Richmond night market

[cafetao]

We are arriving in Vancouver on Sept 29th and leaving on our cruise on the 30th.  We are staying in Richmond near the airport. We were looking for some easy things to do as we have two little ones.  I saw the Richmond night market and wondered if someone could tell me their thoughts on it, or maybe some alternate suggestions.

[martincath]

Eh, there really isn't much of anything else that's remotely enticing to kids so the market is your only local option! Depending how little the little ones are though, it may not entertain them very long... without knowing how much time you have on arrival day, how old the kids are,  if you've got jetlag to worry about, what sort of budget you have etc etc etc it's impossible to give any other sensible recommendations at this point though... so I'd look at TripAdvisor if I were you, especially trip reports from folks with kids (there are many '24 hours in Vancouver, 'Vancouver with kids' type lists available)

[cafetao]

Thanks for the reply.  The oldest is six. So she is primarily the one we need to entertain. I'll give trip advisor a look and see what jumps out at me.

[simplyrubies]

The Night Market is a great option! You can eat, shop, go on carnival rides, and play fairground games. The Night Market features a lot of fantastic Asian street food, reflecting the strong Asian influence in Richmond and could be a great opportunity to try new kinds of food. Dim sum, takoyaki, Japanese style crepes, an entire German pork hock, Taiwanese shaved ice... my stomach is grumbling just thinking about it! I could easily see your six year old being interested in the rides or games (for a price). However, especially on a weekend, 8-9pm onwards tends to get very, very busy. The food areas especially get very crowded and could be overwhelming. It's quite accessible - you can take the subway to Bridgeport Station (the Canada Line station by River Rock Casino). 

 

As the name suggests, the Night Market is only open at night - 7pm onwards.

[xlxo]

Here's some additional vids on the Night Market experience...

To entertain a 6 yr old?  I would rather...

• take them on a ride on the subway system (Skytrain) downtown.  Ice cream at Bella's?
• explore one of the Asian malls in the late afternoon
  • Aberdeen?
  • Yaohan center can feel like the Night market in the food court.
• go out to Steveston (Storybrooke) for dinner.

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

On 6/11/2019 at 8:38 PM, martincath said:

Eh, there really isn't much of anything else that's remotely enticing to kids so the market is your only local option! Depending how little the little ones are though, it may not entertain them very long... without knowing how much time you have on arrival day, how old the kids are,  if you've got jetlag to worry about, what sort of budget you have etc etc etc it's impossible to give any other sensible recommendations at this point though... so I'd look at TripAdvisor if I were you, especially trip reports from folks with kids (there are many '24 hours in Vancouver, 'Vancouver with kids' type lists available)

 

Martincath, a family member was wondering if Vancouver has an Indian (country, not First Nations) neighborhood/area to shop and eat.  Thanks, my friend!

[martincath]

26 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

Martincath, a family member was wondering if Vancouver has an Indian (country, not First Nations) neighborhood/area to shop and eat.  Thanks, my friend!

Sort of - the Punjabi Market, while arguably as much Pakistani as it is Indian, should hit the spot. Most of the 'Indian' restos though are closer to or in downtown, just like all other genres, as folks from the 'burbs don't live at high enough density to support more than a handful of places. The ones in the market are generally better-priced than downtown, and you'll find more local-locals and way fewer tourists than in, say, Vij's (which consistently wins all the awards going for local Indian food, despite being an unabashedly inauthentic experience - French-Indian fusion would be a more accurate description).

 

Personally though I'd be heading to Broadway or out Kingsway rather than down Main Street for most other Indian foods - there's no other Indian 'hood, but you have a smattering of really tasty options scattered around some of the foodier blocks, like House of Dosas at the edge of the Fraserhood (our most Vietnamese area, but a good mix of all sorts of grub) and some interesting 'historic fusion' options, where Indians settled long ago and modified their cooking/influenced local cuisine (there are several Malaysian and a few South African restos for example - unfortunately good British style curry is nonexistent!). If it's a more general 'spicy saucy food to dunk bread in' that's wanted, I'd suggest Ethiopian might work as well too (and of course West 'Indian' food checks off many of the same boxes too - we don't have a deep scene, but we do have a couple of decent restos).

 

TL;DR - Punjabi Market is the only 'Indian' neighbourhood and is the best bet for shopping, but depending what your rellie wants to eat it may not be the best place to eat, so lemme know if they have any specific desires.

 

Edit - especially if it's clothing rather than food or knick-knacks they want to buy, Surrey is actually a better bet these days. Newton is becoming the 'new little India' of the region, just like Richmond is way more Chinese the the old downtown Chinatown. There are a couple of malls/shopping areas that might be very relevant, e.g. around the Scott Road SkyTrain station.

Edited June 20, 2019 by martincath

[Ferry_Watcher]

Thanks so much for the detailed info - I knew you were the person to ask!