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.

Toronto à la Cart

Toronto a la Cart (Yonge and Finch)

Just south of Yonge and Finch, in front of the Shoppers Drug Mart, one can usually find a huddle of people around a Korean food stand at night. This is the only Toronto a la Cart location where I've actually spotted patrons. There are some interesting offerings, including kimchi dumplings, the red bean fish-shaped waffles, squid balls, pork belly bacon, and cup noodles. Since the nearby H Mart no longer sells the fish-shaped red bean waffles, this is a pretty good alternative at a price of 3 for $2. Though I must say that they didn't look as nice as the ones that Galleria used to have. 

Jo tried the fish cake in soup ($1) and squid balls.

Everyone seemed to like the MSG-filled broth that came with the fish cake. The squid balls were kind of like crab cake consistency, and not really exciting. They were also a bit dry inside.

Cup noodles ($3.50)

This actually looked like it came in a coffee cup. Jo said she saw them use a whole pack of noodles and was pleased with what she got. The broth seemed to be the same as the fish cake broth, but pepper was added so it was a bit spicier. 

Would I return? Yes, considering that I didn't get anything from there yet. Those cup noodles also looked pretty cool. This could easily provide a cheap dinner on the go.

Random Food!

Chicken sandwich from some random fast food joint:

I think it was called a Real McCoy sandwich. I just remember being pretty disappointed. Chicken wasn't crispy, and you put on your own toppings. The toppings bar was being circled by flies.

The pistachio chocolate from Côte d'Or is awesome. There are actually chunks of pistachio in the dark chocolate bar.

The orange one is also very nice.



Costco chocolate muffin, courtesy of Renée:

Egg salad sandwich on brown with cucumber and a side of red grapefruit.
Big Mac meal:

This fry truck that was at Buskerfest didn't serve their poutine with cheese curds. It was simply shredded cheese, and we wondered why the line was so long.
$3 pasta from the Old Spaghetti Factory stand at Buskerfest:
Mel's Buskerfest cheese pastry:
The Aloha Kettle Corn stand has higher prices, but I think it's worth it when they give you a warm bag. Unfortunately, that isn't all of the time.
KFC family meal:
They initially forgot our jug of 7up.

Filet-o-fish:
McDonald's apple pie:
Wonton noodles:
Normally street hot dogs are $3.25, but this one was $3.00. It was somewhere on Bay Street between College and King.
Walnut cake:
The cake part was really nice and fluffy, but the walnut chunks were a bit too large and kind of bitter for my likings.
Renée's tea, Simon's coffee+milk+hot chocolate, and my hot chocolate+coffee.
Tim Horton's sausage breakfast sandwich:
The biscuit part was actually crispy on the edges. I had ordered two of these and a chocolate danish to last me until dinner that day.

I'm pretty sure these are pre-made and heated when ordered.

Night Market

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!

Marbolicious

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.

Authentic Osaka Takoyaki

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.

Young Coconut

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).