LATE NIGHT NOSHING AT THE RICHMOND SUMMER NIGHT MARKET

Spicy Grilled Squid Tentacles

When you arrive at the Richmond Night Market at dusk, vendors are busily readying for the rush. 

It doesn’t seem to matter how many years pass by between visits to the night market.  The vendors don’t seem to be selling anything really that different.  There were iphone accessories, sunglasses, cute stationery, colourful socks and even bras and underwear.

I don’t understand why they think people want to buy bras at the night market.  The thing is, it takes me forever to find even one bra that fits properly.  I have to go into the fitting room a dozen times with every brand possible and even then after 2 hours, with the help of a knowledgeable lingerie saleslady and a patient friend,  I usually only find one bra that fits decently.  So to purchase a bra from a night market stall where there are no changing rooms is something I would never fathom.   Besides this, all the bras were A and B cups mostly with tons of padding.  Ew.  I never find anything in a DD and even in a regular store like La Senza where everything seems pretty enough…they don’t even regularly carry small rib-cage sizes under 36.  It seems that the manufacturers think that DD means you need a 38 or something.   Or if they have a 32 or 34, it’s A or B cup.  What a drag.  Oh well, that’s my pet peeve.   I haven’t seen anyone purchase bras at these night market stalls either so I have no idea how they make any money.

I’ll tell you who’s doing a hopping business here though…food stalls!

Meat skewers smell so good!

The takoyaki stall is always busy and there’s usually a queue.

I usually look for the longest queue and determine that it has to be pretty good and so I end up lining up for it.  The grilled squid guy was really busy and seemed to be doing good business with all the people milling about, so I went for it.

You can order regular or spicy.  He tosses in some madras curry and hot sauce to the grilled squid if you order it spicy.  It sure looked good but it was okay.  Stomach said the last year he had it, it tasted better.  It was a bit chewy to me.

Strawberry flavoured eggball waffles.  The girls hoovered these up.

My favourite of the night were these meat skewers.  They had angus beef, chicken, pork and lamb varieties.  I picked just the beef and chicken.  They were so tender and had good char.

The chow mein was cheap:  $3.75

It was okay.  It tasted like something you could make at home…nothing fancy.

All in all, a visit to the summer night market in Richmond is a pretty good time if you're looking for good eats.  The takoyaki and the grilled skewer items are our favourites.  We always pick up some stationery items for the kiddies.  There's plenty of parking along the street but you can pay to park closer.  You have to get there early at dusk.  Along the road though were the juiciest blackberries ever growing wild.  We were popping them in our mouths as we walked towards the market.

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LE MARCHÉ ST. GEORGE, A HIDDEN GEM

Le Marché St. George is a quaint little corner store and cafe hidden in a quiet residential neighbourhood.  At once you are struck by its rustic French charm.  The shop is located on St. George Street and E. 28th Avenue in East Vancouver (between Main and Fraser).  

The building is surrounded by potted herbs and plants.  In the back, my friend tells me that the owner has a bee hive and is growing veggies.

The immediate area surrounding the shop is lush with flowers and greenery.

Outside the shop, patrons drink their coffee and eat their pastries in the sunshine. Residing on the shady side of the building shielded by a couple of patio umbrellas are boxes of local organic fresh produce.

The selection presented reminded me of my strolls through street markets in little towns in France. 

Inside, Le Marché St. George houses a variety of goodies.   It truly is a neighbourhood corner grocery store…with a definite French twist.   To the left I saw a huge refrigerator.  Basics such as organic eggs, milk and juice as well as gourmet products resided in the fridge for shoppers.  On the black chalkboard located on the end of the refrigerator were the specials of the day.

There was even something for children…a corner near the marble counter and till featured toys, books and gorgeous little chairs for little tushies.  Way cute!

It seemed as if every little nook and cranny was rammed with cool and useful stuff!  There were handcrafted preserves, knitware, towels, teas, soaps, oils, vinegars…I bet if you needed it, they had it!

