A revisit to The Night Market, two months on – the manager/owner of the place has, over time, responded to both my review and those of others, who voiced similar criticisms of the lack of punch in the food, with promises to improve. And I’d had a good time overall. So Henry and I popped over one night recently. One plus, the menus at the four different stands have changed, not completely, but there are things gone and new things added. This is good, because you aren’t stuck with a limited selection of dishes every time you go, if it becomes a spot you’d go to regularly.

We tried one of the things I’d had the first time – the kimchi dumplings now use a kimchi that packs a wallop of flavor. We also tried the pork dumplings, which had great spicing. They no longer had the chicken curry dumplings, a shame. In place of the wan gua bao that really didn’t cut it, they now serve a baozi, a steamed pork bun. Flavor-wise, it’s tasty. The dough is a little sweet for my tastes, but not overboard, the filling is a delicious pork meatball – not exactly traditional, but good – albeit a little too much dough for the small meatball of filling. It also took awhile – 35 minutes from the time of ordering it, on a Friday evening – because they didn’t have any that weren’t frozen. Really? On a Friday night, when the place is jammed with people?

Henry ordered up a pork ramen, which was good, though no better than that, the broth being a bit bland. I tried a gogi rice bowl – Korean barbecue rib meat over rice, with a fried egg – probably the best thing I’ve had there so far. Those beautiful chicken yakitori have been replaced with… oh hey, there’s the chicken curry, on a pincho skewer. Same good flavor as what had been in the dumplings, though I both prefer it in the dumpling, and really had liked the lovely charred yakitori of the previous visit.

So, overall, still kind of mixed. Thankfully, no gangsta rap playing on this visit. The food is now brought to your table by waitstaff, though you still go to the stands to order it, that’s a plus. I don’t foresee this being a regular spot for me, but on occasion….