Hawkers Market Edmonton
Last month, Mike, my sis-in-law Amanda & our good friend Logan, went to the first-ever Edmonton Hawkers Market at the Mercer Warehouse. Hawkers Market originated in Vancouver in 2012, is held monthly there, and acts a space where “vibrant and exciting local food can be discovered.”
My dates to Hakwers Market.
Hawkers Market creator Chris Jerome says he’s an Edmontonian at heart and wanted to expand the concept to Edmonton, put on really fun food-filled events in great locations while supporting and encouraging food biz growth in our city. The inaugural Edmonton market had some great vendors including Drift, Bully, Case Doce, XIX Nineteen, Parts and Service, Paper Bag Donuts and more!
The market has a very hip, underground Vancouver feel to it. (The underground part is likely because it was held in the basement of the Mercer building lol). It just oozed ‘cool.’ There was space to dance but no one really danced. I think the dancing might be more suited for Vancouver. I would recommend they put in more tables and benches so more people can sit and enjoy their food for next time! For our group and I think mostly everyone else, it was all about the food!
Pork, chicken and beef tacos from Casa Doce at Hawkers Market!
Deliciousness from Bully at Hawkers Market: pork medallion over rice au gratin with kale chips. Delicious!!!!
Curried orzo with blueberry duck sausage from XIX Nineteen at Hawkers Market!
Braised rabbit and gnocchi “poutine” from XIX Nineteen at Hawkers Market!
Hawkers Market Edmonton – torching the bone marrow at the Parts & Service station.
My favourite dishes of the night were the pork medallion rice & kale from Bully, the rabbit gnocchi from XIX Nineteen, and the Khao Swe from Drift! So so good. My group was also obsessed with the donuts from Paper Bag Donuts but the price for what you get there wasn’t the best value.
Amanda and me enjoying Drift Khao Swe at Hawkers Market!
Overall Hawkers Market was fantastic. The food was fantastic, there was a really great environment with the music/DJ, and I just thought it was very well organized. The wait time to get food was super quick which is great. Sometimes you end up waiting in line for so long at other food truck events so this was definitely a quicker pace. There was lots of variety with the dishes and for the most part the price points were also good for what you get – mostly everything was between $5-$8. We each bought a few things and then shared as a group. Admission to the actual market is also low – $10 in advanced, $15 at the door.
It’s a really great date night or girls night event!
The next Hawkers market is February 22, 2014. Click to get tickets!
I think Hawkers Market is a great addition to the city!! The next one will take place Saturday, Feb. 22.
I’ll be there. Will you? ;)
Linda
1 Comment
Short answer: no. By the time you factor the $10 admission (actually $11.59 because of additonal fees) and the cost of food, one can easily spend from $30 to $40. And that would be per person. At that point, I can go to most restaurants in the Downtown area, with wait staff services and be setaed on my own table. Granted, vibe might be different but I might be enjoying it a bit more. So, unless the organizers can really make it worth by having more vendors and/or the vendors priced dishes a bit more aggresively, this is not for me.