We actually just came for a cup of tea and a chat and though seating is limited inside with a little area near each of the two windows for perhaps 6 people at most, there were some chairs outside as well.   On an early Friday afternoon I was quite surprised by the steady little stream of people coming through to buy their coffees and something to eat.   The chalkboard featured teas, coffees, paninis, croissants,  pastries and artisanal breads.

I forgot my sweater and came back later on in the afternoon, near dinnertime and it was quiet.  The store would be closing at 7pm.  I do hope this shop does well because it truly is a gem.   The products and the shop reminded me of my summer living in France with my friends and walking through the doors one feels the pace of life slow down.  The atmosphere encourages you to linger and chit chat over your drink and food. 

Because there is not much signage indicating that this is indeed a store, you might miss it.  But I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?  It’s no Starbucks or London Drugs mega-chain.   It’s cute and quaint and homey.  You will want to linger.

HOURS:
Monday - Wednesday 8am-6pm
Thursday - Friday 8am-7pm
Saturday - Sunday 9am-7pm
Closed Holiday Mondays

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RECCHIUTI CONFECTIONS, FERRY BUILDING SAN FRANCISCO

Rose Caramel. 


One bite of this Recchiuti confection and I knew it was quality stuff.

See that one lonely square of Fleur de sel caramel from my bag of many that didn’t get squished in my carry on luggage (it’s the little square with the white diagonal lines at each corner)?  They were very tasty squished anyway.



Funny thing about squished chocolates.  For some reason, there is impetus in me to eat them quickly.  I pop them in my mouth without  hesitation because their beauty is marred.  I save the prettiest confections for last, to be savoured slowly.  I linger over perfectly beautiful desserts. 

On our recent trip to San Francisco I was given a big goodie bag of confections from  my cousin from the Recchiuti Confections shop that we visited in the Ferry Building.

Only now have I gotten around to tasting the different chocolates I brought home to Vancouver and boy are they delicious! 

Marshmallows


The Vanilla bean marshmallows had that hand-cut home-crafted look.  My daughters inhaled them.   They saved a few for a playdate…and their girlfriends inhaled them as well.  They received sticky thumbs up all around.

Smores bites.


These were covered in dark chocolate and the little square of graham cracker rested on the bottom of the marshmallow. 

Rose Caramel


“Delicate rose geranium oil swirled into light, buttery caramel. Cast in a white chocolate couverture and capped with bittersweet chocolate”.

Recchiuti Confections, located in the Ferry Building in San Francisco is a chocolate lover’s paradise.  There were specialty chocolates for wine pairing, beautiful custom chocolates and other chocolate-related paraphernalia.  They seemed to specialize in chocolate covered fleur de sel caramels and marshmallows.
Thank you Sylvia for introducing me to these gorgeous chocolates!  You have good taste!

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SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN AND R&G LOUNGE

R & G Deep Fried Salt and Pepper Crab.

This baby is what we came for. 

But first, let’s take a peek at the area that R & G Lounge is located. 


Here’s a slideshow of some sights around the Chinatown area, which you must visit before eating at R & G Lounge.

San Francisco Chinatown slideshow

What a fun store to visit in Chinatown!

Here’s R & G Restaurant’s Lounge area. 

It looks trendy and uber-cool.   You can have a drink and watch t.v. while waiting in line for your table.  You still have to kind of wait even if you have a reservation.


One thing I noticed on our trip to California was that there was a lot of waiting in lineups…something we don’t often do for very long in Vancouver, Canada.   In the sunny state, we waited for food, waited in lineups at 6 Flags, waited in the car for close to an hour at a time to arrive at our destination, where we would usually  have to wait again for food (especially if it was good food),  waited to pay at tolls, and waited to go to the bathroom in public places like the Ferry Building and Marine World.  Either you Americans have much more patience than we Canadians or now I know why people characterize us Canadians as polite.  We just aren’t as stressed by the huge queues! 

