Sampling Different Ethnic Food at the Westside Bazaar, Buffalo, NY, USA

 Buffalo, NY, USA

Driving south of the border to the U.S.

Thursday – The weather in Toronto was cold and miserable for the past few weeks. Therefore, as soon as we heard that it would be nice warm weather for the next few days, we packed our bags for a short road trip to the U.S.

Crossing to the U.S. at the Lewiston Crossing

Living in Toronto is a blessing as we are close to a number of  U.S. and Canadian cities that are within a couple of hours drive. 

This time we chose to go to Buffalo, a city that is right across from the Canadian border, a mere two hours drive from Toronto.

Thinking that we would beat the rush hour traffic, we headed out of Toronto shortly after 2pm.  

However, we were surprised to find that the traffic was pretty heavy on the major roads. It took much longer than we had expected to get to Buffalo.

The night before, I watched the Buffalo news on tv and learned about the Westside Bazaar in Buffalo so we decided to stop by there.

Westside Bazaar is located on Grant Street,  close to the Buffalo University.

As we drove towards the bazaar location, we passed by some impressive grand old mansions along the way.

The Westisde Bazaar is located in a less affluent neighbourhood,

The Westside Bazaar in Buffalo, NY, USA

Currently, it is located on the main floor of a commercial  building.  

Though not a huge space, the bazaar has a few things to offer to visitors.

On one side of the bazaar, there were a few booths  set up.

Some were selling arts and craft items such as wooden cravings.

A couple of stalls were selling  costume jewelry.














Another vendor displayed and sold colourful clothing from different countries. 

There were  two booths offering income tax return filing services to residents in the area.

The other side of the bazaar, also our favourite side, was where the food booths located. 

We were delighted to find a 

diverse selections and dishes offered by the vendors. 






















There were at least  seven or eight stalls with each offering a selection of dishes from a different country.

There was even a vendor cooking and offering authentic Chinese dim sum dishes; the kind of delicious ethnic food we don't normally find in a food court type of selling.

It was not an easy decision to make amid all these choices. 

Desiring to try food from as many different countries as possible, we finally made our decisions. 

We ordered a papaya salad from the Vietnamese stall.

From the India food booth, we ordered a mango lassi made from fresh mango and yogurt. Yummu, healthy and delicious!


In addition, we also ordered a vegetarian dish and dim sum from the Chinese stall and a Pad Thai noodle dish from the Thai food place.

The Westside Bazaar does provide a seating area with quite a few tables and chairs set up for its customers. 







All the dishes we ordered were delicious except for the papaya salad which was a little too spicy for our taste. If one likes spicy food, that would be a good salad for one to order.

Not too fat from the State University,  the Westside Bazaar was filled with students and other visitors to the place when we visited. 

It is a vibrant place filled with some interesting merchandises and eating places frequented by young  and polite customers.

Away from the touristy places, Westside Bazaar is in a neighborhood where we have not visited before in Buffalo.   

It introduced us to the diverse side of the city, another interesting part of Buffalo. 

We loved it! 


We are always looking to see and find out how local people live whenever we visit a new city. 










This time instead of visiting Niagara Falls where most visitors go, we saw something different and authentic in Buffalo.

Congratulations to the Westside Bazaar for obtaining a grant to encourage new immigrants to start their small business and develop their entrepreneurial skills!

We look forward to visiting the new expanded Westside Bazaar in the future!

R.T.
Buffalo, New York State
USA
4/19/2018