Perth’s Night Noodle Markets

Imagine eating Asian inspired dishes from tasty hawker stalls and drinking a selection of Australia’s best wines and beers served from pop up bars in a bespoke outdoor festival setting. Add a bright and beautiful newly developed location and you have all the ingredients for Good Food Month’s Night Noodle Markets.

The Night Noodle Markets ran for 10 days and featured a mouth-watering selection of exotic dishes for as little as $10. It was a food oasis and had seating in a lantern garden installation and lion dance as entertainment. What they couldn’t plan was the weather. Perth, normally known for its perfect weather had its’ first rains for year which put a bit of damper on the event resulting in us leaving earlier than planned.

Despite the weather we did get to try a range of tasty food and have a look around on our first visit to Elizabeth Quay.

In its second year here in Perth this popular event was this year held along the picturesque Swan River and one of the first big events at the newly opened Elizabeth Quay. This was a massive event last year and we’ve been licking our lips in anticipation of visiting this event at Betty’s Jetty as Perthites have affectionately named this controversial new development.

When we arrived we were greeted with the re-creation of Asian food markets and our senses were immediately sent into a frenzy. The air was smoky and our tastebuds awakened by the most incredible aromas and sounds of sizzling meats. There was a tempting selection of local and interstate vendors and a fusion of Korean, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese foods that bought people together for one of life’s greatest pleasures, enjoying great food. We saw people enjoying dumplings, waffles on sticks, meat on sticks, bao, curries, whole fish and chicken wings and despite the name, very few noodles.

We’d heard how popular this event was again this year, so headed straight to last year’s popular stand, direct from Melbourne, Hoy Pinoy. After recommendations we didn’t hesitate to order some delicious BBQ pork belly skewers with banana ketchup glaze. Last year they sold out of pork skewers early in the event so this was our first experience of them and we were not disappointed. They also serve tasty BBQ chicken skewers so we both had one of each. It was a hard call as both were flavoursome and cooked to perfection, but I preferred the sweet, juicy pork with occasional pieces of charred fat. It was so tender and having been cooked over open coals had a nice smoked flavour.

After our skewers we went over to Shallot Thai where Steve got a Green Chicken Curry.  I didn’t try it but it did look bursting with goodness and was very aromatic from the spices.

To give a little time to rest our palates and digest our food before trying some more delightful treats we decided to take a stroll. As we hadn’t yet had the opportunity to check out Perth’s newest and controversial multi-million dollar development, we took the opportunity of wandering around to see for ourselves what all the hullabaloo was about.

This was an ideal venue for an event like this as there are lots of seating areas so people could purchase their food and enjoy a bite to eat, enjoying the impressive view of the Swan River.

After a relaxing walk around the promenades and over the bridge we walk along the western promenade and back to the event for some more tasty treats.

I decide to go back for another taste of those delicious BBQ Pork skewers when we hear some banging drums. Steve heads over to check out the entertainment which is a lion dance. The queue I’m in is quite long and when he comes back to join me I’m still in queue, but much closer to taking my order. He heads of next door to Black Star Pastry to check out what all the hype is about for their Instagram worthy Strawberry Watermelon cake with rose cream. Just looking at this incredibly photogenic delicacy sends kilos straight to my hips. Fortunately for my sugar levels they just sold out, so we venture to some of the other stalls.

We checked out Everybody Loves Ramen and sight their pink burger that went virual on social media, the pink Sakura Fried chicken burger.

Next over to Pasar Malam, they have an awesome foursome platter. A pork belly satay slider in a black brioche bun, chilli soft shell crab slider in fried bao, Nasi Lemak crunchy Nyonya fried chicken with homemade onion sambal and tofu bakar slider with miso rojak sauce.

Some of the other places we saw were Lucky Chans Laundry and Noodle Bar, Bangkok Jump Street, Bao Stop, Lets Do Yum Cha, Low Key Chow House, Turban Chopsticks, Roti Road, and Cili Padi.

There was just no way we could try everything, so next year on my list is the soft shell chilli crab and Bao Stop’s trifecta. Three flavoursome baos packed with fried chicken topped with red sugar chili jam, crispy skin peking duck and braised pork belly with Taiwanese mayonnaise. I might even be munching on one of those sakura burgers.

The atmosphere and excitement of the market is a great way to explore the culinary scene, sampling some signature dishes and expand our palates’ horizons. Street food now has a place in our eating regime and so does the calm serenity of Elizabeth Quay.

Not only do we have Good Food Month running March 30^th to April 30^th but also Eat Drink Perth from March 16^th to April 30^th and over 90 events running.

Some of the events are Perth Home Grown, bringing markets selling fresh fruit, baked bread and artisan honey to the CBD. Food Truck Rumble is the city’s largest food truck gathering. Twilight Markets, a cultural melting pot of sizzling, grilling and frying truly delicious foods. In addition to the Twilight Markets is the Dessert Garden. Cellar Door in the City is a must for wine aficionados to sample some incredible drops from lovely wine regions of WA. Love the Earth Food Festival is a night under the twinkling stars at the urban oasis Perth City Farm to explore organic, vegan, paleo foods. Yum Char in the Park, set on the lawn at Northbridge Piazza with Chinese movies showing along with live performers. All this makes way for Taste of Perth at Langley Park from April 29 to May 1.

As you can see Perth is in no danger of suffering a food drought as the number of food events in recent years has exploded.

Which foods would you have tried first? Do you like hawker markets?

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