Night It Up 2009 (
Metro Square, 3636 Steeles Avenue East, Markham)
If you love street food, then you'd love night market. It's a yearly event in which Metro Square plaza dedicates a good chunk of its parking lot to setting up a whole bunch of mostly food related tents. There's also a small stage for music and dance performances during the evening. If you can get a seat, it's a great place to sit down and eat your food. On to the food!
They call this "stir fry ice cream". I call that deceiving. There is no stir-frying [
Dictionary!] of anything involved anywhere in the whole shebang. The ice cream never even touches a pan or a wok. Instead, the toppings are mixed into the ice cream on a marble slab. The whole mixture is served in a crêpe that's draped over a bowl. Wait... that mixing on marble part sounds familiar... Oh, that's right. That's because the idea was stolen from
Cold Stone Creamery. I guess the originality of Marbolicious comes in the fact that they offer toppings that you might find in the snack aisle of a Chinese grocery store (like the T&T in the next plaza).
Here's my mango ice cream with chocolate chips and Oreo chunks being "stir-fried":
The finished product ($5):
It deeply disturbed me that the marble block and tools used to mix the ice cream weren't completely washed of previous ice cream mixtures. I'm a picky eater when it comes to sweets, and I didn't enjoy the visible flecks of green and pink in my food.
This tent had a pretty long line leading to it, so I thought it might be worthwhile. Having never been to Osaka, I can't comment on the authenticity, but it was a pretty cool snack.
People lining up for this Japanese snack would've caught a strong whiff of the stinky tofu stand next to it. In the picture, you can see the lady with the SARS mask under the "Smelly Tofu" sign serving up some stinky goodness next to the takoyaki table.
Whatever this is, it is part of making "authentic Osaka tokayaki":
The finished product ($5, I think):
I expected more crunch from the shell, but I liked the sauce it was served with.
Deep-fried spicy chicken ($4):
It's so greasy, it's "window of opportunity" (Simpsons reference):
The piece of chicken was quite massive, crispy, oily, and spicy. It was perhaps just a little too much of all of those things.
Wei's Smelly Tofu!
It's quite a staple food at night market, and with the stench coming from these tents, people who have not heard of it might wonder why so many people are lining up to get food that smells so bad. I think it's because people would fear stinking up their homes if they made this dish for themselves.
Stinky goodness ($3)! With exciting pickled vegetables and tasty sauce!
The tofu is spongy, but not too airy.
Honey green tea ($1):
It takes a while to get used to. I scrunched my eyebrows at the first sip, but it slowly became refreshing afterwards.
Taiwanese Sausage ($2)
What's street food without meat on a stick?
The sausage has a unique flavour. It has a sweetness to it that I can only describe as similar to
Chinese sausage, but its texture is more like that of a less fatty Italian sausage.
Diana's Seafood Delight
Yes, Night It Up 2009 even had fresh oysters.
For $10, you could get a box of eight raw oysters, lemon wedges, oyster sauce, ice, and a wet wipe. And a $5 discount coupon to Diana's Seafood Delight. This package was even better as night market was closing when its price tag dropped to $10 for two boxes.
My oyster shell had a funky shape, but it still tasted right:
These oysters were really good. You could see them being shucked as they were taken out of the van. I'd say they were better (fresher-tasting) than the ones from the Rodney's Oyster House booth during Luminato.
Normally $2 or $3 depending on which stand you go to, but I got mine for $1. End of day sale. Towards closing hours of the night market, people from the tents yell at you as you walk by. They scream that everything is on sale, and you can learn the term "one dollar" in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
It's a coconut with a straw. What's not to like?
There was a lot more liquid in it than I thought there'd be.
Unlike in the current city of Toronto, the garbage was well taken care of. There were people who changed the bags in the bins as soon as they got full. There were a lot of skewer sticks on the ground, but there were people picking them up by hand later in the night.
As a general rule for this event, if you stand in any line that is in the way of food vapours and smoke (especially stinky tofu), chances are that you'll go home smelling like you need Febreeze-ing (or a good wash).
Night It Up 2009 was full of food, but it was also full of people.
The
map layout of the booths could have been helpful. Next time, I think I'll just go at 11:30 p.m. on the second day. The crowd is smaller, and almost everything goes on sale.
Total damage: $22 (I only had one oyster).
I prefer the flat rice noodles. 
You might not be able to tell from the picture, but it was loaded with avocado. It was oozing out messily as I was trying to eat the sandwich with dignity. To add to my lack of elegance, the bread was really soft and just collapsed from the weight of the filling. In short: tasty, but messy.
I could taste the ginger in the soup, but it wasn't overbearing. It was nice, and a bit refreshing. The ramen noodles had a firm texture. Think al dente. There wasn't a terribly small portion of meat, but I wouldn't have minded a little more. I think the winning point of my meal for me was the soup base.
