Night Noodle Markets Here To Stay
Another great night in this fantastic city was had last night, courtesy of the Citibank VIP area at the Melbourne Night Noodle Markets being run as part of the Melbourne Good Food Month. Breaking news - Night Noodle Markets will be back next year following unparalleled support by Melburnians! Melbourne is on track to surpass Sydney's attendances with over 300,000 (been going 12 years) - and this is just Melbourne's first year of Night Markets.
The Melbourne Night Noodle markets are being held for 2 weeks during November in the picturesque Alexandra Gardens, from November 18th through to the 30th. We were blessed with gorgeous weather last night, and the crowd sure turned up with over 20,000 attendee’s recorded. The range of cuisine to choose from was massive; Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Nepalese, Filipino and Indian, and the noodle markets play host to Melbourne’s favourite asian eateries, including Chin Chin, Longrain, Mamak and the Izakaya Den.
We were welcomed to the Citibank area by our delightful Citibank host Alex, whom made us feel like royalty from the get-go. We were served an icy cold beer and then were lucky enough to sample some scrumptious Vietnamese street food from the Banh Mi Boys food truck (the brainchild of a Masterchef Top 30 contestant, a corporate lawyer and a chinese medicine doctor). First up was a fresh and tasty Vietnamese rice noodle salad with pickled carrots, cucumber, crisp lettuce, topped with lemongrass pork belly, marinated eggplant, fried shallots and fresh coriander; such a great meal for a hot day and a big serve - enough for two! Then was the Chatham Island cod ceviche topped with orange and ginger dressing & fragrant herbs; the flavour of the fresh cod shone through, not overpowered by the citrus as ceviche so often can be - just delicious. We then sampled some amazing crispy skinned duck in fragrant oil, cooked to perfection and flavour to die for.
We then stuck in to a ‘Bangin’ Banh Mi Baguette’ - the dish which the Banh Mi boys are known for. A toasty baguette loaded with char grilled pork belly, pickled carrot, cucumber, coriander, gutsy aioli and spicy dressing. Utterly delectable with all of the flavours coming together perfectly, I’ll be hunting these boys down any chance I get. They also have the baguettes with zesty chicken, or eggplant.
They frequent in Yarraville, have been part of ‘Trailer Park’ and will be serving up their tasty cuisine at Stereosonic in December. The boys are getting busy and for good reason. I find the Food Truck revolution so exciting, and what a treat to have fresh and tasty food on offer as opposed to stodgy deep fried goods so often found at festivals and carnivals alike.
The variety of delicious Asian cuisine to be had at these markets is never-ending; think dumplings, rice paper rolls, pork buns, noodles, curries, rice and Asian soups! I had such an amazing time and will be back there before the week draws to a close to sample some more delicious goodies. Get down there if you know what’s good for you – you won’t regret it!
