richmond night market Archives

We are back at the 2019 Richmond Night Market to cover a lot of food stalls this year. Some new, some old, but always an exciting time to visit one of the best Night Market’s in North America. It’s open now and runs until October 14, 2019.

Admission

The line up to get into the night market can be long. It is $4.75 for adults and free for children (under 8) and seniors (60+).

Want to skip the long line for express entry? Check out their Express pass for $28, which gives you 6 entries to the night market and is transferable to others. It’s good for those who know they are going to the night market several times this Summer.

Shops

When you get to the night market, you’ll see a lot of stall side by side selling things from Korean socks, stationary, jewelry, and a lot more.

If you’re a food lover, skip this and go straight to the back for all the food stalls. You have time to shop later and not have your hands full with stuff you’ve bought.

Entertainment and Games

There’s always something going on at the night market with performances, games, and photo opportunities all over. Don’t be distracted just yet and go straight to the food stalls. There is time for entertainment later.

Food

This section is the big draw to the night market. Food, food, food and more food! Below is everything we had and if we recommend it or not. As we went to 37 stalls, it will be very brief.

La Meza Grill: Taco Trio (Lechon, Pork Sisig, and Tofu Sisig) [Recommended]

We loved the flavours of these tacos. Bite size and super delicious! If you ever get a chance to dine at their North Delta restaurant, it’s one of my favourite Filipino Restaurant in Metro Vancouver.

Afghan Yum: Mantu

These Afghan dumplings are definitely different and unique. Good flavours.

Rotato: Sour Cream and Roasted Garlic Pepper

A classic item to get at a night market, but make sure to go early or else the line up can get pretty long. You can choose a variety of flavours for your rotato.

Asomi Mochi: Cheesecake Mochi, Matcha Mochi, Chocolate [Recommended]

You can find this at a few retailers across Metro Vancouver, but their recently launched cheesecake mochi is pretty darn amazing if you like sweet mochi desserts.

Milk Cha

They are best known for their quirky colourful drinks in a baby bottle. They also have duo drink cups where you can choose 2 kinds of flavours off the menu.

MacSnacc: Four Cheese Mac n’ Cheese

This is massive and definitely really good to share among a group as you’ll probably get full off this.

iTofu: Tofu Parfait

Winner of the 2019 Chinese Restaurant Awards for best Tofu pudding in Vancouver! Really beautiful and delicious.

Big Beard: Skewers and Deep-Fried Squid

Richmond Night Market staples include assorted skewers and deep-fried squid. Great items for those who are going to the Night Market for their first time.

Mr. Crabzy: Deep-Fried Crab Claws

It is pretty expensive but if you want a solid deep-fried crab claws, this is the place.

Fluffy Souffle: Strawberry Soufflé Pancake

It takes a while for them to crank out these soufflé pancakes at the night market and come in a variety of flavours. The concept is very popular across Metro Vancouver, but this is the only place you can get it at the night market.

Say Cheese: Rainbow Grilled Cheese

This is the most instagrammable item to get this year at the night market. It is $6.50 and is visually stunning. They do add condensed milk into their grilled cheese, so it’s a bit sweet and savoury. Definitely not for everyone.

Mango Yummy: Mango Shaved Ice [Recommended]

Long time Richmond Night Market vendor – Mango Yummy is a must for their mango shaved ice. The summer time is perfect as mangoes are ripe and super sweet.

Chef James: Skewers and Roasted Corn [Recommended]

Chef James is the one place at the Richmond Night Market to get skewers and roasted corn. Really delicious and while you wait, it’s fun to watch them make all these skewers on the open flame.

Zzim Drumsticks: Spicy Drumstick with Rice Cakes [Recommended]

These are delicious and the sweet, savoury and spicy notes from their sauce is so good with their tender drumsticks and chewy rice cakes.

Salty’s Lobster Shack: Chowder and 1/2 Lobster Roll, Full Lobster Roll, Lobster Toast

Lobster, lobster, and more lobster. This is where you can get a taste of the East Coast on the West Coast.

Fusion Wrap: Kimchi Beef Wrap

A handheld meal wrapped up with a lot of good flavours. The roti-like wrap works well.

Sugarcane Juice

If you’re ever wondering what sugarcane tastes like, they have this at the night market freshly squeezed.

Tuk Tuk: Original Panna Cotta with Thai Cookies [Recommended]

The talk of the 2019 Richmond Night Market. A great dessert and the Thai cookies add such a great texture to the soft and smooth panna cotta.

Teapressu: Matcha Parfait with fresh fruit and twist soft serve on top

Cool down with some matcha parfait at Teapressu. Teapressu is best known for their delicious bubble tea but they recently launched their parfaits.

2 Sweet Guys: Deep-Fried Watermelon, Deep-Fried Cookie Dough

This is like carnival eats at 2 Sweet Guys. Very decadent and will satisfy your sweet tooth cravings. They also pride themselves for their deep-fried watermelon that has a very interesting texture that messes with your taste buds.

Mangoo: Rainbow Drink

Layer upon layers of different slushies to create this rainbow-like beverage.

Okonomi Bites: Tonkatsu Poutine

Poutine with a Japanese twist is what Okonomi Bites is all about. They solid out of their cheese tonkatsu version but we got their regular tonkatsu poutine.

Taco Tigre

They have fusion taco flavours like beef pho taco, chicken banh mi taco and 5 spice pork belly taco.

Nori Express [Recommended]

Sushi Noritaco with Tuna (Yellowfin Tuna, eel, sauce, veggies, and rice) and Spicy Salmon (Alaska sockeye salmon, spicy mayo, veggies, and rice.

This is like a sushi roll turned taco and it surprisingly works really well.

Icy Bar [Recommended]

Summer Special Icy with fresh strawberries, mango, basil seed, strawberry puree, coconut milk, shaved ice, and tapioca sago. Icy Bar is also another Richmond Night Market staple. If you can’t make it here, they also have a few cafe’s located across Metro Vancouver.

Rainbulb

Drinks served up in a flashing lightbulb is very aesthetically pleasing but just tastes like a normal soda. It’ll light up your night at the night market.

Bella Gelateria

We got 2 scoops of gelato in a cone – Akbar Mashti and Yuzu Citrus. They have a good range of flavours on their menu to keep you cool this summer.

Final Thoughts

So many food stalls that draw a serious crowd! There are people everywhere and that really makes the food area bumping. Later in the evening, you might just be shoulder to shoulder with other people going through the aisles of food. Sometimes I have thoughts that someone might accidentally poke my eye out with a lamb skewer as they walk past.

Address:
8351 River Rd, Richmond, BC

Website:
https://richmondnightmarket.com/

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