After a nice afternoon nap, we headed off to the Gastown area.
It was a nice day to be out and about, if a bit on the warm side.
The Missus enjoyed window shopping and we stopped at a few places; like at Kit and Ace near the Steam Clock. Where this guy was hanging out.
It was indeed rather warm, so we headed down the street to a place named the Alibi Room. The place was pretty much full. But the nice Server told us that if we weren't eating anything and didn't mind not having table service, we could head on downstairs.
Which turned out to be a comfortable place to grab a few beers. There are over 50 pulls in this place. And they do half pours as well; which we appreciated.
What we had is lost to posterity, but I recall really enjoying the vibe.
A nice stop; we'll be back the next time we're in town.
Alibi Room
157 Alexander Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1B8
Canada
We needed to first catch the bus; then the SkyTrain to get to our next stop. We had day metro passes and I had the bus stop indicated on my phone. We found our stop and a guy who looked homeless came up to us. I immediately thought he'd be asking for some cash....but instead he told me, "sir, this bus stop has been temporarily moved to the street above." Thanksful, I offered him some money, but he refused, saying "this one is on me." Only in Canada!
We got off at the Bridgeport SkyTrain Station and followed the well marked signs.
So, we followed this group of people who were having a great old time and got to what looked like ticket booths and a gate. A really nice young man came up to us and asked us if we were customers of 'xxx' and had our customer number. We explained that we are from out of town and have obviously found the wrong entrance. The young man pointed across the way to a line of what looked like 200-300 people. He told us "that's the general admission line; this line is for 'xxx' customers, 'xxx' is sponsoring tonight's night market and if you have either a zoom pass or are one of their customers you can come in this way." Now, if I recall a the passes were like $25 a book, good for so many entrances, so that would be a waste. So we thanked him and were headed to the line when he asked us where we were from. We told him San Diego. In a hushed, conspiratory tone he told us to "wait here". A minute later he returned with two tickets. You are now officially customers of 'xxx', if anyone asks you if you are customers of 'xxx', make sure to tell them yes. What a nice gesture....you gotta love Canada.
The Richmond Night Market claims to be the largest Night Market in North America and I don't doubt this claim as the choices, and crowds are staggering.
Now, if you read the blog quite often, you know I'm way behind on some of my travel posts and our visit was during early August of 2016. The Missus had seen a bunch of stuff posting to Instagram......about a dessert.....She just had to have it.
The dessert "du jour" of that period of time was the Raindrop Cake (you can see Kirbie's recipe here). It's based on Japanese Mizu Shingen Mochi. And kind of looks like a breast implant if you ask me.
The Missus got Her confection and we took a seat.
And soon folks started coming around asking what this stuff was....we actually offered them a taste if they wanted one....but most of them just looked kind of, well, puzzled. Anyway, this was "meh", sugar water and agar.....I prefer just straight up Warabimochi coating in kinako to this.
Our table was next to the Prehistoric Park area and while taking a look at the photo of the T-Rex below, it wasn't the replica of the dinosaur that caught my attention; but the sign to right that said, "FanTuan Delivery, Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere".....I don't think San Diego is included in the "Anywhere" though.
While the Missus went for the sweets; I had one place in mind.
Little Phnom Penh is famous for their Chicken Wings with Lemon and Pepper sauce. So I placed my order and watched them make my wings.
Notice that container with the spoon; the wings are fried, then mixed in a wok with garlic, scallions, and a spoon full of that mysterious white substance....which I'm fairly certain isn't only salt.
The wings are light, though not as crisp as I prefer, the garlic could be cooked a bit more; it's still on the bitter side. The wings are tender and moist, but I'm not a big fan of the lemon sauce; which tastes like bottled lemon juice with black pepper. Still, this was good overall.
There sure was a huge variety of "stuffs" available.......some quite interesting.
This seemed more "County Fair - Carnival" than Night Market and the place was starting to get packed.
As we wove our way around people; we heard this guy........voice like an old fashioned Carnival Barker, with a Chinese accent of course.
As we walked up; the smell of cumin danced in the air......we both love yang rou chuan and this guy cracked us up.
We got lamb and lamb kidney and while not great, this was pretty tender, though it could have used more cumin.
This "Chef James" had me wondering who he was. If you'd like to find out his story you can read it here.
Overall a fun time for us.
Richmond Night Market
May - October
8351 River Rd
Richmond, BC V6X 1Y4
Canada
Fri-Sat 7pm - MN
Sun 7pm - 11pm
By the time we got back to the apartment, the sun had set. It was a beautiful clear night. We finished the rest of the Roast Duck and Rice and I cracked open a brew.....
And sat in the Solarium of the apartment watching the weekend action on the Street below.
Life was good.....
bummer about that clear sweet, at least everything else was good!
Posted by: kat | Sunday, 11 June 2017 at 12:10 AM
Wow! Canadians sure are nice. Bummer the fried chicken wings didn't taste as good as they look.
Posted by: Soo | Sunday, 11 June 2017 at 09:03 AM
It was a fun time Kat!
They are very nice Soo!
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 11 June 2017 at 10:11 AM
Breast implant dessert.
Posted by: Caninecologne | Sunday, 11 June 2017 at 12:41 PM
Strangely, that was the first thing that came to mind CC....
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 12 June 2017 at 06:28 AM
Mysterious Substance.....G!
Posted by: Junichi | Monday, 12 June 2017 at 10:49 AM
We were there in 2016 too and went to the night market. It was
Pretty good like Kirin but short of my probably
Unrealistic expectations. Still fun though!
Posted by: RedDevil | Monday, 12 June 2017 at 01:28 PM
Lol Junichi....magic powder!
It was fun RD; especially since we got in free and all that.
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 12 June 2017 at 01:31 PM