but for some reason they were only selling the squid ones. The same thing happened to me last year. I just settled with the squid because by this point I was too hungry and frantic and squid and octopus are pretty similar.

The takoyaki ($6) came out fresh and piping hot. Since I have no self-control, I ended up burning my mouth by eating these too quickly. I feel like the takoyaki could have been cooked slightly longer because the inside was very doughy, even more so than normal. These were an okay item, but not amazing and a bit expensive for the size of them.

I was really craving a twister potato after seeing so many people walking around with them. There are three stands here that sell them and this one was for some reason the busiest. This was my first time visiting this specific stand.

They have a few different powdered toppings and sauce toppings for the potatoes and you are allowed to choose two of them. I went with the salt and ketchup and garlic mayo ($4/1 or $7/2).

I didn’t look at the other stands, but here the potatoes come out super fresh. The guy took them straight out of the fryer and put the toppings on them so there was no waiting period and the potatoes came out nice and hot.

This combination was really delicious. It had a good balance of creaminess and saltiness. Ketchup is just a good combination with all potatoes and the garlic mayo was so good it would probably go well with anything.

My friend got one with BBQ powder and spicy Korean sauce, which tasted a lot like sriracha . This was also a good combination and it was addictive to eat. I think the ultimate flavour mix would be the spicy Korean sauce and the garlic mayo for a spicy and creamy balance.

I also got a chocolate Korean waffle ($1/1 or $5/6). We really wanted wheel cakes, but alas, the stand wasn’t to be found.

The waffle is pretty cute and shaped like a fish. These waffles are breadier and dryer than bubble waffles.

A sign said the filling was made with nutella, but it was more like a chocolate pudding in taste and texture. This waffle could have been good, but they gave us some premade ones that were sitting out so it wasn’t as hot or fresh as I had hoped for. At least it was only $1. I wouldn’t get these again unless they were fresh off the waffle maker.

We also went to bubble waffle cafe to get some bubble waffles. These are another favourite treat of mine.

We shared a bag of strawberry bubble waffles ($4/1 or $7/2). Depending on how hungry you are, these are a decent size and pretty good for sharing since they rip apart easily.

These bubble waffles had a great crispy exterior, while being soft and pillowy on the inside. The strawberry flavour didn’t actually taste that much like strawberries, but it was still tasty and it just added a sugary sweetness. This was one of my favourite items on the night.

We walked by Lucky House a couple of times and finally decided to try some duck wraps since they were pretty cheap and small (I was getting really full by this point).

I’ve heard hit and miss reviews on the duck wraps ($2.5/1 or $4/2) but I loved it. With each bite I liked it more and more.

It reminded me of a squished and flattened spring roll. The outside wrapper was crispy and a little greasy (in a good way), but not too heavy. There wasn’t tons of stuff inside, but I thought it was enough to add a bit of meaty duck flavour. The sauce on top was savoury and sweet.

There were a couple of misses, but most of the food was pretty good and satisfying. A few new stands were there, but I didn’t get a chance to try them because I was too full from eating all of my favourites. Next time I will try to branch out and find some new favourites, but for now I’m still obsessed with mango yummy and bubble waffles!

Recommendation:

Yes, for a fun Summer activity and yummy street eats.

Every time I come I have to get the pineapple float ($4.99) with pineapple soft serve. Everyone has their own favourite flavour combination, but I love the pineapple on pineapple. If you couldn’t already tell, I’m a pineapple fanatic.

The pineapple soft serve is very smooth and refreshing. It isn’t as sweet as regular ice cream and it has a more tart flavour like a frozen yogurt. One good thing about the pineapple soft serve is that it is dairy free, so pretty much everyone can enjoy it, which is rare for desserts.

The juice is served cold and refreshing and I love to mix mine up so I get some juice and soft serve in each bite.

The pineapple float here is my ideal dessert because it is cool, fruity, and refreshing. It is a much better option than a big ice cream cone on a hot Florida day because it isn’t as heavy and sweet. If you visit Disney World you must try one!

Recommendation:

Yes, for a timeless, sweet, treat.