Manchester Christmas Markets

The weekend trip to Cologne for the Christmas Markets last year was without a doubt one of the most delicious and memorable trip. My friends and I still constantly dream and rave about the food and all the fun we had.

We were meant to organise this year's Christmas Market trip to Berlin but things got in the way and it didn't happen. Slightly crestfallen and disheartened but nevertheless, there is always next year! I had to head to Manchester for work at the last minute and a google search and reading about Guan's recent trip to Manchester for their Christmas Markets came at just the right time.

I love Christmas markets and being able to attend one even if it's not in Germany is better than nothing I suppose. With my Manchester Christmas Markets map in hand, I was all ready to start exploring. Did I mention how freezing cold it is at the moment?

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Real Food Market, Covent Garden

Every Thursday, the piazza at Covent Garden comes to life with the appearance of stalls selling their culinary wares and the waft of food cooking greeting passers by.

Weather permitting, I made my way there over a number of weeks to sample what there is to offer.

I wrote a post earlier on Street Kitchen that was there in October. Really liking what I had, I went back to try some others.

Hot Smoked Salmon with Beetroot, Crushed Potato and Horseradish £6.50

This was ordered by my colleague and looked rather good.

 

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Home Made Organic Brioche £4.50

Hearty and wholesome, this was of a medium creamy texture.

Cheesecake with Blackberries and Shortbread £4.50

Apparently, they ran out of the cheese from the original supplier and had to substitute it with another on the day that I decided to try it. Was told by Jun Tanaka that this is creamier but still as delicious!

I don’t mind that the cheesecake was not as solid as it still went very well with the crunchiness that came from the shortbread with bursts of tartiness from the blackberries. My colleague prefers the more solid versions.

Some of the regular stalls:

Fresh oysters, anyone?

Paella

This is as fresh as it gets where the garlic is still literally in its shrubs from being picked from the garden.

There is also a stall selling organic vegetables.

I was very tempted to try the Salt Marsh lamb steak but the queue deterred me.

Truffle risotto – I sampled this and the flavour of the truffles definitely hit you strong. It is slightly more al dente than expected but was told that they have to slightly undercook as it continues to cook when you are bringing it somewhere else to eat it.

In the end, I settled for some vegetarian rice pilaf which was overpriced as this was only how much I got for £4.50!

Varieties of sweets and pastries, check out the dessert shots!

After much deliberation, I got myself an Alfajores as dessert. I’ve never had one of this before. These are cookies that are filled in the middle with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut, a South American snack.

I don’t really like coconut-coated stuff but I could forgive this one as the cookie itself is so airily light that crumbs literally fly in the air for a few nano-seconds when you bite into it. It almost feels like it melts into nothingness leaving behind hints of butter ending with the sweet caramel sticky dulce de leche!

I really like this one, might attempt to make it as I have a tub of Dulce de Leche sitting in my kitchen.

The Real Food Market will continue until Christmas. Good time to also check out KISS.

Description below from coventgardenlondonuk.com:

“Dubbed KISS, and designed by Paul Cocksedge Studio, KISS is activated when two people hold the mistletoe under the tree and kiss. The electricity of their touch spectacularly lights up the tree’s 50,000 red and white LED lights, creating a sensational light installation.

Merry Kissmas aims to raise over £25,000 for youth charity The Prince’s Trust, changing the lives of disadvantaged young people in the UK, through practical and financial support. We are encouraging visitors to donate a minimum of £1 for every kiss under the Christmas tree. Please give generously. Visit princes-trust.org.uk for more details.”

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Good Living Growers Market

The Good Living Growers Market is held on the first Saturday of every month. This is a time where the growers themselves will wake up in the wee hours in the morning and make the trek to Pyrmont to sell their ware; some of them travel from 3 hours away and if you include the set up time, some of these people probably start their day at like 3 am in the morning.

This market is for all those who seek high quality food products at reasonable prices and for those whose curiousity gets the better of them, you are able to chat with the growers and producers of these food products to get the full story of what you are buying. Most of these products tend to be preservative free, organic and have won medals and awars along the way.

There is always something new as the season changes which brings forth new growers who mixes with the permanents. I always have a great time here, checking out new things and tasting stuff. Nothing better than enjoying the lightness and freshness of food.

Managed to get out of bed after the persistant ringing of my alarm clock for half an hour, waking up to go to the market is the hardest part.

The aroma of coffee and sweet smeling food greeted us as we made our way there. Our hearts were beating, our stomachs were growling.

Varieties of pork on sale

Our heads took a turn and our noses were greeted with the delectable smell of oil and grease while my eyes were greeted by this sign. Anyone for some confused eggs and bacon?

