northside produce markets (again), north sydney

My loot, featuring:

1. Marshmallows from Sweetness the Patisserie ($15). Gena, the owner, was there and lovely and friendly as usual. We actually first discovered Sweetness during a trip to the Rouse Hill Markets (which Gena said no longer run, which is a shame - just like the Cook and Phillip Park markets no longer run! And that was part of the reason I chose to go to where I work at the moment, haha!), then we saw her again at our first trip to the Northside Produce Markets, and then we made a pilgrimage to Epping. So soft, so fruity, so yum! On another note, why not combine a trip to Epping for marshmallows with a visit to Sam's Cafe? We've been there once after chapflap went to the Croydon one ages ago, and it was good fun. Obscure location though!!

2. 2 packs of macadamia nuts from Jelbonleigh Estate ($15 each or $28 for 2). Unfortunately the honey roasted ones turned out to be "best before March 2010" but they still taste alright

3. 2 smoked rainbow trout from Snowy Mountains Trout ($20 altogether). I asked the guy whether they have anything to do with Eucumbene Trout Farm as it's on my list of places to visit (we went trout fishing in Adelaide and had a great time) and he said that they get their trout from there.

4. 1 tub of Over the Moon creme fraiche for making rillettes with ($6)

5. 1 pack of Italian flatbread from Casa Mia Biscotti for eating the rillettes with

6. A pumpkin loaf ($6.50) from La Tartine - one of those delicious breads that you can eat on its own

7. A tayberry pie ($10) from Rowan Farm ((02) 4887 7307) - a tayberry was described to me as "a cross between a raspberry and a boysenberry"

8. 2 punnet of grape tomatoes ($5 altogether or $3 a punnet) from J & S Zammit. I've been known to eat entire punnets of grape tomatoes in one sitting. Yum.

9. 1 small tub of passionfruit and mango yoghurt from Gourmet Goodies (20 Patterson St, Ermington - phone (02 9638 0014) for $4.

The total damage? All the cash I had left in my wallet after a big night featuring Star Bar (where I got ID'd for the first time in ages! Score!), Harts Pub and Greenbox...

On the way home through Greenwood Plaza I spotted a new stationery shop called Typo. It's like kikki.k/smiggle on crack! Bulldog clips featuring swear words (perfect for the office!), acerbic greeting cards and retro clocks. So tempted, but was already struggling to get home with the above loot (plus an additional bottle of wine and 6 pack of beer for a dinner we're going to tomorrow night!) My research now shows that Typo is an offshoot of the Cotton On clothing chain. You can find one (Typo that is, not Cotton on) near you here.

Northside Produce Markets
Held 3rd Sunday of each month
8am to 12 noon
Miller Street (between Ridge and McLaren Streets, near Stanton Library and the Council)
North Sydney NSW 2060

recent happenings

I've recently re-discovered origami.

I blame it on this acquisition from our last trip to HK. I've been consulting Pangu's source in preparation for further acquisitions during my next trip in August.

Now, I'm working on flowers that you can learn to make too here.

Otherwise, we had this lovely orange and fig cake from Black Star Pastry which I dragged chapflap to after reading this. $36 and utterly delicious, we'll have to head back another time for the watermelon cake and the ginger ninjas. The garden gnome chair featured in NQN's post is also still there. I would recommend taking the train there though as the parking there is a bit hair-raising, with cars parked on both side of very narrow streets so that they are effectively turned into one-way thoroughfares. Definitely worth a visit, both for the sweet treats and the writing on the wall on a wooden fence back from Black Star admonishing passer-bys that it's not a trough.

Black Star Pastry
277 Australia Street (just behind where the Newtown markets are held)
Newtown NSW 2042

(02) 9557 8656

You can possibly find more information here - as of the date of publishing this post the site was still under construction

kakawa chocolates, east sydney

A return trip to Kakawa for mango and passionfruit pralines, as well as green tea. Mmmm....

A gift box for chapflap. Apparently the macadmias and meringues from last time were a big hit with his colleagues. From left to right, he's getting a mango and passionfruit, a green tea, a bluberry and yoghurt (I'd be intrigued to find out what this tastes like!) and a raspberry. The blueberry and yoghurt and raspberry pralines are milk chocolate.

A gift box for me :) From left to right, mango and passionfruit, green tea, thai basil and lychee. Both the thai basil and lychee are in dark chocolate, otherwise I would've got the lychee for chapflap as well.

I've just had part of the thai basil one (I confess it was because I didn't remember what the 3rd one was that I chose!) and it is divine. Gift boxes of 4 pralines are $8 each, otherwise you can get pralines individually (unboxed) for $1.80. The people there are lovely, and I read a SMH clipping that was in the front window which describes who they are.