The buns were pretty good. They had the shiny tops that I like, and the insides were just a little bit sweet. 
It was really chock-full of red beans - more than I'm used to. I had to consume most of it with the spoon, as red bean chunks got stuck in the straw.
The portion was too massive to finish. The scallops were a bit overcooked for my liking, but overall I liked it enough.
She said the sauce was overpowering, but she seemed to enjoy it enough.
It comes with the meal.
I think they gave me more cheese curds this time. And I might have been dreaming, but I think they layered them between the fries too. Either that, or they fell through the hole I was digging with my biodegradable fork. I also received more gravy this time, as the fries at the bottom of the container were still pretty gravylicious. 
I was excited to have syrup with it (instead of weirdo honey, like at some other places). It was a lot better than I had expected.
The peanut butter oozed out, and even Chris seemed impressed with it.
It's passable. 
I like how they load the butter on so that the inside becomes super moist. 
These places are everywhere in Ottawa. I don't remember which one this was. This particular one was too saucy (soggy bottom) for me, and I got tricked into getting a combo.
Not crispy enough. If it's going to be deep-fried, it better be crispy. I prefer the ones from McDonald's. 
I liked them better when they were $2.51. After a while, it is so hard to sip from a straw. 
Avacado dip:
Salad (by Alan), ribs, chicken, and presumably focaccia bread (by Kathy and Elton):
The colour looked pretty cool, and the Titanic-shaped ice cube was neat when it was right side up. The taste was very, very bitter. It was better with added sugar. I think it might be interesting to try this with green tea and Sprite or ginger ale.
When I was handed my order, the waffle cone was warm. This was a good indicator of freshness. And it didn't get all soggy either. I marvelled at how the ice cream bulged slightly over some parts of the cone, but didn't start dripping down the sides and onto my hand. The cool weather might have had something to do with that, but I think it was also partly due to the texture of the ice cream. It was creamier than the ones from the grocery stores. My scoop had lots of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks, but not as many pieces of cookie dough. Overall, my first experience at Summer's was a good one!
Tasted a bit like coffee. Not bad, but I prefer the chocolate chip cookie dough. They also had exciting flavours such as chocolate orange and Toronto pothole, but I had filled my fatty snack quota for the day.
I actually wanted to order the porcupine shaped bun again, but I couldn't find it on the menu. It's probably still there. I probably just can't figure out the translation from Chinese to English.
The finished product ($5):
It deeply disturbed me that the marble block and tools used to mix the ice cream weren't completely washed of previous ice cream mixtures. I'm a picky eater when it comes to sweets, and I didn't enjoy the visible flecks of green and pink in my food. 
Whatever this is, it is part of making "authentic Osaka tokayaki":
The finished product ($5, I think):
I expected more crunch from the shell, but I liked the sauce it was served with. 
It's so greasy, it's "window of opportunity" (Simpsons reference):
Stinky goodness ($3)! With exciting pickled vegetables and tasty sauce!
The tofu is spongy, but not too airy. 
It takes a while to get used to. I scrunched my eyebrows at the first sip, but it slowly became refreshing afterwards.
The sausage has a unique flavour. It has a sweetness to it that I can only describe as similar to Chinese sausage, but its texture is more like that of a less fatty Italian sausage.
My oyster shell had a funky shape, but it still tasted right:
These oysters were really good. You could see them being shucked as they were taken out of the van. I'd say they were better (fresher-tasting) than the ones from the Rodney's Oyster House booth during Luminato. 
It's a coconut with a straw. What's not to like?
There was a lot more liquid in it than I thought there'd be.
The map layout of the booths could have been helpful. Next time, I think I'll just go at 11:30 p.m. on the second day. The crowd is smaller, and almost everything goes on sale.
The ice cream was seeping through the cracks, as well as the gap between the chocolate and the cone. I knew this would be messy, but I can never resist the soft vanilla ice cream and crunchy chocolate casing. 
It tastes like a Freezie in a fancy cup. And that's all I have to say about that.
I'm pretty impressed with the squeakiness of the curds. The fries hold their own and they weren't burnt dark brown, but the gravy is a bit tasteless, hence the pepper I added seen in the pictures. I also wouldn't mind some seasoning on the fries, but maybe I'm just being picky now.
The cheese melted more on my second visit. It seemed that the gravy was hotter than the first time around. Andrew mentioned that it'd be better if they layered the curds throughout the cup, since he prefers the melted cheese as opposed to the chunks. I found this on the site: If you love your cheese, double the order of curds and we’ll put them in the middle AND on top!" I guess all he had to do was ask.
The space isn't very big at all, and seats are limited to the three stools by the window. There are wooden counters that you can stand around to eat your food. It sounds ghetto, but it's not all that bad. Everything is pleasant, from the artwork on the walls to the music to the people that work there. They are extra pleasant.
