Market Update: 13 December

First of all! I have finally taken the big plunge and gotten onto Twitter - I am still a little daunted but in a good way I think! So, if you are on Twitter, you can follow my comings and goings at http://twitter.com/milliemirepoix - thanks!

I've blogged before about that wonderful waterfront duo, the City Market and Harbourside Market, but thought I'd post an update seeing as summer is upon us and the markets have been awash with summer stonefruit, greens, berries galore. As with previous posts, by no means is this an exhaustive list of the vendors at the market... I urge you to go check it out for yourself!

Asparagus was still plentiful, averaging between $1.50 - $2 a bunch.

Gorgeous bunches of carrots and radishes, resplendent in leafy glory, were all over the place for $1-2/bunch.

Various new season's potatoes seem to have popped up in the last couple of weeks as well, with moist-looking earth still stuck to their skins... a picture of freshness.

I get so excited with the advent of stonefruit each summer. There was even more of it this week than last week - plums ranging between $3.99-$5.99/kg.

Apricots were everywhere, at $1.99/kg for little/blemished fruits (perfect for baking or jams!!) to about $3.99/kg.

Cherries were not as abundant as in previous weeks, though I did spot a couple of stalls selling them for around $12-14/kg, which is still about half the price at Moore Wilson's or New World. These were starting to look a little past their prime, but I got some, anyway... they'll be finding themselves in a clafoutis this afternoon.

As for the berries - strawberries are still going strong for about $2-2.50 a punnet, up a little from last week when I spotted some for $1.50.

Most boysenberries, blueberries and blackberries were around $3 for a punnet - not bad, but perhaps not much cheaper than in supermarkets.

Raspberries were a little dearer, between $3 and $4.50 a punnet, but they looked beautifully plump nonetheless.

Tomatoes were everywhere - cherry, cocktail, truss, and regular old tomatoes - all looking a vibrant shade of red and priced on average $1.49-$2.99/kg. Hooray for summer!

I stopped at Little Wolf Produce, a stall selling pork products - various salami, smoked pork belly, dried smoked bacon - made by a lovely Yugoslavian couple.

This time I got a little stick of salami. After having tasted their offerings for the past couple of weeks I decided to take a little stick of dried salami home with me. I forgot to note the price but for a stick about 18cm long it only cost me $3.50 which I thought was not bad at all.

But the real reason I've been going back there each week is that they always have 1 or 2 beautiful pastries on offer. If I'm lucky, I can get a slice of poppyseed strudel ($2) which used to be one of my favourite foods as a kid in Chicago (it's available at lots of places, probably because of the Eastern European population there). Today was one of those lucky days - mmm, breakfast.

I think I may have mentioned it before, but the Mac Snack stall is another one I'm a big fan of - I usually get a little bag of roasted macadamia nuts ($3, in the silver bags) to munch on throughout the week.

The macadamia nut butter ($8.50) is rich, creamy, nutty, and distinctively macadamia-y. I've got some of the chocolate macadamia nut butter at home... I literally eat it out of the jar! (I tell myself it's healthier than nutella, hmm...)

Mac Snack also always has a few small-medium avocados lying about... they're bio-gro organic (just like the macadamia nuts) and a pretty good deal, with the "bargain bin" avocadoes often 3 or 4 for $2 (depending on availability). They don't go brown when ripe so don't be misled by the green colour - they're really nice.

By the time I got to the City Market my camera and wallet were both running low... so apologies for the lack of photos.

The Christmas spirit was everywhere - Santa was there, as well as lots of stalls selling beautifully wrapped food products and a lot of bakery stalls selling Christmas cakes and the like - like Brezelmania who were selling gorgeous German Christmas pastries.

One of the immediate effects of getting onto Twitter was that I noticed the City Market had tweeted about Hippopotamus Restaurant being in the Market Kitchen this Sunday. I've heard good things about their chef, Laurent Loudeac, so decided to check it out.

OK, so it was only 9am, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Who says early Sunday morning is too early for a snail kebab with garlic butter and baguette ($5)? It was delicious - the snails plump and tender, served on a little skewer with oodles of herbs and garlic butter. And oh my god, the garlic butter. Soaked through the bread, pooled on the plate, dripping down my chin - probably more butter than I've knowingly eaten at one time, ever. But it was so worth it.

And now, I'm off to the gym!

Harbourside Market
Cnr Cable St & Barnett St (Next to Te Papa)

City Market
Chaffers Dock Building
1 Herd St
Wellington

Bordeaux Bakery, Thorndon Quay

This post actually dates back a few weeks. I've kind of been waiting to write it up, since I haven't been eating out as much lately as (a) my schedule has been jam-packed, (b) with Christmas around the corner I've been trying to be more careful with my spending, and (c) my usual trusty dining companions E and Florence have left windy old Wellington for the summer, to snow-ridden Chicago and bustling Hanoi (okay, so I haven't been to Hanoi ever, so I basically just made it up, but Hanoi bustles in my mind, alright?) ... not that I'm jealous or resentful at being left behind in Wellington or anything!

So after our camping trip, E and I went to return the rental car and stopped in Thorndon for some breakfast on the way. Last time we hired a car we stopped at another French cafe, Le Marche Francais, this time Bordeaux... am I starting to develop strange habits as I grow older? Hmm.

