Flavors of the night in Richmond, B.C.

RICHMOND, B.C. — Vancouver may boast about having the largest Chinatown in Canada, but at night, Richmond steals the hustle-and-bustle vibe from that historic retail hub.

From mid-May to October, people line up by the thousands along the Fraser River in this Vancouver suburb for a taste of everything Asiacentric.

The Richmond Night Market, with about 400 booths on a 9-acre industrial site at the edge of town, is a shopping-and-eating extravaganza, modeled after the street markets in China, Malaysia and other Asian countries.

Here, customers bargain over prices, fortune-tellers serve as wise men and vendors yell like carnival barkers.

It's vibrant, frenetic and entertainingly rowdy.

Once considered one of the lower mainland's best-kept secrets, the market ranks as one of Richmond's top attractions, drawing huge weekend crowds. Admission is free.

Hustle and bustle

It's a dizzying spectacle of shops, food stalls and side shows with street vendors flamboyantly hawking their wares, and plenty of great people-watching throughout the night.

Things seen and heard in a span of 10 seconds on a recent Saturday:

• Teens crowding the DVD bins.

• A Korean boy hawking his kimchi-and-bacon pancakes to passers-by.

• People nudging each other to get from one food stall to the next.

• Young singles playing the Dating Game on stage.

"What is an ideal first date?" one female contestant inquired.

"A walk on the beach" at night "and later breakfast," bachelor No. 4 replied.

The crowd hooted and hollered.

Think Taipei's famed Snake Alley or Kuala Lumpur's Petaling Street markets. Only here, it's a melting pot of all types of Asian markets.

Folks forage for Vietnamese CDs, Chinese embroidered silk purses, Samurai swords and goods from other Asian countries. Vendors and customers haggle in Korean, Thai, Mandarin and Cantonese.

"You can experience the night markets of Asia without going to Asia," said Dennis Falcon, a local who comes twice a week.

Everything imaginable is for sale, from cellphone accessories to jewelry, exotic teas to glass teapots, Hong Kong fashion wear to sweaters for puppies, with prices ranging from $5 to $25. And like all Asian markets, designer knockoffs are everywhere.

But the main attraction, the reason this market resembles Mardi Gras, pre-Katrina, is a 65-stall food court that could double as an international street-vendor convention.

Treat your international palate

Try the shrimp dumplings and other dim sum snacks in the Chinese stalls.

Bite into the crispy shrimp cakes and oyster cakes for a taste of street food, Faijun-province style.

Sip the fresh sugarcane juice that's the rage in street markets in Vietnam.

Or gulp the bubble tea, a concoction of tapioca balls usually mixed with green tea, milk and fruit flavor, a ubiquitous presence in Hong Kong and Taiwan night markets.

Take a break and watch the "Candy Man" practice the ancient art of Chinese candy-making as he weaves and pulls cotton-candy-like sweets into squares, and sprinkles them with peanuts.

For something more exotic, try the barbecued smelts, chicken livers on skewers, or cuttlefish and intestine on a stick.

Close your eyes and bite into deep-fried tofu that's been fermented with dried shrimp and vegetables, a staple in Taiwan night markets. It's crispy on the outside, custardy on the inside, with an intense kick like Limburger cheese. It's called "Stinky Tofu," and as the name implies, it's an acquired taste for some.

Or play it tamer with the addictive chicken-curry puffs made by Mollie Tan at the Malaysian stall, where those pastries sold out before many market-goers could even park their cars.

Visitors with timid palates, fear not. There are hot dogs and mini deep-fried doughnuts much like those served at Seattle's Pike Place Market.

Just don't be surprised if you hear a snicker from loyal market-goers such as Falcon. "You come here to taste food that you normally would not get unless you went to several specialty restaurants, and who has time for that?" said the Richmond engineer, weaving through the crowd while sipping through a drilled coconut.

Reminders of home

Priced around $2 to $4, the dumplings, fish balls and skewers are a bargain, a big reason why teens are drawn to this bazaar.

There is also a nostalgic element involved for Asian-born diners, said Raymond Cheung, who oversees the market. The earthy taste of beef brisket, tripe and daikon soup, the smell of charbroiled pork skewers — all are reminiscent of the push-cart fare found on street corners and alleys in their native lands.

"I think that is part of the reason why they enjoy it," Cheung said.

Cheung, 31, started the night market seven years ago after realizing Richmond "pretty much shuts down" on weekends after the malls closed. He figured a night market could fill that void.

Never mind that Vancouver has been running a night market in Chinatown for years. More than half of Richmond's 181,000 residents are of Asian descent, so the young entrepreneur figured the business was there.

It was a good bet. In the last three years, the Richmond market has grown beyond the expectations of city officials and business leaders to become a major family event, teen hangout and tourist attraction. The market includes musical performances and martial-arts demonstrations on stage.

It now dwarfs Vancouver's night market, a sore point for long-time merchants there who acknowledge that customers are drawn more to the newer, hipper Richmond market only 30 minutes away. Cheung boasts the market drew as many as 30,000 on some nights last year, a record he predicts will be shattered this summer. Asians appear to outnumber other ethnic groups 2-to-1.

Not one to sit still, Cheung envisions a grander spectacle: a carnival-like atmosphere, a Westernized festival with more games, rides and performances to draw in even more visitors. "Sort of an East-meets-West thing," he said.

But at its heart, he added, this will remain an Asian market, with its signature street-vendor style.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com