The Alien Night Market, which launched in the city last month, showcases the best of Asian culture through an explosion of neon lights, interactive games and sizzling street food eats. 

The weekly market can be found in the suburb of Underwood in Logan, just 20 minutes south of Brisbane.

“There is a bit of a lack of nightlife in Logan, particularly for the young people,” says operations manager Jade Chen, “so we wanted to do something to attract them while promoting Asian culture.”

The city of Logan is home to more than 230 different cultures, with half of all its residents aged 34 or under.

The markets include entertainment such as themed and cosplay nights, movie nights, with Hollywood blockbusters and Kung Fu classics on the big screen, as well as live music and DJ sets.

There are around 45 food stalls, drawn from many of the cuisines of Asia, including Korean, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Thai, Japanese, and more. One of the most popular and unique is the ‘bashed fruit tea stall’. “Lots of people come for that because it’s hard to find anywhere else,” says Chen. There’s also milk tea, both Thai and Vietnamese style, as well as other drinks like the extraordinary blue “Cloud Ade” – fairy floss, lemonade and popcorn.

Wagyu, chicken and barbecued Chinese-style skewers, along with whole squid (“a very traditional market food,” says Chen) sizzle on grills, while other stalls sell ‘whirlwind’ potatoes, Korean-style hotdogs, sizzling noodles and Nanjing duck, curried fish balls, and katsu, as well as Asian-style desserts like frozen ice with coconut jelly, and egg puffs with ice-cream. It’s probably one of the few markets in Australia you’ll also find the traditional love-it-or-loathe Taiwanese ‘stinky tofu.’ 

The Alien Night Markets are held between Friday-Sunday evenings from 5-10pm and have free entry. For more details, head to: alienmarket.com.au.

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