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Cancel whatever plans you had for the second weekend in August.
Light Up Chinatown! is returning to Vancouver on August 8 and 9, transforming the 500-block of Columbia Street and its surrounding lanes into a free, gloriously snack-packed street party.
Now in its sixth year, the festival is expected to draw upwards of 20,000 people for two days of food, music, performances and neighbourhood exploration.
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Come hungry. Very hungry.
Hawkers Lane will gather five Vancouver restaurants and chef teams for what amounts to an Asian street-food showdown.
Ember BBQ is building noodle bowls topped with Hong Kong barbecue pork, garlic roast pork belly, satay skewers and even Hong Kong-style bolognese. Chef Dez Lo, EatFish and Holy Duck Chili are seasoning fish and chips Typhoon Shelter-style, while Chef William Lew and Mama in the Kitchen are bringing chilli chicken wontons, mala-spiced wings and Hong Kong curry fish balls.
There will also be a Saigon snack set from DD Mau and Street Hawker’s Seoul Crusher, a smashed-beef burger piled with bulgogi pulled mushrooms, scallions, sesame crunch and yum yum sauce. Your white tee may not survive, but that’s a risk worth taking.
And there’s more: Beaucoup Bakery and Chinatown BBQ are stuffing crispy roasted pork into a flaky quiche finished with hoisin. Say Hey Cafe and Dicky’s Dumps are turning Italian meatballs into saucy, parmesan-covered dumplings. DD Mau, New Town Bakery and Keem Ice Cream have created a Chinatown Affogato with pineapple-bun ice cream and whipped Vietnamese coffee.
Then there’s the White Rabbit Bubble Tea Roll from Foo Hung Curios and Buttermere Patisserie, featuring Earl Grey sponge, brown-sugar boba and a chewy White Rabbit panna cotta centre.
All four creations are available only on August 8 and 9, from late morning until sold out. Translation: sleeping in is cancelled.
Keep the Chinatown feast going at Time Out Market Vancouver
Naturally, two days are nowhere near enough time to satisfy Vancouver’s appetite for dumplings, duck and Chinese-inspired creations.
Festival collaborator Beaucoup Bakery Café also has a permanent home at Time Out Market Vancouver, where its East-meets-West menu includes a Hong Kong-inspired Golden Fried French Toast made with kouign-amann and a Peking duck toastie loaded with mozzarella, hoisin, scallions and truffle honey.
The Market is also home to Chinatown-born Blnd Tger, whose menu travels through Jiangsu, Cantonese and Sichuan flavours with Fujian chicken-and-chive dumplings, shrimp toast and Shanghai cold sesame noodles. Heritage handles the Chinese barbecue cravings with premium char siu, roast duck, soy chicken and charcoal-roasted lamb skewers, while PiDGiN goes gloriously off-script with lobster dan dan noodles.
Even Boba Run, which will be pouring drinks at the festival, can be found at the Market serving strawberry matcha lattes, Korean banana milk and honeycomb dalgona drinks. Consider it your emergency boba backup plan.
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Dumplings, dancing and Bruno Mars
Between meals at Light Up Chinatown!, visitors can collect stamps across the neighbourhood’s 16 blocks through the free festival passport program. Complete all four zones and you can enter to win prizes including tickets to Bruno Mars’ Romantic Tour, Vessi vouchers, Cirque du Soleil tickets, sporting-event passes and an Arc’teryx backpack. So you can stash any leftovers.
The main stage will host two days of live entertainment, including Marie Hui, The Phonix Band, Silk Road Music, Jin Wah Sing Cantonese Opera, CircusWest, Krystle Dos Santos and Now or Never Crew.
Families can also hit the kids’ zone, while adults can settle into the licensed bar or Mahjong Garden for a mellow digestion break.
Follow us on Instagram or find out more about the best of the city on Time Out Vancouver here.
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