The lineups in San Francisco especially seem long…people queue up for a half an hour or up to an hour without seeming to bat an eye.  In Vancouver, if we found a place with a lineup longer than 15 minutes, we’d take off and look for good eats somewhere else.   And there are plenty of places for good eats so the competition is stiff.

Here’s the menu.  It’s extensive and full of pictures.  Which is a good thing I think.  I love pics, can’t you tell?

R & G Salt and Pepper Crab. 


It wasn’t what I was expecting.  The coating is unlike the kind I’m used to eating in Vancouver.  It seemed to be coated in a breading.  The salt and pepper was not as pronounced as the type I’m used to either.  We generally see a lot of greenery and fresh chopped garlic, scallions and chili peppers when we order this in Vancouver.  This crab was delicious though.  Bib watched the lazy susan spin with the crab on it…and promptly asked “What’s that?”  She ended up eating crab for the first time and she loved it.  She sucked on the crab legs and took her time cleaning out the tender dungeness crab meat. 

I liked it and if we were in Vancouver, I’d rate it a 5/6.    I simply like a lot of chilis, garlic, scallion and stuff on my crab.   Because it was different and creative though, it has a lot going for it.   This is a crab dish that you need to have with a glass of wine or a nice cold beer.  It’s a nice appetizer.

Peking Duck.  With Man tou. 

This dish was also served in a different manner than I am accustomed to in traditional Cantonese cuisine.  Usually, you get peking duck with thin pancakes and here you see little steamed buns (man tou).   I like man tou.  I just never imagined eating it with duck skin.  In the end, it’s all good because you can never go wrong stuffing duck into something in my opinion.

The man tou were little mini buns that you easily pry apart and stuff with a piece of duck skin, some scallion and hoisin sauce.

You know what?  It was good.  But I still like the thin pancake wrappers better because you get to taste the duck skin better that way.  Here, my little itty bit of duck skin is hidden in the proportionally larger steamed bun.  Rating:  5/6

I wouldn’t turn away from eating another one, but if given a choice between man-tou and peking pancakes,  I’d choose  eating the duck skin with the pancake wrappers any day. 

R & G Special Beef. 


I really liked this dish.  I thought it was unique and unlike the other creative takes on Cantonese classical dishes, this one rocks on its own merits.  The beef was tender but not coated in the ubiquitous gloopy cornstarch sauces that Cantonese dishes usually have.  There was no sauce.  The beef was savoury with a soy base and had a sweetness too; but again it wasn’t coated in a sweet sticky maltose substance Cantonese chefs are apt to employ.  Then there’s that lemon wedge.  Hm.   Yes.  I would eat this dish again and I think it’s one of those dishes I would dream about having again.  Crave.

My cuz said it reminded her of beef jerky…not in the dry chewy way, but in the flavour.  I would like to see this dish again soon.  Yum!  Rating:   6/6

The kiddie dish:  Fresh rice noodles with beef and veggies.  Rating:  5/6

Seafood Fried Rice.  Rating:  5/6 

I think there was surimi, scallop and possibly shrimp in this fried rice.   But as you can see, it’s hard to see the seafood other than the surimi.  

Gai lan in garlic sauce. 


Um. What’s this trend I notice of not including the leaves of the vegetable?  Here we get all stems.  I do like stems, but I do love leaves too.   What do they do with all the leaves I wonder?   I do like how they’re cut in manageable chunks.  Rating:  5/6

All in all, R & G Lounge is a very good Chinese restaurant and I can see why there’s all this hype about it.  The service was pleasant, the atmosphere chic and modern…and I noted that there was a good mix of patrons eating here:  young, old, tourists, Chinese, Caucasian… you name it.  This is unlike popular Vancouver Cantonese restaurants, which are predominantly frequented by Chinese Canadians.  Vancouver Asian restaurants are starting to cater to the chic young urban crowd, but often it’s one or the other; but not both.  You’re either classical cuisine and populated by Chinese or modern/fusion and populated primarily by Westerners. 

What a shame we can’t have it all.  We should all be able to eat together and have excellent classical and fusion all under one roof, eh?

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