Continuing our Asian street food adventures, on our first night in Luang Prabang The Hubby and I headed straight to the night market for dinner. We would visit again pretty much every night either to shop at the handicraft market, grab a fresh juice or beer and sometimes more food. The food section of the market was located on a side street past aisles of tents with souvenirs ranging from tea, to chopsticks to “Beerlao” t-shirts. Vendors grilled up fish and meats in the tight alleyway. On our first night, we walked the whole alley to get a sense of the offerings. We squeezed past food stalls jammed next to each other and communal tables filled with backpackers.

For many of the vendors, it was hard to tell when one ended and the next began. Charcoal grills were often shared and there were few seats to sit and eat. Most vendors sold iced beer, which was perfect with a grilled fish.

In general, I noticed 3 main types of vendors:
1. Grilled Meats – Ranging from fish to pork belly to sausages, the meat was often pre-cooked and finished up on the grill when ordered. I prefered the pork options (pork belly and sausage) to the fish. For the large fish, the meat was overcooked and for the smaller fish, there were a ton of bones.
2. Buffet Style – A selection of pre-cooked dishes were set up, including vegetables, fried rice, noodles and tofu. Priced by the plate ($5-$7/plate), diners piled their plates high with whatever they wanted for the low price. All of the contents was then warmed up in a hot wok. This was definitely the option with the best value and I liked the many vegetable dishes, but everything does get combined in the wok and our guide warned us that many vendors will sell the dishes over multiple nights until it sells out.
3. Hot Pot Noodles – Priced based on the number of ingredients chosen, we were given a basket to pick fresh vegetables, a choice of noodle and tofu/soy based products to be hot-potted in a broth. I really liked this type of stall, the ingredients were fresh and thoroughly cooked. Also, depending on the time of night, the broth used for boiling the vegetables grew in flavour and depth (just like hot pot!). This did mean that the bowls could get very spicy.

Apart from these types of vendors, there were also fresh fried dumplings, BBQ pork and sandwich stalls. To satisfy my sweet tooth, I also visited the crepe stalls and fresh fruit juice stands nightly. Compared to other night markets we visited during our Asian trip, the one in Luang Prabang was smaller and cozier, but with their own distinct foods.

One morning, our guide also took us through the morning market in town where farmers brought fresh fish and butchered livestock from that morning to sell. All the parts of an animal were displayed from cuts of meat to every innard, which was sold by weight. My favourite discovery at the morning market was kanom krok, coconut pudding, made fresh street side. A thin batter was poured into heated round molds, once the pudding began to firm up, two halves were flipped together to create a pudding sandwich. The texture was gooey but solid (aka like pudding), and the flavour was a creamy coconut. Despite how hot the snack was, right from the pan, and the glaring sun, I wolved these down quickly. Later in Bangkok, we were served kanom krok as part of dessert at Nahm, while more elegantly presented, I much prefered the ones I had from the street vendor.

For years, I’ve heard raving reviews about The Stockyards’ fried chicken from both friends and The Internet. With a location in St. Clair W, only 18 seats and notoriously long lines, I took my time to plan a visit. The Fiance and I stopped by with a fried on a Saturday, around 7pm while on-route to a show downtown. Ahead of us inline was a group for 5 and two sets of couples. We were on a tight schedule and could only afford a 20 minute wait. Luckily, 20 minutes was all we needed.

Atmosphere: The wooden counter seats were tight. Half of them faced the wall, while the other offered a great view to the open kitchen. It’s hard not to be hungry in line when the smell of fried chicken permeated the air. The Stockyards was definitely a sit, eat some delicious food and get out type of restaurant, I wouldn’t recommend dining in with groups larger than 3. Reservations are not accepted but take-out is available.

Service: While disorderly, service was very friendly. With two people managing the seating queue, there was a mix-ups about who was being seated next but it was rectified. Also, The Stockyards did allow people to wait elsewhere and come back to check on their status. At first, we were seated facing the wall, but 3 stools at the counter cleared up and our server moved us to the more spacious seats. Food arrived hot from the fryer after less than a 5 minute wait.

Food: For the three of us, we split two orders of the Stockyards Fried Chicken Dinner. Each basket came with 4 pieces of buttermilk marinated fried chicken, coleslaw, fries and hot sauce. Let’s start with the chicken. Each pieces had a crispy, salty, fatty, delicious fried skin while being moist and juicy on the inside. Really great seasoning of the batter. I would’ve been happy with just how perfect the chicken was but the fries were also amazing. As in, I hogged the whole plate of them amazing. The fries were thin, and crispy but soft, just how I like them. I also had a good time with the hot sauce that was almost like tabasco but sweeter and thicker.

It’s easy to see why The Stockyards wins the title of “Best Fried Chicken in Toronto” on every published list (BlogTo, Toronto Life). Each piece of chicken undergoes 48 hours of prep and the effort pays of producing tender, juicy chicken, packaged in a crispy skin. Next visit, I really need to resist their siren call and try the Butter Burger or some BBQ specialties.

During the winter months one of my favourite meals is Korean Tofu Stew and my favourite place for Tofu Stew (soondubu) is Buk Chang. I was a frequent visitor of their Christie location during university and have been to their Mississauga location several times as well. Now being a resident of North York, I’m at the Yonge and Finch location monthly, regardless of the temperature outside.

Atmosphere: Whenever I go Buk Chang, there’s almost always a line at 7:00pm. Turn over at tables are quick so it’s rarely a long wait. Customers range from university students to families having dinner. It’s a casual spot that’s great for quick dinners or catching up with friends over a delicious meal.

Service: The service is efficient. Food arrives quickly and it’s usually not too hard to flag down a server. It gets harder to get someone’s attention when they’re busy but it’s never become a pain point. I do love how menu items are priced so it’s a round number when tax is added.

Food: The menu is concise and consists of only 9 items, 6 of which are tofu stews. Yum. The 3 non tofu stew items are also served in a stone pot, the classic bibimbab and two beef soups. Every table is served an order of complimentary side dishes that include kimchi, sweet soy beans, lightly pickled bean sprouts and radish kimchi. I always polish off the soybeans before my soup arrives and need a refill. Each bowl of Tofu Stew can be customized for the level of spiciness and you’re basically picking your topping between the 6 menu choices such as dumpling, seafood, beef or vegetable.

I always get the regular spicy combination, which comes with beef, shrimp and mussels topping the silken tofu. A stone bowl of steamed purple rice and a raw egg is served with each bowl of still boiling stew. Cracking the egg into the bowl as it’s set down results in a perfectly poached egg. The server scoops the rice (a mixture of black and white rice kernels are mixed, which causes the purple hue) into a bowl and pours hot water into the stone one. This makes a light rice soup from the burnt on rice, a perfect cleansing end to a meal full of strong flavours. The tofu is like butter and can be slurped up almost like a fine custard. The stew itself is on the saltier side but rich and savoury. The Star did a nutritional analysis on the meal and, yes it’s a lot of salt. I just drink more water the next day and acknowledge that the scale will be a few pounds heavier in the morning, it’s worth it.