Richmond Night Market: Bakudanyaki, Mango Icy & Dragon’s Beard!

It’s been opened for a while, but I’ve never gotten a chance to see it until now.  Of course, I’m referencing the new Richmond Night Market at Bridgeport!  Although summer has basically ended, the night market will still be open until October 8th.

I love their new location this year because it’s right by the Canadaline.  So, Joanne and I just hopped on and rode it all the way to Bridgeport.  What’s also new is the entrance fee of $1.50.

Before eating, we walked up and down the tiny shops . We saw a whole bunch of Ding Dong (aka Doraemon) merchandise…  and I when I saw this alarm clock, I couldn’t resist buying it!  It was originally priced at $8, but Joanne managed to haggle it for $7!  Now it sits on my desk, happily ticking away :)

Our first food stand was Daukichi Bakudanyaki from the creators of Tenku, a Japanese food truck.  For $4, I got to pick from four varieties of bakudanyaki: Original, Chili, Wasabi and Curry.  You might be wondering what’s a bakublabla is…  Essentially, it’s a mammoth-sized takoyaki, a spherical shell of batter that encases an assortment of goodies like octopus, ginger and green onion.

As you can see, the big balls are big.  They’re cooked in a specially designed pan that has circular craters.  Inside the giant puffs, there’s squid, cabbage, corn, red ginger, shrimp, rice cake, quail egg and green onion.

I got the Original Bakudanyaki, which only differentiated itself from the others by its Japanese mayo topping.

Sorry about this photo, but it was really difficult to take beautiful pictures without tearing it apart (like I did)…  plus, I was hungry.  In spite of its mushy appearance, it tasted ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!  It was like digging into a treasure chest:  with each bite, I found a new flavourful gem.  Notably, you get the squid’s chewiness, cabbage’s crunchiness, corn’s sweetness and green onion’s freshness – all tied together by the savoury and creamy mayo.

But, what really made this outstanding orb so memorable was the red ginger!  The acidity from the ginger cut through all the heaviness and tasted really really good.  Without a doubt, I’d get this again!

Thanks to Rachel’s recommendation, we walked to Icy Bar and ordered a Mango Icy ($5.50)!

On top of some shaved ice, there’s fresh mango, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a light drizzle of liquid sugar.  With the first bite, I instantly loved this dessert!  The mangos were perfectly ripe, and complemented the vanilla ice cream.  It wasn’t overly sweet, in spite of all the sweet elements.   Above all, it was really refreshing – the ultimate dessert after eating the bakudanyaki.  I’d highly recommend that you smoosh everything together so you’re not left with a pile of bland ice after eating all the toppings!

Our last stop was Dragon’s Beard Candy to get…  you guessed it…  Dragon’s Beard Candy ($4)!

I like to think of this candy as strings of sugar wrapped around a peanut filling.  It’s not super sweet and you can really taste the delicious filling.  Try not to sneeze around these ‘cos they’re like bombs of powder!  The candy master makes it on the spot, and rather than have me attempt (and fail) at explaining how he does it… here’s a video:

[fve]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLYieehzGs&feature=channel&list=UL[/fve]

All in all, I had a great time at the night market!  It was so much better than previous years.  One of the biggest improvements was that they installed more seating! FINALLY!

Also, the Richmond Night Market has a wishing tree area, glowing with purple-shaded dreams.  It’s beautiful place to take pictures and make difference in the world because all proceeds from the wishes ($5 each – you get a cookie too!) are donated to charity.

Final Bytes

1. Food deals get better closer to the end of the night!
2. Convenient location!
3. Awesome date spot! Lots of things to look at while eating!

Foodobyte’s Rating