takoyaki Archives - Curiously Carmen

Richmond Night Market 2015 – Part 1/2

June 24, 2015

Hi everyone!

Last year, I wrote a post on the Richmond Night Market so I thought I would do one again this year. That post received quite a few views, so I figured that you readers like to hear what’s good/bad at the nightmarket!

There are two nightmarkets in Richmond, this is the one by River Rock Casino (the more popular one to go to). There is free parking, but the lot was apparently ‘full’ so we drove around the area for a good 15-20 minutes looking for parking. But when we actually walked across the parking lot, half the lot was empty so I’m not sure why they said it was ‘full’. =.=”

Admission to enter the nightmarket is $2.75 per person. You can buy a booklet with 10 entry stamps and skip the long line ups if you think you’ll be coming here often though! Even though the line was long, we waited under ten minutes.

I took a picture of the booth at the top, followed by what we ordered underneath. All the food here is cash only! Although it is street food, it’s not exactly cheap.
The boyfriend loves his takoyaki, and quickly set off looking for a takoyaki stand! While I was in line for squid, he came back with this!

We enjoyed the flavours of the takoyaki. It was well seasoned, tasted fresh, and came with a generous amount of flakes and sauce on top!
While he is obsessed with takoyaki, I am obsessed with squid and a trip to the nightmarket is not complete without some grilled squid.

I ordered the ‘signature’ squid, which had a salty but sweet aftertaste. The squid was nice and crunchy, with a hint of smokiness from the grill.

My friend ordered the ‘garlic lovers’ squid, which I liked more than the signature. The flavours felt more rounded and I liked the strong garlic taste, compared to the sweet aftertaste that I had with the signature. They were both delicious, but my personal preference was the garlic lovers.

My friend, who came here a few weeks before us, said not to get the bubble waffle from the ‘orange stand’, so we went to this place instead LOL.

Although the wait time was pretty long, it was worth it. The bubble waffle was nice and puffy, with a crisp exterior and soft interior.

Thanks for reading! I felt that this would be too long of a post if I included all the food we tried, so stay tuned for part 2 =)

-Carmen

Kita No Donburi = Kita No Food

October 1, 2014

I’ve been wanting to try Kita No Donburi for a couple of years now, but never had the chance to. I’m a big fan of Japanese “fast food” type restaurants, such as Ebi Ten by the downtown main library (Which reminds me, I went there a few months ago and never ended up writing a review on it….). Kita No Donburi is at a pretty convenient location for me, which is why I was really looking forward to going. I finally got a chance to try it out today on my lunch break, and I’m sad to say that I was a bit disappointed with my dish. Kita No Donburi = Kita No Food instead?
Originally, I was going to order take out but decided last minute that I rather sit down and eat there. My coworker and I arrived around 12:30, and a lineup had just started to form out the door.

One thing I really liked about this place, and Japanese fast food restaurants in general, was their efficiency and friendliness. We were given take out menus and our orders were taken while in line, so that there was a shorter wait time for when the food came out. Since we came right during the lunch rush, seating was almost at capacity. Luckily, we managed to get the last available table! YAY! It looked a bit cramped since there were so many people inside, but it was actually pretty comfortable to sit.

My coworker already had lunch packed, so she decided to just get a small snack. She ordered the takoyaki ($4.75), which came with eight pieces. Not a bad price for the portion and taste! It was very flavourful, loved the mayo and flakes on top! If you want delicious takoyaki in downtown Vancouver, this is the place to go 🙂
I decided on getting the katsu curry ($8.25). This plate doesn’t look that big here, but it was as wide as the table! The curry was well spiced, flavourful, and had little chunks of potato in it. The katsu was delicious as well, it had a satisfying crunch and the pork was very juicy. Even though it was good, I felt that it was very overpriced. As you can tell from the picture, more than half of the plate is deceivingly just the curry sauce itself. The most expensive portion of a dish is usually the meat, but the portion of katsu was also very small for $8.25. Look at the amount of curry and katsu ratio! I would have hoped for more meat, or rice even, if I’m paying $8.25!

To be fair, they did have a picture of their curry dishes on the menu, but I didn’t expect the katsu portion to be so small. Overall, just definitely not worth the price compared to what was received. =( But I guess when it is in such a centralized location, building space is going to be insanely pricey which means sacrifices on food size.
On the menu, it also said that donburi dishes come with miso soup. I know that this is not a donburi (rice bowl), but they shouldn’t include this item under the donburi menu if it’s not a donburi OR doesn’t include soup as well.

