Night Noodle Market

Yesterday I braved the cold and checked out the Night Noodle Markets in Southbank. This has been a institution in Sydney and Melbs so it's exciting when Brisbane finally catches up with the big wigs.

Lanterns Lanterns and More Lanterns

It was PACKED when we arrived at 7, lucky for us my friend has a CitiBank card and we got into the VIP lounge where we could cozy up under heaters and have a seat.

In the tent we were able to avoid the crazy lines, and order food from Fat Noodle (Luke Nguyen’s institution), although not labeled GF (#YOLO) I ordered the Pho Noodle Soup ($14). Have to admit was quite disappointing. There were two measly slices of beef and no bean sprouts or  any sort of garnish! The broth was fatty and over salty. They also used vermicelli rice noodles instead of the traditional flat rice noodles. A complete dive compared to the real Fat Noodle, puts the name to shame really. But don't worry I didn't break out in hives so it must have been GF (I am just taking one for the team and testing it out for you guys).

No Go Pho

Anyway that experience aside, we decided once the queues died down to actually explore the markets. They had stalls from Sake, New Shanghai and Harajuku Gyoza. I stopped by a yakitori (grilled chicken) stall by Birds Nest (one of my fav Japanese restaurants) and ordered me some skewers grilled over bamboo charcoal (the proper way) (3 for $10). I got the chicken and spring onion with a teriyaki sauce, deep fried tofu and cherry tomato wrapped in thin slices of pork. Although not labeled G-Free, when I asked the guy (a fellow half Japanese) he confirmed that they were Glutard friendly.Having these reminded me of the local 'Yakitori-San' in my old neighbourhood in Tokyo, where I'd grab a couple of sticks for a snack on the go. Real market food!

To satisfy my sweet tooth, we stopped at Passion Tree and ordered a fondue set ($9), which came with a choice of dark or milk chocolate served with plump juicy strawberries, marshmallows (which I recently found out are safe for Glutards), waffles (defo not safe for us, but I shared that around) and a macaroon (which I think is GF, but not 100% sure). It was a great way to end the night, keeping us toasty with melted milk chocolate!!!

Fondue Fun

I am not going to rate the individual stalls that I went to, because I am most probably going to go to the actual restaurant and rate it then. The markets are on until July 27, really worth a look, even just to walk through and check out the cool spaces that they have.

Just keep in mind most stalls don't state their GF options, but just ask and you can usually tell by the dish (i.e. Avoid dumplings, egg noodles, soba/udon noodles, buns, etc) you're all smart enough to figure it out. And Asian food is great for being naturally G-free.