T&T Waterfront Night Market

Although I hate to admit it, it's impossible to attend every delicious food-related event in Toronto. I try my best to get to as many as possible, but certain events always seem to elude me. Last year I made a very real attempt to get to the T&T Waterfront Night Market but I was bamboozled (read: bent over) by the TTC and I never actually arrived at my destination (long story, ask me about it sometime). This year I was determined to check it out so my husband and I were on our game and got there about twenty minutes before it was due to open at 6pm. We were happy to see they were letting folks wander in already, even though some vendors weren't quite ready to sell their wares. The T&T Waterfront Night Market is partnered with the T&T Supermarket chain and the unofficial theme of the event is centered around Asian street food. Our plan was to eat as many new and interesting things as possible. We were successful but there were some... complications on the way.

The first thing we ate was takoyaki, which is a Japanese snack consisting of a wheat-flour batter ball filled with octopus. The balls are served with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, aonori (seaweed) and bonito (fish) flakes. They were six for $5, which was an awesome deal. Be warned: even once you think they've cooled down they still need more time to cool before eating. I may have burned my tongue. Totally worth it.
Whenever I've read about the Night Market in the past, there is always a mention of the stinky tofu. Apparently this is a big deal guys. It was everywhere. And even though the smell was indeed objectionable, I had a burst of "when in Rome" spirit and went for it. Hmmm... how do I say this politely... it's rare that a food triggers my gag reflex. I couldn't manage a whole piece, despite getting a pile of it for $5. Maybe it's an acquired taste? I tried guys, I really tried. This gave me some gweilo shame but I soldiered on.

Okay! Redemption time. Those tasty looking skewers to the left are actually grilled chicken hearts. Oh yes. I absolutely did. The first thing I exclaimed upon seeing them was "they're so small!", which I quickly realized was not at all shocking. The other not shocking thing is they taste like chicken, or more specifically, like dark chicken meat. The texture was interesting but not in a bad way. The skewers were two for $5.

And then this happened:

 

The forecast had called for "possible severe thunderstorms" but we thought, "what else is new?" and decided to go about our evening. As soon as we ate our chicken hearts (I really wanted to write that sentence) the sky became scary dark and the wind started blowing dust and dirt in our faces. The wind then became violent and vendor booths started blowing around and parts of some blew apart. The rain started quickly but the wind continued to be the most destructive force, threatening to take down the main tented area set-up for eating food. A volunteer asked for help stabilizing the poles so she could take down a sign acting almost like a sail in the wind. My husband hurried to help her do so and also helped take the sign down when she couldn't reach. My hero! He credited the chicken hearts for his courage. (I took pictures. I'm awesome to have around in a crisis.)

The storm didn't last too long but sadly, it ended the night for many vendors. Some had to repair their booths, some lost power and some just seemed to think the evening was over. It's true that the crowd thinned considerably when things got stormy. I was disappointed and reluctant to leave until I was sure it was over. When the rain stopped, the vendors that remained and who could still prepare their foods started cooking again. It was pretty cool to see how some of them took it in stride. I saw a lot of people laughing and shaking their heads, but no one seemed to have their spirits dampened. We decided the best thing to do was to stay and keep eating.

The next thing we ate was teppanyaki squid. And I mean the whole squid. It was a little more pricey than the other dishes at $8, but it was a tremendous amount of food. The vendor (wearing a garbage bag rain poncho) offered to cut it up for us, which was very nice. It was delicious, a real highlight.

We then opted to have some teppanyaki scallops. This was interesting because I consider myself to be a lover of scallops but I was unfamiliar with the shapes I saw on the grill in front of me. Apparently there's more to these little guys than what I'm used to eating. These looked more mollusk-like with the outer muscular area still attached to the "coral" (I absolutely had to Wiki this shit when I got home). Delicious + learning = $6 win!

Once we had eaten a heaping pile of seafood we started to feel pretty full and satisfied so we decided that was it for food sampling. Around us, more vendors were firing up their grills and getting their evenings back on track. As we left I grabbed a milk-tea bubble tea for the road and I was happy to see that new waves of hungry people were starting to wander through. Though I'm sure that the weather hiccup will hurt the vendors a bit, the party is set to go late tonight (until midnight) and will continue throughout the weekend, Saturday 4pm-midnight and Sunday 4pm-10pm. Go if you get the chance. Eat something different and exciting... and enjoy!