My eggs benedict came with a thick slice of ham, finely chopped spinach on top of grilled brioche slices. The eggs were poached just how I like them - yolks still runny, but just starting to thicken - and the spinach gave the dish an added dimension that isn't normally found on your average hollandaise-drenched bacon and eggs on toast. Plus, all the greens on the plate made me feel like I was actually eating something somewhat healthy. And the little side container of hollandaise sauce was an extra touch that will please those looking to cut back on their egg yolk-butter consumption. (I, for one, can't count myself in that group... I love hollandaise!) The only reservation I had with this was that the toasted brioche tasted a little dry- next time, I'll ask for butter.

E had the french toast with banana and bacon - a standard dish in many breakfast spots, but this one was sinfully good. Poor E... I'm pretty sure I snuck more bites than he actually got to eat! While the softened, almost-caramelised banana and the savoury, smoky bacon complemented each other beautifully, the real thing that made this french toast stand over others in my mind was the bread.

Moist, dense and chewy, studded with bits of chocolate (I'm not kidding!), it soaked up the eggy batter and maple syrup (also thoughtfully provided in a side cup) spectacularly.

This time I departed from my usual flat white and ordered a cappucino ($3.50), which arrived loaded with cocoa powder (my guilty pleasure - the more, the better!) and a thick layer of foam.

E stuck with a flat white ($3.50). The coffees weren't bad, but I thought they could have been a bit stronger.

Unfortunately I lost the little paper on which I jotted down the dishes' prices, but a quick look at my bank statement tells me that our total was $31 for 2 people, including coffee. That's pretty acceptable considering the seemingly ubiquitous trend of breakfast prices creeping up all over the city. They also have delicious fresh-baked bread (I'm a fan of their baguettes, which often find their way, ends nibbled off, into my cupboard), an extensive display of pastries, and they seem to do crepes as well. Plus there's ample (pay and display) parking along Thorndon Quay. I hadn't had a meal at Bordeaux in years before this trip but I'm glad to have revisited it - we weren't disappointed.

RATING: 4/5




Bordeaux Bakery & Brasserie
220 Thorndon Quay
Thorndon
Wellington
(04)499-8334

(P.S. I've been thinking about getting onto Twitter - have already set up an account, but am a little slow to get into these things, and a little apprehensive as to how it will all work out... keep an eye out for further announcements, though!)

Harem Cafe, Manners Mall

Apologies for not having blogged lately - but I promise it's not because I've been lazy! I've been keeping myself very busy with several new commitments, and before that, E and I went on a spontaneous camping trip to the middle of nowhere, which I highly recommend if you're too short on cash to take a holiday to a tropical island, but still want to get away from cellphones, internet, civilisation... total peaceful bliss.

We weren't feeling very peaceful or blissful upon our return, though; the long drive back had left us tired, cranky, and most of all, hungry, as long drives back from the middle of nowhere are inclined to do. And in light of the fact that E was about to leave Wellington for a couple months at his parents' house, we headed to one of his favourite Turkish restaurants, Harem in Manners Mall.

The first thing you notice upon entering is this rather striking grotto-like staircase that leads to Harem's upstairs dining room.

Stalagtites hang from the ceiling, illuminated by colourful lights... this definitely isn't your average restaurant entryway.

Inside, the dining room is less cave-like but just as whimsically decorated, with stained glass, stone walls, and little nooks and crannies housing various objects.

Upon being seated, E and I were surprised with some complimentary garlic bread (menu price $6.50). I'm not sure if this is a usual practice at dinnertime, since we usually go to Harem for lunch, but our grumbling stomachs appreciated the gesture. A divinely chewy Turkish bread (which also forms the base for Harem's Turkish pizzas), slathered with garlic butter - I had forgotten how good garlic bread can be.

Since we were extra hungry, we ordered sigara boregi ($10) to start, not quite sure what we would be getting. These crispy fried filo rolls looked a little like spring rolls, but the filling was entirely different - herbs, feta and mozzarella melted together to form a mild but comfortingly creamy, oozy interior.

E ordered the kusbasili pizza ($17.50), an oblong pide, or Turkish pizza, with a supple, airy crust topped with seasoned lamb, tomato, red onion, capsicum and herbs.

The crust had that chewy, crispy consistency you find on the best Italian woodfired pizzas, but was thicker and more substantial. The topping was delicately flavoured, not overpowered by cheeese and sauce like some pizzas can be. E declared it the best pizza in Wellington (I'll probably stick to my Italian favourites but Harem's pide is definitely among my top 5).

Wanting to try something different-sounding, I ordered kabak boregi($19.50), shredded pumpkin and mozzarella cheeses sandwiched between layers of filo pastry, served with salad and sweet chilli sauce. It wasn't bad - but compared to other dishes I've had at Harem I think it lacked the fresh, made-to-order quality of, say, the pizzas or our entree. The filo crust wasn't particularly crispy, but rather soft and chewy. In the grand scheme of things, it was still entirely palatable, but I probably wouldn't order it next time.

Despite the slight disappointment, I still enjoyed my meal, and have had enough fantastic meals there in the past that it didn't tarnish my opinion of Harem. The breads and pizzas are hard to beat, and the atmosphere feels like something out of a fairy tale. Service has always been prompt and friendly, though I've only really been there at off-peak times so don't know what it's like, say, on a Saturday night. Overall, it's a special little place. Recommended.

RATING: 4/5




Harem Cafe and Meze Bar
1F, 90 Manners Mall
Wellington
(04) 499 9771

Open for lunch (11:30am-3pm) and dinner (5pm-late)