Auckland night market

I love good market food. So when there is a good food market I feel like I am in heaven. The concept of bringing lots of people together all vying for your business by preparing fresh and delicious yet affordable and snack sized food is my idea of a good night out and a great way to experience lots of different foods and seeing plenty of others.

The atmosphere at places like these is worth the visit alone. Seeing hundreds, even thousands of people and vendors all squeezed into a relatively tight space means you will walk out smelling rather amazingly. The sound of food being prepared and sellers trying to entice you is all part of the experience. Bring your own wet towellettes though.

When we heard that there were night markets that had lots of food I was straight in and it seems like there are quite a few of them being organised by Auckland Night Markets. We went to the Sunday night market which is located in the undercover car park of the Glenfield Westfield shopping centre – it is such a fantastic venue for a market!

Not all of the food we ate was captured and there was also a small fresh food section that we walked through and picked up some vegetables and fruit from that I didn’t remember to photograph but clearly the emphasis is on the cooked food because it far outnumbered the number of stalls. This is not a normal flea market with some food stalls scattered here and there – this is first and foremost a market of food vendors!

When in unfamiliar places like these and such as in the hawker food centres in Singapore where I wouldn’t know a good vendor from a bar of soap it is generally a safe bet to follow the crowds. This led us to the BBQ ribs at Bourbon rib co which were fall off the bone tender and perfectly marinated. Another highlight was the freshly woodfired pizza at Stumpy’s – named after the chef who is an amputee… =\ We didn’t eat much of the ‘Chinese’ food such as fried rice, dumplings and spring rolls but I have a feeling they weren’t too bad either, we just wanted to save our stomach space 🙂

At Auckland Night Markets, Glenfield Westfield, Auckland, New Zealand