The International Summer Night Market is back again this year near IKEA in Richmond. I haven’t been here since the other night market near River Rock Casino opened. This was the original night market back in the day, but several night markets have popped up in other subburbs.
It’s not as crowded, less lines, and free entrance. It’s a bit hard to get to if you don’t drive, but there is a shuttle bus service from Bridgeport Station running every 15 minutes.
I was invited by Chinesebites to try out the new food vendors for this year. As we all know, the food stalls are really the main attraction for the night market. I met up with GastroFork and FoodQueen to devour the 2 aisles of food stalls.
Sugar Twist Cotton Candy
Sugar Twist Cotton Candy creates these beautiful cotton candy creations. It’s a fun item for guys to get their girlfriends or for little kids. You can order them with 2 layers or up to 4 layers. I’m sure you can do more layers, but the cost will go up.
I couldn’t help but keep on watching them make the cotton candy. It’ pretty cool. I would say this is the most unique item at this night market.
4 layer cotton candy in the shape of a flower ($10). It took us a long to devour this because it looked too pretty. How could we destroy something so beautiful.
After taking tons of pictures, we ate it up pretty quickly. They add a strawberry coating on top, so it tastes a bit better that usual cotton candy.
Hatchan Tako Yaki
They have tako yaki with a bunch of different toppings. This is another popular stall at the night market. You gotta have tako yaki.
Original Tako Yaki ($5.50) comes with 6 pieces. It was super hot when it came out. We had to wait a while until we could put it into our mouths.
Hurricane Potato Fries
There are 3 potato fries stalls at the night market, but Hurricane Potato Fries was the original before all the other ones appeared at the night markets. They are at a bunch of different special events throughout the year. I recall last Winter they were at the German Christmas Market.
They have the:
- Hurricane Potato Fries ($4.50)
- Hurricane Zucchini Fries ($6)
- Hurricane Yam Fries ($6)
Once you choose the type of hurricane fries, you can choose 2 seasoning to add on top.
The fries are pretty long…you could even have a sword fight. Thats just what Gastrofork and FoodQueen just did. Nat and I just watched and took photos.
No foodies were hurt in the making of this ‘food fight’.
In the end we did devour all of the hurricane fries.
All 3 types were pretty good, but my order of preference is potato, zucchini and then yam. The quality is good and I would get this every time if I come to the night market. It’s also one of the essential items to eat at the night market.
Yuja Ade and Patbingsu
Yuja is a Korean marmalade which has a lot of Vitamin C, which is good for colds and flus. I remember my parents having a jar of this in the cabinet. We would mix it with hot water when we would be feeling sick.
They serve it with soda water, ice and the yuja ($4). The yuja is like the yuzu fruit. It tasted pretty good and quite refreshing for the hot summer days. I would have never thought to combine it with soda water.
Patbingsu ($6.50) is Korean shaved ice with red beans, fruit, ice cream, and condensed milk. Good dessert, but I still prefer it Chinese Style.
Chicken’s Breading FAV
They sell chicken fingers with their 2 signature flavours – original and spicy.
I thought it was clever that they were selling the strips and their breading. If you really love it, you can bring it home and make your own.
I saw on their Facebook page that you can coat mushrooms, onions, tofu and just about anything.
The strips are served on top of popcorn. M remarked that it was such a Korean things to do since it would be normal to see that in a Korean bar.
The flavours were good, but it was really masked by the shear amount of salt that was on them. Perhaps we got a bad batch, but it was pretty damn salty.
All About Ice Cream
They have a variety of ice cream and also fresh fruit juices served in pineapples or watermelons.
Mango Ice Cream was pretty bad to be honest. It wasn’t very creamy and tasted more like icy sugar water. It wasn’t what M expected.
Pineapple Juice ($8) was sweet and refreshing, but one comment that all of us has was that it wasn’t cold enough. If it was a bit colder, it would be a lot more enjoyable.
Watermelon Juice ($8) similar comment as the pineapple juice. It has ice cubes in the juice, but it needed a lot more to cool down the drink.
Amazebuns
Amazebuns serves deep fried buns like mantou with different toppings.
We tried matcha with condensed milk. It was a fun item to eat, but the outside out be a bit ore crunchy.
