The Night market has been held on one day of the week over through the summer for 15 years now. During the Night Market the entire area is revamped and crowds flock to the market. It was so popular this year, in face, that the Night Market was extended a month into Spring.
The market hosts over 200 stalls, selling iconic cultural foods from Nepal, Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Greece, the U.S., Turkey, Iran, Malaysia, Australia, Afghanistan, the Netherlands, and way, way more.
On top of that, there are art stalls, souvenir stalls, and even live entertainment. Throughout the summer sword dancers have danced, African drum performers have played, comedy shows and performed, and more.
And finally, like at all Australian festivals, wine and alcohol is celebrated as well, complete with wine tastings, sangria stands and cocktail stalls.
Well I finally got the chance to go and had done my research ahead of time. I had seen Kangaroo and Emu meat in the grocery store right next to the beef and pork for weeks now but have been holding off to make sure I try it when it's cooked well. I knew that Kangaroo burgers were available at the night market and I was excited to try it. The Night Market is easy for us to get to, located in the north part of the inner city.
So after a 15 minute train ride Melbourne Station (located in the north part of inner city) and a short 10 minute walk we were there.
The stall had even more to offer than I had expected; on top of kangaroo burgers (roo burgers) there was ostrich, crocodile, and a "Roo Steak Sanga Burger".
I went for the Roo Steak Sanga Burger, which is just a different cut of the Kangaroo, using smaller pieces of the meat in it instead of a single, large kangaroo patty. (Someone who had tried both recommended it over the roo burger).
Once each of us had our food we found a table to start eating.
My dinky iPhone camera doesn't do it true justice, but it looked pretty appetizing. My friend was a bit hesitant to try it but I wasn't and dove right in.
In my opinion, if I hadn't been told it was kangaroo meat I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between it and a steak. I mean it was no Filet Mignon, the cut was definitely a bit tough and chewy, and there was a little bit of a different aftertaste, but nothing that would make me look up and say "woah what is this?"
Philippe and I both split the burger so we could also try a Brazilian steak kebab and salad.
Because the food here was very authentic it was all very well cooked. The seasoning on the kebab was awesome, and whatever home-made lemony dressing they were making in the back was just as good on the salad.
Afterwards we all split some churros from the spanish dessert stand.
We finally had some time to explore, and so I took around the entire market. By far the next most appetizing thing I wanted to try was the Spanish seafood paella, but I was too full for another entire plate.
But there was one last thing I had room for, of course: Sangria. We headed over to the stand to grab ourselves some cups of it.
Aaaaaaaand they were finished.
We sat for a while longer to relax - the weather out was absolutely perfect after hours of walking a rest was nice. But after some talking we were ready to head back home.
Update 2013.03.20
I did return a week later to try some of the other food. I had the paella pictured above, and it tasted even better than it looked. The other notable food I tried was a Greek dumpling dessert, but the dumplings reminded me much more of a ball-shaped glazed doughnut than anything else. After placing them in a bowl they poured a warm, honey-like syrup over one half of the plate and melted chocolate that hardened within minutes on the other half, then topped it with Greek ice cream. Oh. My. God.
I don't need to tell you how good it was. Unfortunately that night was the last night I could go to the Night Market. The last one this year takes place on March 27th, the day I leave for Cairns! Maybe one day I'll be able to return to see the Night Market again.
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