There’s this new class of food events that reminds me of those 90s warehouse rave days. Hawkers Market is a bit like that (previous Hawkers Market events here, here and here) but I went to another similar one-time-only event that was even more “underground” in that it was held in a secret location that wasn’t revealed until the night before. The event was FULL BLAST SUMMER JAM produced by Here There, who have put on a couple interesting food-related events previously, including one where they turned a school cafeteria into a pop-up restaurant. I had even more fun at Full Blast than Hawkers Market! 😛 Even though there was only ONE food vendor and the beer was crap, the food was so good that it didn’t matter!
I heard about this event through this post on Scout. Here There emailed out the location info Friday night, and the event started at 9pm on Satuday. We hadn’t even totally decided on going but we were super glad we went!
The girl manning the front drew this! Cute!
Party on. Wrist stamps bring me back to that golden age of clubbing…1992-98. At least I get to soothe my mid-life crisis by going to parties like these where I can indulge my love of music AND food together 😉
This standup bit by Greg Behrendt seems appropriate:
Between Two Ferns. This event was held at the previous Hawkers Market space at 870 East Cordova. The differences were: more space to dance, two ping pong tables, mobile tiki bar out back, one other bar, and only ONE food vendor.
View of the space from back lot.
Music provided by @CanILiveDJs. Speaking of DJ…
The Tunes
Some songs I particularly enjoyed/remembered:
OMG I Drank PBR
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be forced to drink PBR. That day came.
Not dine-a-mite for me cuz they only had Pabst Blue Ribbon. But if you’re drinking PBR, it means you’re ready to party.
These nice people made slumming it with PBR a little bit easier. They got to drink Colt 45s while we had to “settle” with PBRs 😛
This is the first and last time you’ll ever see a PBR on this blog, so…enjoy…
Ah, that delightful piss-water.
Speaking of piss…guys, you recognize that sight in the cup?
Tin Can Tiki Bar ft. Tom Selleck Shrine
It’s a flexible mobile space by Tin Can Studio, tonight functioning as a mobile tiki bar.
Check these guys out if you think this creative trailer space would be good for your next event.
Tiki is coming back! (Just look at Kanaka in Gastown.) Here, Tin Can were serving punch. I didn’t get a chance to try any though 🙁 The trailer was a cool, cozy, intimate space to hang out in.
Ah, back when moustaches and chest hair were in. Now it’s all hipster/brewmaster lumberjack beards.
Oh, save me Tom!
Tom and Baba Wawa.
Chinese Tacos & Taro Chips
Winner Winner Snack Shack (aka Chicken Rice) were providing the food that night. You might remember them from the Chinatown Night Market (RIP).
They actually weren’t serving chicken rice. They did their take on “Chinese Tacos” and three different kinds of amazingcy popsicles.
Their website is non-functional, so hit them up on Twitter.
The “Chinese Taco”. Actually a riff on Taiwanese Beef Roll, using flaky green onion pancake, hoisin sauce, soy-braised beef cheeks, lap cheong (Chinese sausage), cucumbers and green onion.
They had three salsas (L-R): fermented bean paste (salty, fermented kick), mayo & cilantro (yum), and chili with calamansi (super good). The chili one might’ve been bird’s eye chili, but we think we heard wrong cuz the salsa wasn’t near bird’s eye chili-level of spiciness.
Trying out a bit of fermented bean paste salsa.
Holy crap these were so good! The pancake was really soft and pliable but also flaky and crispy. I wolfed down two of these. I didn’t mind the lap cheong cuz it wasn’t cooked to death.
Pretty good taro chips. Some were a bit burnt. Thinner than the ones at Chau VeggieExpress.
Cresent moon of chili salsa and mayo & cilantro salsa, for dipping the taro chips.
Popsicles!
First popsicle: creamy strawberry yuzu mango.
So good! We could really taste the yuzu, which added a zingy citrus kick to the strawberry and mango flavours.
Second popsicle: raspberry key lime passionfruit.
HUGE intense raspberry flavour with extra tartness from the key lime. Passionfruit could’ve been a bit stronger but it gave a bit of tropical sweetness, tartness and aroma.
Third popsicle: coconut pineapple.
This was the weakest-tasting popsicle. Kinda bland compared to the other flavours. Main complaint was the off-putting powdery texture. Not sure if it’s from coconut milk or coconut powder or something else. Well, two out of three ain’t bad!
Ping Pong
The Biltmore Ping Pong Club were on-site providing all the ping pong fun. Holy shit, it was fun!
The guy in the white shirt and bowtie was a great facilitator/MC.
The funnest part was the “round-the-world” style ping pong.
“Round-the-world” style is played with a bunch of people circling the table. Each person gets one hit. You hit the ball then move aside so the person behind you hits the next shot, and so on, and so on. It looks like this:
Despite the shitty PBR beer, the food, music and ping pong really made it a fun night. If Here There ever start up a regular event like this, I’d be all over it!