Queens International Night Market
New York Hall of Science Parking Lot at Corona Park
Ever since my first trip to Taiwan, I hoped someday that a legit night market would open in New York. Yes, we have Smorgasburg, LIC Flea, holiday street fairs, and every single pop-up food festival in the city. But they lack the affordability, the authenticity, and the presence of a evening backdrop.
The queens international night market organized by John Wang was a huge step in making this hope a reality (although it came with a handful of hiccups). Patrons left disappointed, hungry, and angry due to the lack of food vendors and the disorganization of the event as a whole.
Vendors wrapped around the edge of the parking lot. Eaters numbered to around a thousand and with less than 20 vendors, it was a recipe for disaster. Each vendor required about a 30 minute to a hour wait. There was a demand for food that couldn’t be met.
An early line forms around a typical Chinese skewer cart. These are the kinds you can find on the streets of Flushing that sell lamb, beef, chicken, squid skewers at $1.50 a stick. I am glad they didn’t jack up the price for this event and kept it the same. Truly a pioneer of NY Asian street food, these guys would know how to handle long lines.
Teaus served drinks in their signature corked-glass bottles. I noticed their bottles are embed with their logo now. Most of the drinks ranged from $2.75 to $4.00. The convenience factor caused this vendor to be one of the first to sell out.
A vendor selling Italian sausages. They must be one of the few non-Asian food stands that day.
Here we see a Mexican street corn (elotes) vendor but made by Asians. This is the corn you usually see made street-side in Hispanic neighborhoods. The corn is covered with mayonnaise and then coated with cotija cheese.
Next is Panda Cafe selling an assortment of bubble teas. Didn’t check out what they had…
Burmese Bites sold some kind of flat-bread from photos I saw and I assume they have other Burmese specialties as well. Further down was the Japanese-Chinese Teinei Ya. They had fried chicken and noodles.
Karls Balls was serving up takoyaki by the half dozens. At $6.00 for 6 balls, it was a decent deal. However the initial batch was kind of undercooked.
I have no idea what this stall was called but they had squid skewers ($3.00/stick) 魷魚須=tentacles and 魷魚板=body. Also they were making this Chinese crepe sandwich.
Ling’s HK Style Mini Cakes and Tater Twist (needs a shorter name) had Hong Kong Cakes 雞蛋仔($4.00) and those spiral cut potatoes on a stick ($5.00). One of the few stalls that I felt was overpriced. I’ll prefer my $1 for 15 HK Cakes in Chinatown, thank you.
As the night went on, more people rolled in. It got to the point where it looked like a human sea.
But when the lamps flickered on and the smoke from the food slowly hovered in the beams of light with the night backdrop, it really felt like a night market. The atmosphere was like a scene straight out of Asia (the fact that the place was filled with 90% Asians helped too).
This night market was nowhere near perfect but it was passable for a first attempt. We have to remember that this is a setting that many of these businesses never experienced before. I am sure that even pros like the vendors from Smorgasburg won’t be able to handle hundreds of hungry and pushy Asians. I want this concept to stick around so I hope this was a learning process for the organizers and vendors. Hopefully, they will incorporate other Night Market elements like games and cheap clothing/electronic shops.
Personal tips:
– split up your group and line up on different lines to order simultaneously
– drink vendor lines move the fastest but might sell out first so grab a drink first
– don’t let other people start forming a new line
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flushingflavors 