Jin Sun slipped me a bonus peanut butter treat in the bag for me as well, which was delicious. The next time I'm back (which I inevitable will be... so close to my office, and so yum!)  I've got my eyes set on the salted caramel praline, after still having lingering memories of the salted caramels at Rockpool (even though I went there for a work Christmas lunch... what, 2 years ago now?).

Kakawa reminds me a bit of Boon Chocolates - it'd be dangerous though if they too had a seating area for drinking hot chocolates, because I mightn't end up spending much time in the office during winter. I'd really like to see boutique chocolate places like these succeed, because it's obvious that they're really passionate about their product and work their butts off to deliver.

Kakawa Chocolates

147 William Street

East Sydney NSW 2011

(02) 9331 8818

Open Mondays to Saturdays

You can find more information here

sweet infinity, woolloomooloo

I will miss this beautiful bakery when I finish at my current job next year. Just wanted to alert everyone to the fact that they've started making one of my favourite things in the world - arancini, aka delicious rice balls. They make bolognaise, chicken and spinach and ricotta, all for the bargain basement price of $5 each. Haven't had the chance to try one yet because they were all sold out when I headed back to get one for lunch after spotting them on a morning macaroon run. My workmate liked her bolognaise one so much though that she went back for a chicken one in the afternoon!

Update 2 December 2009: finally got my hands on a spinach and ricotta arancini on my third attempt! Went at 10:30am on a Wednesday morning after being told at 11:30am on Tuesday that they didn't make them that day. It was worth the multiple attempts at procurement! Delicious!

Sweet Infinity
53 Riley St (near William Street)
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

(02) 9331 2448

Open 7am-4pm Mondays to Fridays
7am-1pm Saturdays

Get more information here

While you're there, check out the scrumptious cakes like the chocolate honeycomb cake (so want that for my birthday next year) and lemon meringue pies (available in snack and meal size...!) And they're donating all profits from sales on Saturday 5 December to the Sydney Children's Hospital (I read it in the Sun Herald, there doesn't seem to be anything up on their website about it). All the more reason for a visit :)

boon chocolates, darlinghurst

Boon Chocolates was recently featured in SMH and I've also seen it mentioned elsewhere on the web (for example on herecomesthefood). We went early on a Friday night before a late dinner and enjoyed the cosy atmosphere. There are only a few tables upstairs for eating in - it almost felt like sitting in someone's lounge room.

Hot chocolate is served with a deliciously light chocolate mousse and a praline. It was fairly dark upstairs so I didn't bother trying to photograph the drinks, but here's some shots of what we brought home:

Gift box of 5 pralines. I remember the pralines individually were $1.75, but I don't remember how much they were with the gift box and everything. Gift boxes of 8 and more also available.


One of these two chocolates is the Schubert, which features Earl Grey Tea. The other is the Jasmine, which has jasmine tea in it. Alex, who runs the place with his sister, told us that there's also a Mahler chocolate for the other classical music lovers out there. He named the Schubert because of how the flavour stays with you after you've finished it, just like Schubert's music.

Arabica, with coffee.

The gorgeous Janne, with rose.

Kurobiko, with rice crispies!!

The passion that Fanny has for the chocolates is really evident, especially in the elaborate perfume bottles made with chocolate that sit in the display drawers. It's worth dropping by just to see them.

Boon Chocolates
251 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010

(02) 9356 8876

You can find more information here

Open Tuesdays and Wednesdays 12 midday to 8:30pm
Thursdays to Satudays 12 midday to 10:30pm
Sundays 12 midday to 7pm
Closed Mondays

Street parking available close by; note that the section of Victoria Street that Boon is on is a one way street

sweetness the patisserie, epping

Look where we went this weekend :)

Sweetness the Patisserie was recently featured in the Good Living section of the Sydney Morning Herald (you can see a reproduction of the article in Beansprout's Cafe), but we discovered its sugary goodness earlier at the Rouse Hill markets. I was so excited to find out at the North Sydney markets that Gena planned to open a retail store in Epping. It's now open for business, and was quite a hubbub of activity on the Saturday afternoon that we dropped in...

Hazlenut and cranberry nougat (150 grams) - $7.50. Also available in 300 grams ($13.50). Gena cut a new batch of this while we watched. So fresh, so delicious...

The ever-popular mallows. In 385 gram bags ($15)...


And 150 gram bags ($7.50). Flavours vary from season to season - chapflap was disappointed to find they weren't making mango at the moment, but we did enjoy the strawberry, raspberry, passionfruit, lime and vanilla mallows currently available.

I would've loved there to be a cafe on site to try the biscuits and cakes straight away, but at the moment the premises is mainly an open kitchen with a small retail section at the front. You'll just have to tear open your packages in the car, like we did!

