Summer is here, and you know what that means: night markets. If you're after sensory onslaught, head to Richmond for the sheer extravagance of food, dog costumes and knockoffs. But if you want something a bit smaller, more manageable, and dare I say it - more soulful - then head over to the Vancouver Chinatown Night Market.
Nestled on Keefer Street between Main and Columbia Streets, the Chinatown market offers a patchwork of food and merchandise vendors, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, selling everything from crepes to socks (eight for $10!). New this year, there's also hip, urban programming aimed at breathing new life into a market that, in the past, seemed a little bit stale.
When I arrive, I make a beeline for an egg waffle or daan jai. It's like an inverse waffle; instead of square hollows, it has oval puffs. Though they come in flavours such as green tea and strawberry, I opt for a plain one. After trading cash for a poker chip with the number 10 on it, I watch as the waffle maker bounces between four irons, pouring batter, spinning irons and depositing the finished waffles in paper bags. When they call my number, I trade in the poker chip for my prize - it's crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and it tastes like my childhood.
I wander a few metres up the street to the wheel cakes: small cakes, cooked to order on an enormous griddle and filled with your choice of red bean, custard, peanut butter, or nutella. I ask the woman next to me what they're like, and she says, "I don't know, but I just bought six of them." Next to the wheel cakes is CyCone, which offers all things deep-fried: Mars Bars, Churros, Pop-Tarts. They try to coax me into a deep-fried Ferrero Rocher, but I decline and leave the booth with a deep-fried contact high.
Closer to Columbia Street, I find Cocoli-co, featuring Wendy Boys' addictive dessert sauces. Next to her, Patricia Yam is surrounded by tea - but it's her ginger-lime caramels that catch my eye. They're the real deal: spicy, sweet and delightfully chewy.
Had I not started with dessert, I'd visit the smattering of food trucks lining Columbia Street. Instead, I ogle the beautiful people on the Keefer Bar patio as they watch the people on Keefer Street, and listen to a few stories from Rain City Chronicles. The Chinatown night market also has plenty more to offer: hip hop karaoke, ping pong tournaments, open-air movies, and a dumpling weekend, to name a few.
"We want to attract new people and new energy," says Ken Tsui, the market's program director. He and Tannis Ling (Bao Bei) have partnered with the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association to invigorate the market. Given there are two night markets in Richmond, Tsui wanted the Chinatown market to be different. "We're Vancouver. We have a lot of culture and independent vendors doing great work. We wanted to tap into that."
At the same time, Tsui is careful to acknowledge the role that the original vendors play. "The night market wouldn't be the same without them. The energy wouldn't be there. We're just putting a fresh coat of paint on it. putting it back on the map as place to be."
With a constant rotation of vendors in the works, you never know what you'll get at the Chinatown night market. But that's sort of the point. Bring your appetite, plenty of cash and an open mind. You won't be disappointed. twitter.com/eagranieyuh For more photos and web content, scan page with
