AKA here is a not very good poem! The photos do the talking a little better!
Bloggers gather on a Friday arvo
At Canberra’s Reconciliation Place
Where our host Natasha Rudra
Will guide us ’round the space
Welcome to Night Noodle Markets!
Their first year in our town
I’m happy to say I leave the tour, convinced
It’s the jewel in Enlighten’s crown
We stopped first at Thirst
Canberra’s very own casual Thai
Who served us bright yellow chicken curry
But it’s their glass noodles which are must-try
At Daniel San are GIANT skewers
But then it’s time for boat noodles at Morks:
a family recipe served in broth or dry
(Tip: it’s more enjoyable eaten with forks!)
But then – then! – we have THE dish
Glazed Pork belly from Hoy Pinoy
I can’t begin to tell you how good this is
Take my advice: get it, enjoy
Liquid nitrogen is key at N2 Extreme gelato
Serving ice cream creations with hard chocolate tops
Syringes help you inject even more flavour
To accompany textures of crunch and pop
As the darkness grows longer
So too do the lines and the crowds –
But Canberra’s support of events like this
Is something of which we all can be proud
Come back next year, Night Noodle Markets!
Date: Friday, 27 February 2014
Where: Reconciliation Place, Parkes
Cost: I attended as a guest of Fairfax’s Good Food Month; food is about $8-15 a serve
Want more? Check out the posts from other bloggers for their views and (excellent) tips: Her Canberra, Rachi, Shari, Liz, Kristy, Food Porn Journal, Eileen
In The Taratory 
Nice review. Sadly, for this average punter, the 50 to 70 meter queues meant a hungry trip to Civic after we’d done the lights. I couldn’t recommend the Noodle Market to anyone. Enlighten, a different matter.
We’ll be going back but I agree, those crowds were phenomenal – and an early lesson. The tolerance many Canberrans have for queues is something else! Hopefully an early attendance later in the week will be on the money.
We went last night but I was SO bummed about the noodle markets! After standing in a queue for 10 mins which didn’t budge at all, we still had about 50 people in front of us so we aborted dinner. Loved Enlighten tho.
We went on Monday night, arrived early at about 6. The queues were reasonable and moved quite well. But where were the coffee vendors??? and the ice cream people had gone as well. More of both please. We liked Hoy Pinoy, I thought that the chicken was better than the pork. Also tried Thirst’s (?) Chicken Lollipops, thumbs up, but thought the soft-shell crab was bland, definitely nothing to write home about. The Mantou was yummy. We had no trouble snagging a table. So try to go early and stay late.
Sadly, we Canberrans can be a fickle and impatient bunch… we don’t have to wait in traffic, similarly, we we don’t like to wait in queues. The night noodles markets have the potential to be a fantastic event… hopefully lessons learned from this first one, coupled with ongoing support from the people of Canberra, will make for a popular annual event! If Darwin can do it twice a week for half the year, why can’t we!