Hong Kong street market returns to the Barras - times, performances and 'daring' street food

Glasgow’s famous Barras market will be transformed this weekend (31 May-1 June) as the popular Hong Kong-style street market returns.

After the huge success of the last two markets, this family-friendly event is back for a weekend of “flavour, culture, and celebration.”

Speaking to The Scotsman, Benny, one of the traders at the Hong Kong market said: “You’ll see some authentic Hong Kong food that you’ve never tried before, and some of the people make their own crafts. We also have some performances, exhibitions and cultural exchange workshops.”

A lion from the Glasgow Hong Lok Dragon Dance Troop (Est 2001) does a dance ahead of the Hong Kong Street Market at the Barras Market this Saturday and Sunday. | John Devlin

He added: “We like to contribute to the diversity of the city and like to showcase to the local community about what Hong Kong is, what Hong Kong people are like, why we are here and how we’d like to contribute to this city.”

One of the main draws to the market is the authentic food, which Benny called some dishes “very bizarre, which you can try if you dare”. He explained that most of the traders are making homemade, family recipes so visitors will see dishes they’ve not seen in restaurants before.

Chris Butler, manager at the Barras Market said: “This is probably our biggest and most expansive market that we’re going to have ever in Barras. We’ve been working on this for the last month. The boys have been working tirelessly around the clock and it’s hopefully going to be an amazing experience for everyone that comes down. From the Hong Kong community we’ve got at least 45 vendors plus about 120 of our own market stallholders as well so it’s going to be a massive event.”

The Hong Kong market will run from Saturday 31 May (10am–7pm) until Sunday 1 June (10am–4pm) and entry is free. The market is also dog-friendly.