Found the man making the confused eggs.

Even though it's winter, we just cannot resist desserts and paused for so long in front of this ice-cream sandwich stall that the guy took the sign and came up to us as we daren't step too close for fear of temptation. Temptation won and we caved in. We ended up buying a take home pack!

What a cute greeting on our take-away pack!

Be sure to check out the "Pastabilities" stall. They sell the best take-home Ravioli I've ever tried. Even after days of freezing and you take it out to cook, the flavours are still so intense and rich, it's delicious! I've tried from "Sicilan Chicken with red wine, capers and olives" to "Duck with ginger and five spice". Yummy~ my new purchase is "Blue swimmer crab in lemon and lime". It's good to chat with the guys selling as some ravioli requires a sauce while some don't. The makers knows best!

Onion marmalades and hot peach relish. There was even a wild hibiscus jam

White Truffle & Pecorino cheese sausage. It taste really good!

Jams, Jams & more jams from Alpine Berry Farm

Banana Bread anyone?

Butter with a twist!

Check out the marbling on this Wagyu steak! They sell wagyu sandwiches for AUD5 as a breakkie.

I love chocolate milk and the ones from here are literally "Over the Moon"!

Wine Jellies. From Semillon to Shiraz and Rose. I could really taste the wine. Yummy~

Award-winning wine jellies. Used them as a spread, they are great!

He has been cracking and making egg after egg after egg for hours!

Doggie Treats for your lil' doggie? Try pig ears and kangaroo tails

By this time, we were feeling hungry and got ourselves a table and started ordering food for some breakkie. I got the blueberry pancakes.

Blueberry & buttermilk pancake mix, Maple sugar & Oatmeal scone mix, Cranberry & orange pancake mix

This kid has a bike as a stroller. Cool!

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Melody Market, Chatswood

The melody market is held every Thursday along Victoria Avenue, Chatswood. It consists of a variety of stalls selling from food, clothes to accessories.

I have to admit that I go there mainly for the food though! Thursday is the one day that I always look forward to whenever I am in Chatswood! Below are some of my favourite foods discovered here...

Fishball Soup at the HonTou (红豆） stall

The Hontou stall sells mainly mini pancakes with fillings in them such as green tea, chocolate and red bean. They started to sell fishball soup at the side. This is really great! Hot Soup on a cold day such as winter now stuffed with all the different varieties of fishballs or of similar category. You get an egg, fishball, squidball, lobster ball + lots lots more.... Yum yum.....

If you want something light and at AUD5, I love it!

The Works at the Malaysian Stall

This is one of my favourite Malaysian stalls in Sydney. This is closer to the authentic Malaysian food that I have discovered. Best to go for the Works which consist of rice, a meat choice (you can choose from food such as Beef Rendang, Eggplant Sambal etc...), 2 satays with a fantastic peanut sauce, vegetables and 1 roti canai (Type of Indian Bread). A dash of everything to try. I totally love the peanut sauce, the crispy roti canai and tender Beef Rendang!

Cheese & Spinach Gozleme at the Turkish Gozleme Stall

You also have the Turkish Gozleme store which sells a pizza like style dish with fillings. You can go vegetarian such as cheese & spinach or go for the Combination (can't remember what is in this). I like the combination version, taste like pizza.

I will never miss this for the world. Japanese Takoyaki! Long queue and wait if you go at peak times. It is flour ball filled with ingredients such as octopus, crabs and prawns.

After trying all versions, my favourite is the Prawn and Crab Takoyaki. The prawn is filled with a type of mayonnaise and the texture of the prawns combined together with the flour ball is just delicious. The sweetness of the crabs also comes through in the Crab version as well.

Yummy! Try to go when they are not too busy and the quality will be at its best!

This is located near the end of the street and is a new one that I tried recently. It is set up like bar and you have stools at the side to eat your food. I decided to try the Garlic Prawns.

While waiting for my order, you can see in the left pic of the guys cooking and on the right, sauces that they sell.

The Garlic Prawn finally arrived in my hands. I ordered the Entree version which is the same price as the Garlic Prawn Roll at AUD7. Ooh~ It was soo good. Most of us who tried it was sighing with delight! The prawns were really fresh and I have no idea what marinate was used to cook the prawns in but they have been absorbed by the prawns and was just really really tasty! My entree came with a bread roll on the side too.

One of the guys loved it so much that he went back for a second helping at dinner time.

The melody market is open from around 11am till around 8pm every Thursday.

Total Score ~ 20.5/25

[Taste - 8.5 (10) , Presentation - 3 (5), Service - 3.5 (5), Value for Money - 4.5 (5)]

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