Bazaar Foods With Lil Chung

Have you ever thought that you could find Ethiopian, Peruvian, Thai, Japanese and Burmese cuisine all under one roof? Well, it does exist! And lucky for me, in Buffalo.

Behold: the West Side Bazaar. Inside this building is an international marketplace. Since Buffalo is home to many immigrants and refugees, the bazaar was created to give them business opportunities while sharing their customs, culture and cuisine.

located at: 25 Grant Street, West Side, Buffalo, New York

The ambiance is simple. To the left side of the space are booths of clothing, soaps, jewelry, etc. Along the right wall are stands for the restaurants. The food is relatively cheap (entrees around $10 and under) and provides an opportunity to try out cuisine one may never have encountered before. A bonus: each food stand accepts credit cards. (I usually find that ethnic food stands like these are cash only).

My friend Jina was in town visiting and we decided to spend lunch testing out new foods at the bazaar. We decided to split a spicy Buffalo sushi roll (I figured, when in Buffalo...) and a creamy chicken and rice dish from the Peruvian stand. We also quenched our thirst with a purple corn drink from the Peruvian stand.

The Buffalo Roll was basically a California roll with jalapeño and cream cheese, topped with spicy mayo and panko. I didn't spot Frank's sauce on it but it kind of tasted a little bit like it. Not totally fresh (as in made-on-the-spot) but pretty good.

The Peruvian Chicken and Rice dish was creamy and decadent in the most comforting way. As for our purple drink, it didn't taste like corn and it wasn't too sweet either. It was a little cinnamon-y and was healthy---there was a sign listing its health benefits. Super purple though. I'm sure it could do some damage if I spilled it on my clothes.

The food was so good that we decided to order Burmese chicken curry and pad thai from the Thai stand for dinner later. (Sorry not pictured). The Burmese curry was a cross between thai curry and indian curry spices. Less saucy and more oil based but quite tasty. And the pad thai wasn't as sweet and fishy as I usually like my pad thai but an okay noodley dish.

I can't wait to go back and try some Ethiopian food and other dishes from the stands. There also is a stand with coffee, pastries and bubble tea (but no cupcakes).