When I was driving to Yaletown to meet up with Flo and hikingman, I noticed these orange tents near Chinatown. This meant the night market was on! After a light dinner, we decided we would have dinner #2 at the night market.
The night market runs from May 20th – Sept 11th on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It starts at 6:30pm and goes till 11pm.
Since it was the first week of the market, it was pretty packed but not as bad as the Richmond Night Market. Every time I go to the Chinatown Night market, I feel a bit of nostalgia because I would always come here as a kid after church with my friends. It was always so much fun. Times have changed and the Night Market has been reduced to one small block with limited vendors since the Richmond Night Market started.
The main focus for me is always the food since I don’t really buy anything else at the market unless there is a good deal on socks. Since there are not that many food vendors, I thought I would give you an inside scoop of the food vendors here.
Bar-B-Q
- Skewers (Pork, beef, lamb,chicken): 4 for $6 *Cheapest at the market but on the burnt and dry side*
- BBQ Squid Tentacles: $3.50 * Not worth the price! You get 2 small pieces on skewers*
- BBQ Corn on the Cob: $3.50
- Charcoal Grilled Squid: $3.50
- BBQ Shichamo (Capelin): $3.50 for 5 pieces
- There’s other items here but I wasn’t really paying attention since I was lining up for skewers
Bubble Gallo Tea House
- The only bubble tea vendor here
- Decent variety of flavours but they make drinks with powder
Dim Sum Express
- Pork Buns: 2 for $3.50
- Shrimp Dumplings: $3.50 for 5 pieces
- There are also other items as well, but the quality of Dim Sum is not that great
- The vendor is the same as the Dim Sum Express Food Cart in Downtown
Spicy Hot Pot Cool Noodles
- $4.50 for a bowl of their noodles
Mini Donut
- 8 pieces for $3.50 (2 flavours)
- 12 pieces for $4.50 (3 flavours)
- Lots of different flavours for donuts
Pizza Wrap
- $5 for a whole pizza wrap
- $3 for half a pizza wrap
- Pop & water $1.50
Night Grill
- 1 skewer: $2.50
- 3 skewers: $6
- Hurricane Potatoes: $3
- Flavours: Original, Salt & pepper, Roasted Garlic & Pepper, BBQ, Ketchup, Salt& Vinegar, Cheddar Cheese, and Cajun Spice
- It’s like half way between chips and a potato. I really liked this!
- Buy a Hurricane Potato and get a skewer for $1.50
- Skewers cost more than Bar-B-Q, but these are more tender and juicy
Mini Bubble Waffles
- 1 for $3.50
- 2 for $6.00
- 3 flavours – original, strawberry & chocolate
- Strawberry is made by adding powder into the original batter
- Chocolate is just adding chocolate chips into the original batter.
- Waffles are really sloppily made
TakoYaki
- 6 balls for $4.50
- 9 balls for $6
- Takoyaki is all pre-made prior to the night market, they just reheat the balls
- Can choose from different toppings – seaweed, wasabi, cheese and green onion
- As you can tell the balls are quite small and not very impressive
Wheel Cake
- $1 per one wheel cake
- Fillings: Red Bean, Custard, Peanut Butter, nutella
- Most popular flavours – Nutella & Custard
- Peanut Butter is crunchy peanut butter, not smooth
- I got the custard one and it was pretty good
W&T Snacks
- Rice Noodles in Fish Soup
- Tempura
- Chicken Karrage
- Onion Rings
- Vietnamese Rice Rolls
The Chinatown Night Market is not as impressive as the Richmond Night market, so don’t go out of your way to come here. If you are in the area after dinner Downtown, you can just take a stroll over here after dinner.
Foodology Picks:
- Wheel Cake
- Night Grill for Skewers and Hurricane potatoes
Closest Skytrains: Stadium, Main Street/Science World
Information:
Date: May 20, 2011 to Sep. 11, 2011. Every Fri., Sat. & Sun.
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Venue: Keefer St. / Main St.
(Between Main & Columbia St.)