Would I return? Not sure. I definitely won’t be ordering the same dish again though.. Disappointing, because I was hoping I had found a decent and convenient lunch spot. Don’t get me wrong, the dish I had was good and the service was excellent, but I can’t afford to pay that much for what I (don’t) get! It’s definitely not worth it, imo.

-Carmen

Richmond Night Market 2014

September 13, 2014

(Updated Sept 2014) The Richmond Night Market is back for another Summer! I love coming here for the cheap things you can buy, even though a lot of the products are very cheaply made and questionable… and of course, the food! I went with a few friends and it was actually their first time at this night market (the new one by the casino), seeing that they are both here on a working visa from Australia. They were excited and curious to try the different food that the stalls offered. It was my first time trying the S. Korean ice cane dessert, which is basically an ice cream that comes in a “J” shaped cone and made out of cornpuff. It was truly interesting… keep on reading below to see what it looked like and how it tasted!
It was very busy and crowded the night that we went, probably because it was an ideal summer’s night.
Takoyaki and squid! The takoyaki ($6) was very chewy,delicous and doughy. The squid was very good as well. Felt kind of bad for the guy grilling the squid because he didn’t wear a mask, and kept having to hold his breath while he was cooking it. The squid itself ($6.50 for a small) was very good. There was a nice satay sauce, with a hint of sweetness and smokiness.
The famous hurricane potato ($6). Basically a lightly deep friend potato on a stick, seasoned with your choice of flavouring salt. We chose the cheddar, and it was really good. There was also a long line up for this booth, but we didn’t wait that long. There were 60 numbers ahead of us in line, but the wait was only around 10 minutes. Pretty efficient! However, I’m not sure that it’s worth $6 for a potato though, it just looks cool.
The Korean snow cane stand! They were pretty busy as well, and ended up selling out of the duo cane cone right after we ordered. It was $3.75 for the single J shaped cone, which I got below…
The cone is made out of a corn puff pastry and into a tube, which they put the soft serve ice cream into. The ice cream was your standard soft serve. As for the cone itself? I enjoyed it. It reminded me of the cereal corn puffs, only harder and less puffy. Imagine eating corn puffs cereal with ice cream, that’s basically how it tasted. The cone also did not go soggy, as I expected it to and remained crunchy until the end. It was also very clean and not messy to eat. Would I get this again? Probably, I love corn puffs!
My friend’s deep fried Snickers bar ($6). She said it tasted amazing, and loved it a lot. I’m not sure if I’ll ever try one of these in my lifetime though, what about you?
Update: Going back a second time in September, we didn’t order as much. I wasn’t too hungry, but knew I would regret not trying anything new here and end up snacking at home later. So we walked around the food stands until something caught our eyes. I am a big fan of mangoes, and I saw someone holding this mango dessert and decided to order one as well ($5.75). It came with a generous portion of fresh mango chunks and vanilla ice cream under a bed of crushed ice, topped with condensed milk. I loved the freshness and sweetness of the mango chunks, and the juices soaked into the ice chunks! The condensed milk was the cherry on top of a great dessert. I have to warn you though; it’s a really, really cold dessert so you might be cold after you finish eating this, because I sure was.
The second item we ordered was the takoyaki balls ($5.50). It came in original, chili, curry, and wasabi flavour- this one was the chili flavour. I didn’t try this, but I was told that it there a mild spice and did not overpower the taste of the takoyaki. The sauces themselves are only drizzled on the top.
Apart from food from our second visit, I also ended up buying a cute pair of fuzzy fleece socks ($4) too! My feet get really, really cold in the fall and winter so I wanted a thicker pair of socks. I am also a HUGE fan of polkadots and Minnie Mouse (I was Minnie Mouse last Halloween) so it’s a win-win situation. I’ll probably wear these as slippers around the house as the weather gets colder. I’m just hoping that these socks won’t be of horrible, cheap quality and actually keep my feet warm!
Andddd to finish this post off, a picture of some random product stands! Korean socks and iphone case stands were the most popular. Hope you enjoyed the post, now go and try the J corn cone ice cream!

-Carmen