Sweetness the Patisserie
38 Oxford Street
Epping NSW 2121

(02) 9869 3801

Open Mondays-Wednesdays and Fridays 8:30am to 5:30pm
Thursdays 8:30am to 8:00pm
Saturdays 8:30am to 5:00pm
Closed Sundays

You can see more information here

Street parking available in front of the store. Epping station is about a 5 minute walk away.

northside produce markets, north sydney

I've been dreaming of Sweetness the Patisserie marshmallows since we discovered them at Rouse Hill. Arwen from Hoglet K said that they're also at the Pyrmont markets, and I was hoping that they'd be at the Cook and Phillip Park Markets because I'm starting work near there soon (nooo, I don't choose my office location based on the facilities nearby...).

Happily, I stumbled across Sweetness the Patisserie again today at the Northside Produce Markets, which are held every 3rd Saturday of the month in North Sydney.

Mixed mallows - strawberry, vanilla and passionfruit ($8). We wanted the mango ones from last time, which were divine, but Gena said she changes flavours every month. She also said that she is planning to open a shopfront in Epping on 9 February! Looks like we'll be heading that way for a visit soon...

At the markets we also enjoyed an amazingly flaky sausage roll and pasty:


Sausage roll ($3) and Shepherd's Pasty ($4) from Shepherds Bakehouse.

And to polish off a delicious morning, two desserts from Consummate Caterers:


Apricot tart ($5.50) and apple and rhubarb cake ($4). There was an apple seed in my cake! Both were deliciously moist and packed with fruit. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information about Consummate Caterers through google, but look out for them at markets near you (or maybe I should say smell out for them - their egg and bacon rolls smelt delicious).

This was the first time I'd been to the Northside Produce Markets, and I was very impressed by the variety of stalls and the number of people (and dogs!) there. There's street parking nearby or a council carpark via Ridge Street (free on the weekend).

Northside Produce Markets
Civic Park (which is between Stanton Library and the North Sydney Council Chambers)
Miller Street (between Ridge and McLaren streets)
North Sydney NSW 2060

More information is available here

The next markets will be held on 21 Februrary from 8am to midday

Sweetness the Patisserie
Opening soon at 38 Oxford Street
Epping NSW 2121

Shepherds Bakehouse
At markets near you

Check their markets listing here

penrith valley oranges, penrith

I've become addicted to pick-your-own orchards since our trip to Young last year for cherries. Unfortunately this is only the third time I've actually been able to act on my addiction, but I plan on dragging chapflap to Port Macquarie for Ricardoes strawberries sometime in the future (unless we make it to Sunny Ridge in Victoria first). We've also been macadamia picking at Yarramalong, but that only resulted in a small bounty (on the scale of difficulty of fruit picking based on my very limited experience, I'd place cherries at the bottom, oranges next then macadamias on the top!)



Pick-your-own oranges are charged at $2 per kilo. There are also pre-picked oranges for sale in the shed. Before you rush off to get them though, unfortunately Penrith Valley Oranges is closed for the season - until July 2009! We actually got there on the last day of operation for the season.



Oranges in their natural environment



They're a bit camera-shy!



Our 7.5kg haul. As usual, I got a bit over-enthusiastic. Unlike the time we went cherry picking though, I didn't have the equivalent amount of fruit in my stomach...



There's a very friendly Dalmatian that lives at the orchard, along with some horses (one of which chapflap managed to incite to something bordering on equine violence...)



Penrith Valley Oranges
800 Castlereagh Road
Castlereagh NSW 2749

(02) 4776 2332

Now closed for the season, but during the season it is open from Fridays to Sundays 9am to 5pm

More information available here

galston strawberries at 359, galston

There's nothing quite like farm fresh strawberries. Got this beautiful tray for $5 from an orchard in Galston, just west of Hornsby.



Also got a box of peaches for $8.



It's pretty close to to Berowra Waters, home to the 2009 SMH Good Food Guide's Best New Restaurant of the Year, Berowra Waters Inn. Why not make a day of it and grab some fresh produce on the way to a fabulous meal? (I haven't been so lucky as to have been to Berowra Waters Inn myself, I'm just going by the review at eatshowandtell)

Galston Strawberries at 359
359 Galston Road
Galston NSW 2159

Only on weekends only in September from 8am to 5pm
Open 7 days from October to April - 8am to 5pm

More information can be found here

sweetness the patisserie, at markets near you

Picked these delicious marshmallow treats up for $7.50 each at the Farmers and Fine Food Markets held at Rouse Hill on the weekend.

Unfortunately Sweetness' site is still under construction, so I'm not sure where else you can get them from. The Farmers and Fine Food Markets are next on at Rouse Hill on Saturday 20 December.



Assorted flavours - spied a passionfruit pip in one of the white ones. Fruity!



Mango...



And chocolate. A fellow customer said that they were good for making rocky road.

Farmers and Fine Food Markets
Market Square (next to the main shopping centre)
Rouse Hill NSW 2155

Held monthly

Farmers and Fine Food Markets also held at Castle Hill and St Mary's Cathedral Square in the city