Richmond Night Market: What to Eat?

The Richmond Night Market is a summer attraction in Vancouver. I’ve come here for many years and I always gravitate towards the food stalls. The smell of grilling skewers, the slurping sounds of people drinking Bubble Tea and the sight of all the people speeding past you. Entrance is now $2.75 per person. Alternatively, you can purchase a Zoom pass for $20 to get up to 15 visits. It is transferrable and you get to go in the VIP line up rather than the regular line up. It’s good if you are planning to make multiple visits to the night market, have lots of friends, or just hate waiting in line.

I only come to Richmond Night Market once a year, so I paid $2.75 and went in the regular line up. Even though the lineup does look SUPER LONG. It does go by quickly. Their staff is pretty efficient.

There are many options to get to the Richmond Night Market – Driving, Canada Line Skytrain, or you could walk if you really wanted to.

We opted to just drive since we live in Burnaby as they do not charge for parking. So, we thought we could beat the 7pm rush and get here at 6:40pm. To our surprise, there was still a line up for parking.

They made us park a fair distance away from the Night Market entrance. Turns out, their closer parking lot isn’t open until AFTER 7pm.

So, we began our walk to the entrance.

Then we kept walking…and walking until we got to the closer parking lot.

We did eventually get to the Night Market. We just didn’t like the fact that we got “punished” for arriving early and have to park so far.

We headed straight towards the food section! I always get overwhelmed by all the different vendors, so I walk around the booths to see if there are a few booths that make my mouth water. You will find a plethora of different items here like German Pork Hocks, Skewers, crepes, grilled squid, donuts, curry, dim sum, takoyaki, etc.

Shaka Shaka Squid is an awesome new booth this year that serves up Deep Fried Squid. I much prefer deep fried  squid over the grilled ones.

There are 3 flavours to choose from:

• Shaka (Original Salt and Pepper)
• Sweet Seaweed
• Spicy Shaka

Small sizes are $7 and Large sizes are $11.

Shaka Deep Fried Squid (Large  – $11) is what M, CCK and myself started with. The batter is definitely super crunchy and full of flavour. The squid was not chewy at all and cooked perfectly. The mayo on top went well with it. The Shaka flavour was by far our favourite. I would highly recommend this place.

It was so good, we went back and bought 2 more to try the rest of the flavours

Spicy Shaka Deep Fried Squid (Large $11) is quite spicy after you eat a few of them. It’s good if you love spicy. The amount of batter and crispiness was consistent.

Sweet Seaweed Deep Fried Squid (Large $11) was still good, but it wasn’t our favourite. I think I just really love salt and pepper.

No matter what flavour you get, i’m sure you’ll like it. The batter is what makes it so addictive. M, CCK and I were so addicted to these.

Another new booth this year is Tenryu Hashimaki  which sell Japanese savoury crepes on chopsticks.

They have 5 main flavours:

• Curry
• Cheese
• Ramen
• Crab
• Shrimp

It’s $6 each or 2 for $10.

They even have a diagram to show people how to eat it.

Crab Hashimaki ($6) has the crepe wrapped around the chopstick and topped with the crab, seaweed, and a generous handful of dried bonito flakes. You definitely need two hands to eat this or else it will get messy with just one. I felt the crab didn’t add much flavour to the crepe.

Ramen Hashimaki ($6) was quite similar but it has the crispy ramen noodles, mayo, seaweed, and bonito on top. The ramen added nice texture to the hashimaki.

It definitely reminded me of an Okonomiyaki on a stick or a takoyaki in a different form.

A visit to the Richmond Night Market isn’t complete until I take a visit to Chef James to buy a few of his skewers.

You can choose from:

• AAA Steak Beef
• Chicken
• Lamb
• Honey Prawn Garlic
• Crispy Green Onion Bun
• Lamb Kidney

The skewers are 3 for $7.25 or 5 for $11.50.

We chose an assortment of skewers – Lamb, Chicken, and 3 beef skewers. Delicious as usual.

M started getting thirsty from all the salty food, so he made a visit to Sugar Cane Juice for some Young Thai Coconut.

Young Thai Coconut ($4) M really enjoyed it. Thirst quenching and delicious as always. We prefer these ones over the brown-looking coconuts. These are much sweeter and the coconut meat tastes good. Too bad we didn’t have a spoon to eat it.

For my beverage/dessert, I took a trip to my favourite booth – Icy Bar. I love these items and remind me of my childhood. Plus, I also love mangoes.

They also have a permanent location inside Crystal Mall in Burnaby.

Mango Tapioca Icy ($5)  has fresh mango, small tapioca pearls, coconut milk, shaved ice, and condensed milk all layered in a large clear cup. Tastes delicious and looks delicious.

Overall, despite our failed attempt at arriving early to the Richmond Night Market to get a close parking spot and beating the crowds, the food is undeniably delicious and is quite a unique experience.

There’s definitely more food options than what I covered, but you will find something you will like.

On Friday and Saturday, they are open from 7pm till 12am. Sunday and statutory holidays, they are open 7pm till 11pm. It is open this season till October 13, 2014, so you have plenty of time left to visit.

Website: http://www.richmondnightmarket.com/

Address:
8351 River Rd
Richmond BC