The Spudly Chef: Night it Up!

I love markets, the atmosphere, the food... So when I heard about Asian Toronto Night Market I knew I should check it out with my girlfriend we love markets and both of us have spent time in Thailand so we were hoping it may jog the taste bud memories. The sense of smell is one of the most memory jogging senses, and often I'll smell something that reminds me of the Thai night markets and I crave going back again. Nothing however, could have prepared me for the smells of the Toronto Night Market with it's copious amounts of Stinky Tofu stalls. Wow. Firstly, I was amazed at how busy the whole market was, but what really blew me away was the smell. Some people say that Stinky Tofu smells of dirty socks. I'd say it smells more of dirty socks that have spent 6 months down the hole of a port-o-let and I don't think that's an exaggerated description. Needless to say, we didn't give it a try. In fact, we couldn't really bring ourselves to eat anything. We completely lost our appetites- I'm not sure if it was mainly from the smell, the sweltering heat (heat wave in T.O these days and temps are reaching 40 degrees) or the fact that we didn't see any refrigeration/ wash basins etc. Now we're not germaphobes or anything- but our north American stomachs can only handle so much bacteria. That's not to say it was all bad. The atmosphere was pretty amazing, there was a buzz in the air. There was also some amazing looking food- the pineapples looked so refreshing, and I would have indulged if I would have had the patience to wait in a huge queue, which I didn't. Bacon Ice cream- also something I didn't try due to my lack of patience- however, based on the concept alone all I can say is brilliant.