Night Noodle Markets

Every year, since 1998, Hyde Park becomes home to the Night Noodle Markets as part of Good Food Month. For a few weeks Sydney-siders can experience an Asian hawker atmosphere and sample dishes from some of Sydney's best Asian joints, as well as some lesser known ones too. This year's markets featured much-loved restaurants such as Ippudo, Din Tai Fung, Chat Thai, Mamak, and Longrain, as well as my favourite discovery, Poklol, a modern Vietnamese food-truck.

Having experienced the lines of the markets in previous years, I ensured that I was well prepared this year. I looked through the list of vendors, created a must-visit list, downloaded a map of the markets, and devised a plan of attack. 

On Wednesday evening, Josh and I arrived nice and early, just after 5pm which is when the markets open for business. I was glad to see that there weren't many people yet. 

I had heard all the hype about David Yip's (On Ramen) ramen burger, the first of its kind in Australia (it debuted in New York in August), and knew that we had to go there first. We chose to try the beef burger ($12.50) and instead of bread, the burger was sandwiched between hardened, but still soft, ramen noodles. Fillings included tomato, mayo, and a mild but noticeable spicy sauce, and it was served with a side salad and some watermelon. I thought that the flavour would have been compromised by the novelty of the dish, but the burger was actually surprisingly good! It wasn't (too) messy, the beef was juicy and the sauces were flavoursome. I liked the subtle kick of chilli sauce in it. Definitely take the time to try this if you're at the markets - apparently it takes 14 hours to make!

Even though we just ate at Mamak a few weeks ago, we could not resist ordering some egg roti ($7.50). Served with the usual curry and spicy sauce, it tasted just as good as the plain roti but with a nice fluffy egg filling. That said, I think I personally prefer the plain roti. Just because.

Zilver's famous duck pancake ($5) was on my list and though I don't have many duck pancakes to compare it to, it was tasty and the duck was tender. We may have put a little too much soy sauce and that may have been why I found it to be a tad on the salty side. If you're wondering why we used soy sauce, I tried to ask the stall assistant what sauce we should use but he couldn't understand me...

Poklol was on my list for their dessert. However, we passed their stall before dessert time and saw their cool menu filled with puns and decided to give their 'poklol' (pork roll)($10) a go. Not your standard pork roll, this was filled with tender pork belly chunks, crispy fried shallots, coriander, pickled carrots and daikon, spring onion, cucumber, mayo, fish sauce and the best spicy, creamy, chilli sauce! This was a surprise standout dish from the night and Josh described it as the best pork roll he's ever had, even better than Mr Crackles, and I agree.

At this stage we had to withdraw some cash, and conveniently, Citibank had some ATMs set up in the centre of the markets. After withdrawing we even got a little souvenir.

The next stop was Longrain. They were only offering 3 dishes and we decided on a pork salad ($14) which was sour and spicy but nice and refreshing at the same time. My only gripe is that the vermicelli noodles were a little on the hard side.  

Next door was Din Tai Fung, famous for their dumplings. We decided to try fried pork wont ($6) and prawn and pork dumplings ($6). The fried pork wonton were delicious, crispy on the outside, with a yummy mayo dip. The prawn and pork dumplings were like xiao long bao in that they had soup in them, but I am pretty sure that they aren't xiao long bao. Regardless, they were also good, maybe a little on the average side.

After that, Josh and I took a much needed eating break. 

Then we joined the craziest line of the night at Chat Thai. We waited approximately 20-30 minutes for our food, whilst being squished and shoved by passersby and other customers. A lady had a megaphone to call out the order numbers and it was excessively loud, especially when you got too close. It was crazy!

We ordered chicken pad thai ($13), 2 x pork skewers ($3 each), and a fresh coconut juice ($6). We ate on the grass near the beautiful lanterns and our setup reminded Josh and I of our trip to Thailand. 

The chicken pad thai was good but there wasn't enough sauce and chicken. I could tell from the minimal amounts of sauce though that in normal trading conditions, their pad thai would be very good and tasty. The skewers weren't bad but I think pork isn't my thing. (Chicken all the way!)

Our double date with Len and Ella began here. They hadn't eaten yet, Josh wanted another pork roll, and I wanted my Gay Ol Time, so we went back to Poklol. However by this time they had run out of pork rolls and Gay Ol Times - devastated! Instead Josh tried the chicken roll which he said was good too - sorry guys, I was way too full to even try it. 

For dessert we had yummy, fluffy, mini pancakes ($12) with chocolate and maple syrup. Yum!

Of course we couldn't leave without heading back to the lanterns for some photos. The lanterns were so beautiful and they did a really good job with the decorations, setup, music and overall atmosphere this year. 

And guess what! I went back for a Gay Ol Time ($8)! It was a delicious ball of vanilla and caramel ice cream covered in Gaytime, Tim Tam and cookie crumbs. So good.

The Night Noodle Markets were fantastic this year and are definitely worth checking out. I had a really great time and experienced some really good Asian food all in one place. The Night Noodle Markets is a great event to sample some of Sydney's best Asian food and I'll definitely continue to visit every year.