ottawa foodies

It's happening this weekend (July 27 to 29 2018) in Chinatown. www.ottawaasianfest.com/

I can't wait to try the Cotton Candy Ice Cream Burritos and Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake).

What are your favorite foods at the Night Market?

We went last night, and got there about 6:45. The place was so packed you literally could not move, the line-ups were horrendous and there was a lot of duplication in the food, none of which we lined up for. At one point, the air was blue with smoke and the smell of propane was overpowering. We did not stay.

My experience aligns with felinefan's, unfortunately. Toured the stalls at 1:00 pm today before grocery shopping at Kowloon. There were several issues: many of the food stalls were shoddy and dirty; there was lots of duplication regarding food on offer (especially grilled squid and takoyaki); most of the food was pricey (an example being $9.99 for 6 unadorned steamed momos); long lineups everywhere; etc. Did not get anything to eat as a result. Only recourse at present is to reread www.shermansfoodadventures.com with massive amounts of envy.

I tried the takoyaki, the oysters, the fried chicken, and the lamb kebabs. Everything was priced at least double what it should have been. The most expensive was the grilled oysters (three for $18!!!), which were, however, delicious, and large. The takoyaki was also very tasty, but each one of the four (for $10) contained but the tiniest possible piece of tentacle. The Taiwanese fried chicken was predictably good ($10 from Wei's). The lamb kebabs . . . well, I have a sad story about that. I ordered two (for $5), but the vendor snatched my $20, gave me no change, and despite my continued protestations proceeded as if I was buying the 10 (for $20). He continued to tend to his cooking and again, in the face of clear instructions, started to hand me the ten in a bag. He seemed to find this bullying quite humorous. It was only when I started yelling - I had reached the point when I was looking around for a policeman - that he gave me my change and the two skewers. Appalling!!! It left a very bad taste in my mouth about the whole 'festival' which seems to be a game by some sleazy operators in Toronto to take the rubes in Ottawa for as much as they can.

Based on my experience last year (same problems of overpriced meh food and long lines), I'm not even thinking of attending this year. Based on my knowledge of other Asian night markets, Ottawa doesn't even compare. And I'm glad I haven't been to another night market like friends who have attended in Vancouver/Toronto because it would make me sad.

The premise of night markets is affordable high quality food where you can sample a lot of different things at once. There was once a time where the night market was exciting in Ottawa because there were rare things that we didn't get (i.e. Japanese fare such as takoyaki/okonomiyaki), but those times have changed and now restaurants have opened up who offer it. Why wouldn't I go get a guaranteed seat somewhere and pay way less for the same if not better?

Ottawa needs to stop (poorly) emulating things in other cities and find it's own unique voice. And Ottawans need to stop getting taken advantage of and become more aware.

/rant

The Cotton Candy Ice Cream Burrito was $15 and had three scoops of ice cream. Too bad they didn't have a small size. The Okonomiyaki was a pancake with cabbage and bacon. Quite boring. I feel that its going downhill since they were at Lansdowne. There were more stalls and many different choices there. They were more inclusive and had some non-asian food trucks.

I went with a friend on Saturday around 5:30 and it was already pretty packed - I can only imagine how packed it must have been when felinefan was there. We wanted to try the bbq squid but at $12 a skewer the price seemed a little steep. The bbq'd sausages were also in the $10 range and I noticed one vender selling 4 spring rolls for $5 which looked like the same spring rolls I can get at Kowloon market 4 for $1. We decided to bail and went to Royal Treasure for supper instead. I might be more inclined to try some of their products if it wasn't quite so expensive.

Since I live in the neighbourhood I actually specifically avoided this after last year. I'd love to see something that involved MORE local vendors and more reasonable prices. Not to mention the hot mess it became to actually access my street since only the Bronson end was accessable.

Clean up wasn't great either as their is a lot of lingering garbage as well as oil and other unknown refuse in the parking lot and surrounding areas. Late night and wee morning the Trash Panda's were on high alert looking for spoils all weekend.

No thanks.

I was a vendor a couple of years ago, selling (well, trying to sell) chopsticks and other wares. It was so poorly planned that they tried to bribe us to come back to another event by giving us a free booth. The entire experience was so bad that even free rent wasn't enough to come back.

I couldn't help but notice that about half the vendors didn't even have prices posted, as the sticker shock would have kept most customers away. Having said that, if the place is so packed you can't move, they must have accurately judged the market in Ottawa.