Tantuni Authentic Turkish Cuisine
Tantuni is a type of Southern Turkey Street Food like a wrap shapped like a ‘U’. This stall serves it with 3 different types of protein – chicken, lamb and beef.
We went with the Chicken Tantuni. It had a lot of herbs and spices that gave it a lot of flavour. The downside is that the wrap is pretty juicy, so when we took bites out of it, it ejected lots of sauce into our mouths.
New Style Green Onion Cake from Alberta
When we first saw this, we were quite curious why this Green Onion Cake from Alberta was so special. Apparently green onion cakes are the unofficial food of Edmonton? There’s even an article about it in the MetroNews.
This booth has a variety of fried foods on the menu from spring rolls, banana spring rolls, wonton chips and green onion pancakes.
We added sweet chili sauce on top. It’s what they recommended.
Green Onion Cake was ok, but we definitely agreed there needs to be more green onion in it.
Spring Rolls were ok as well. There just wasn’t anything unique about them and a tad bland. I think I like my spring rolls with more meat.
Banana Spring Roll were fun to eat but I think if it came with chocolate sauce, it would be amazing.
Lao ER BBQ Squid
There are 2 BBQ Squid stands across from each other and we had to see which one was the better one.
This stand isn’t as busy, but they make some good BBQ Squid.
BBQ Squid Mix ($7) I had them add a little bit of spicy sauce to it. Good flavours and you really can’t go wrong with BBQ Squid.
BBQ Squid
They have more variety of squid items here and they do have deep fried BBQ Squid.
BBQ Squid is a bit more oily but it does have a smokier flavour to them.
No matter which BBQ Squid stall you go to, both of them are good.
JJ’s Fresh Roasted Corn
Corn on the cob with husks is super hot! I nearly burned myself, so you really gotta be careful. When you get your corn, you can sprinkle on any combination of toppings that you want. Its a bit messy to eat, but I love the corn since its nice and sweet.
Top Wok
Top Wok sells dim sum items as well as curry fish balls. You’ll notice Top Wok right away since its usually the first stall you pass by when you go into the food section of the night market.
Curry Fish Balls ($3) are a must! They also have a super spicy version but we passed on it since I didn’t want to suffer.
Sui Mai and Har Gau were ok. Nothing special about them.
Korean Waffles and Twister Potatoes
This stall is way in the back corner of the food stalls, but they still drew a large crowd.
Fish waffle with red bean filling. Very cute and always delicious. A classic Night Market favourite.
Ice Cream Fish Bun
This was definitely different and we had to try it. When do you ever get to eat a fish stuffed with ice cream and fruit?
F~bun Ice Cream ($5) is a bit pricey for what you really get if you think about it. It was cute but the taste was ok.
Lazy Den Tea House
This stall was very familiar to me because they have a restaurant in Port Moody.
I wanted to get a Sausage in a Sausage, but sadly the ran out.
Jasmine Green Tea was just what I needed after consuming so much food! It tasted great and I would have had another but they ran out of green tea after making my drink. I would recommend coming here for tea based drinks. Not too sweet either.
Xin Jiang A Fan Ti Halal BBQ
This booth is great for skewers and they definitely put on a show. It’s hard to pass by and not be intrigued by all the smoke and smells.
Lamb Skewer was moist and delicious but M did remark that it was a bit salty.
Mother Clucker
Everyone wanted to try out Mother Clucker but it seemed like they had some issues on the day we came here, so they weren’t selling anything. I thought it was a bit weird, but at least everyone seemed to be amused by their chicken mascot.
So many selfies of this guy.
There’s not too much to look at, but people usually find socks or cheap tech gadgets.
Overall, the food quality at this night market is ok, but it’s not as good as the Richmond Night Market by the River Rock Casino. Your staple items like tako yaki and hurricane potatoes are always a hit. The good side about this night market is that it’s not too crowded and there is free entry.
Foodology Disclaimer: I was invited by ChineseBites to try all the food stalls at the International Summer Night Market with a few other bloggers. All thoughts are my own.
Website: http://www.summernightmarket.org/
Address:
12631 Vulcan Way
Richmond, BC V6V 1J7
