Night It Up 2011

(Markham Civic Centre parking lot, northwest of Highway 7 and Warden Avenue)

This year, the festivities moved north from their former location at the Metro Square parking lot. There seemed to be a lot more space, and there were even some picnic benches for people sit down and eat properly. Even with the extra space, Night It Up was still fully packed with people and food smells. 

Lamb skewers (6 for $10)

I liked the spicy seasoning that was on them, but Jo was unimpressed with the meat itself. I wasn't expecting super tender lamb shank, so I was satisfied.

Takoyaki octopus balls (4 for $3).

The balls tasted like a lot of filler, and missing the brown tonkatsu sauce. I did appreciate the bonito flakes though. The packaging was also really cute.

Malaysian murthabak ($8).

These looked really exciting as they were making them. The dough was being stretched and cooked in front of our faces. A scoop of filling is then added to it, making it into a sort of savoury pita. There were originally two sauces to choose from, but when we got ours, one had already been depleted. The dough is chewy as you bite into it, but it's not flavourless. The meat and veggie insides were mild and quite tasty. It was a bit like meat and vegetable curry in a pocket of chewy dough.

Lots of people had pineapples with straws coming out of them. The contents of the pineapple had been taken out, mixed with ice/water (and maybe some sugar), and poured back into the shell for you to drink. Some booths had free refills, and others had refills for $1 or $2. At some stations, the pineapple is blended with ice into a smoothie/slushy. Unfortunately, I didn't get that kind. Mine was simply mixed with ice. It was a bit underwhelming, but at least I could taste the pineapple chunks. On the plus side, we saw some for $7, but I got mine for $5.

End of day sale squid (2 sticks for $1).

It didn't have much sauce, but Jo liked the softness of it. I think my piece might've been cooked slightly longer than hers.

Chestnuts (small bag for $3.25).

These were burning hot when the lady handed me the bag. I had to let them cool for a few minutes before attempting to eat them. The small bag was more than enough for me after eating all the other food.  Warm chestnuts smell absolutely wonderful - especially compared to stinky tofu. They taste pretty good too when they're warm.

The location switch was a good idea. There seemed to be more parking spots available, and the picnic benches were useful. It was still annoying to manoeuvre through hordes of people, and some of the lines were still pretty long. Again, towards the end of the night, everything goes on sale and vendors make sure that you're aware by screaming it out at you.