It's heating up at the Qibao night market
The Qibao Night Market in Minhang District is in a trial operation.
Despite the chilly whether in Shanghai these days, the Qibao Night Market in Minhang District which is operating on a trial basis, is hot on the weekend.
The night market run by Zhongmin Group covers 18,000 square meters on both sides of Zhongyi Road in Qibao Town. It began a trial operation of the outdoor booths on Tuesday, and welcomed the first peak visitor flow this weekend.
“We received more than 10,000 on the first night, most of whom were nearby residents,” said Zhu Yanni, chief business officer of the market. “These days, we are seeing more people come and many of them are young from far away after seeing online posts of the market.”
People enjoy food at the Qibao Night Market as night falls on Saturday.
Train-shaped stalls on the square provide more than 100 kinds of Southeast Asian specialties and snacks, such as Thai barbecue and Tom Yum Goong, Hong Kong curry fish balls, Japanese fried chicken, South Korean cheese hot dog , roast chicken from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province, and sugar coasted haws on sticks from Beijing.
Customers wait in front of a stall for Thai food.
Chen Jinjian, a native of Guangdong Province, has rented five booths in the market to sell Thai drinks, snacks and barbecue.
He said he began to run a catering business after he retired as a Thai-boxer in 2009.
“I had been in Thailand many years and have a lot of Thai friends,” he said. “So I decided to run a roadside dining cart featuring Thai food, which is very popular in Thailand.”
Barbecue is a popular choice at the market.
He now runs five stalls in Guangdong, but it’s the first time for him to start a business in Shanghai.
“Last year, when I had a tour of Shanghai, I found there were many Thai restaurants,” he said. “I also found that Shanghai people prefer food tasting sweet, which is a little bit similar to Cantonese and Thai cuisines. But there were few roadside booths that offer Thai food at cheap prices. So I believe there is a bigger market for such a business.”
A stall sells roast chicken featuring food materials from Xishuangbanna of Yunnan Province.
Chen said the business was better than expected even if it’s just on trial operation.
“Take the 22-yuan Tom Yum Goong for example, which may be 68 yuan in a Thai restaurant," he said. "We sell out 100 bowls before the market closes each day.”
The market now runs from 4-10pm and the operation hours will extend in summer.
A boy enjoys a Mexican taco at the market.
“It’s not the best time for a night market now, but I believe our business will be better next year when the pandemic is over and the weather gets warmer,” said Chen.
Besides food stalls, there are also booths for handicrafts and games as well as a platform for music and dance performances.
Customers line up in front of a stall offering fried glutinous puddings from Jiangxi Province.
The market will officially launch on December 24.
Zhu said the company is selecting tenders for the indoor canteens and will open with more popular restaurants soon.
Children and parents enjoy a toy shooting range.
