Never Too Sweet

Want to give you an overview of whole the conference, I have decided to separate it into a couple of posts my apologies if it’s a little long, but there’s so much to cover hehe so bare with me! I ll try to be brief!

I dragged Mr Bao with me so very early on Saturday morning we rushed to the airport and arrived in Adelaide at 8:30am. We quickly picked up our rental car and then headed off to the Central Market where we were meeting at 10am for registrations. Did you know that the Central Market is the largest market of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere? I didn’t know that and was slightly overwhelmed, when we stepped foot into the market.

We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we found ourselves wondering around the market looking for Zuma cafe. Then someone called out ‘Daisy’, I turned around and found Charlie (Hotly Spiced) and Maureen (The Orgasmic Chef). They had arrived in Adelaide the night before, and were looking for breakfast too ~ so we decided to go together Winston (The Hungry Excavator) also found and joined us ~

Took us a while but we found Zuma cafe, breakfast here was simple and fulfilling, hoping to do a proper review a little bit later ~

At 10am we met up at the Central Market Kitchen, I was a little overwhelmed at first ~ just because there were so many bloggers all in the same room hahaha gosh we re a loud bunch It was also quite amusing to see us all trying to identify each other through our Blog names and Twitter Handle ~ Christina (The Hungry Australian) and Amanda (Lamb, Ears and Honey), organisers of the EDB 3 then gave some brief introductions, before we were split into groups and started our tour around Central Market

We start off at Aubergines fruit and vegetable stall ~ Owners Nick and Amelia have operated this stall for over 25 years and they pride themselves in the best produce they can find in South Australia

We were all given a little sample of their fruits ~ the mangoes and blueberries were fresh and SO sweet! Mangoes are definitely one of my favourite type of fruit. Other people wanted to come and collect samples too but were turned down, gosh I felt like a VIP

Quickly moving along, next stop Lucia’s Pizza Bar, Adelaide’s first Pizza bar, and are famous for using traditional and authentic family recipes. Lucia’s also doubles up selling speciality sauces, pates, sausages and a range of goodies

Now, I’ve never had a good experience with polenta lol last time I had it, it resembled something very much like baby food, it was dry and gluggy. But this white polenta with Lucia’s tomato sauce was nothing but delicious! It had such a smooth and velvety texture ~

 

I really regret not buying a bag of white polenta before leaving…hope I will be able to find it in Melbourne too and remake this dish.

We then went to Providore! I had already had my eye on the stall with the massive chocolate fountain upon walking in so was super glad we got to stop by and have a chat with Mark  the owner

Mark told us that Providore specialises in gourmet and unique cakes and sources them from individual home bakers all over South Australia

I think it’s a wonderful idea for Providore to get their cakes supplied from home bakers ~ Because I truly believe homemade cakes area always the best! It also gives homebakers the confidence and support they need to continue to bake at home We didn’t get to try any cakes here sooooo I went back with Mr Bao after the tour Will be blogging about it soon!

I love yoghurt! Eat it everyday So I’m quite picky with my yoghurt ~ I like it thick, creamy and RICH, it’s hard to find! But The Yoghurt Shop totally nailed it! Their yoghurt was DELICIOUS! So many of us – Byran and Chrstine were swooning over their yoghurt and really hope that they will start selling in Melbourne!

Next up was San Jose Small Goods a small boutique store that specialises in Spanish artisan pork products such as chorizo, ham and pancetta. It was fascinating to learn that everything is hand made and they only use free range pigs and also female pigs are a preference.

We were given samples of their ham and cured chorizo and you could tell that it wasn’t the commercial type you get from the supermarkets. It was addictive, I just wanted piece after piece! But had to restrain myself hehe Sighh once again…a shame we weren’t able to bring any home…I checked online… you need to order a minimum of $300AUD for them to deliver…anyone willing to share with me?!

LOL My camera battery was dying so I had to call Mr Bao to the rescue, so he decided to come crash the tour He seemed really interested in what Jose had to share too ~ He managed to get a piece of ham too and LOVED IT!

We stopped by briefly at Vegas Poultry the organic free range poultry stall, they have been in the market for over 20 years, Frank the owner wasn’t there but his daughter was lovely and explained to us, her Dad wasn’t much of a scholar and decided to quit school 20 years ago and purchase this poultry store hehe ~ We did get to sample their pandan chicken the next day at the luncheon that was prepared for us ~

Our last stop was at the Mushroom Man the stall that only sells MUSHROOMS! I love mushrooms but never knew there were so many different types, I usually just eat the button ones ~

Meet the Mushroom Man himself ~ Marco lol he explained to use the stall has been at the Central Market for 30 years and he has basically grown up at the market and described himself as a ‘Market Baby’ hahaha he was very funny! He introduced us to the black garlic!

Black garlic is garlic that has been fermented in high temperature ~ it doesn’t have the sharp taste raw garlic has, instead it’s quite sweet a very unique taste but I liked it ~ not sure what I would do with it though hahaha do you have any ideas?

Now that concludes the Central Market Tour I had so much getting to know the stall owners, their history and their products ~ you can tell that each and every one of them are passionate about what they do! I recommend anyone who visits Adelaide to MUST GO to the Central Markets ~ I can’t believe I missed out last time hehe For more information about the stalls and the market opening times please visit their website.

Phew that took me ages to edit the photos and write the review ~ stay in tuned for part 2!