Vancouver is known for a few major things like…food and expensive real estate. It never ceases to amaze me at how everyone in this city is obsessed about food and willing to try new and fun things.
What is the Hawkers Market you ask? It’s an opportunity for local food entrepreneurs to introduce their businesses to the community. Not only is there food but beverages like local craft beer, kombucha, or nutmilk. The market happens in both Vancouver and Calgary throughout the year.
This time, Hawkers Market took over the Vancouver Maker Lab space and combined amazing works of art and design (like the cyborg eye) with delicious delectables.
The music was pumping, people were laughing and the smell of all the vendors would’ve blown you mind. From savoury to sweet and from hot to cold, vendors set up shop for what seemed like a successful night.
CRAQ (fantastic unique cream puffs) carefully constructed by The Food Gays. We’re introduced to the Strawberry Cheesecake (with fresh local strawberries), Espresso Viennese (with Pallet Coffee Roasters espresso and condensed milk glaze), and a coconut blood orange with freeze dried mandarins. You think you’ve had cream puffs? Think again. It’s called CRAQ for a reason.
Sometimes you just need to get messy and it was all worth it. The Oxtale, a new venture for chef Joel Ochsendorf (Greens, Flying Pig, and Tapenade Bistro) was serving up some chicken and waffles with a fantastic maple glaze. His new underground company has my ears perked for an amazing adventure to a new supper club event!
Have you tried a juice cleanse yet? Vitae Juice was there with their refreshing samples; one of which was a watermelon grapefruit with lime and mint. How can you go wrong with such a refreshing combination? With their simple yet fantastically designed booklets, the flavours are definitely intriguing for someone who hasn’t done a juice cleanse yet.
Moving onto more sweets, a flame-torched marshmallow was up next on the to-devour list from Sweet Petite Confectioner . Biting into the warm blueberry flavoured cloud, I could only wish I had such fantastic creations on a camping trip. Fancy s’mores, here we come!
Nuez Milk brought back the adorable cookie shooters filled with homemade nut milk is not something to leave out. All handmade with love, the chocolate chip cookie with hazelnut milk reminded me of childhood. If I were having an event, I couldn’t see a successful night without some cookie shots from Nuez.
You can’t have baked goods without the ever famous macaroons. The gentle oolong flavoured filling was the perfect way to end the night. Oollo Tea had a gorgeous presentation of simple packaging and teas that made your mouth water.
As you may have noticed, the Main Street Food Party: Hawkers Market was a sweet tooth’s heaven. As a highlight of the event, there were at least 15 vendors including food trucks. If you may not have seen my contributor photo, I am a small Asian girl who can only fit so much in her stomach.
After attending a fantastic evening filled with like-minded food lovers, supporting your local new entrepreneurs has never been so delicious and satisfying. Visit the next one to find out what the Hawkers Market is all about!
