North Sydney Market  – what a haven for foodies. Held the 3rd Saturday of the month, the open air Mediterranean feel of the market is a must for any gourmet shopper. Warning: a trolley is a must for this expedition.

Park your car in the free municipal car park, just behind Miller Street and walk through the circular gate to enter a magical, sensual world of stalls selling fine foods, offering generous tastings and a bonus  huge grassed area for you to share with picnickers – enjoying the holiday atmosphere and  buskers music drifting across the air.

First stop is Paddy the Baker’s stall. A young attractive Celtic girl offers sampling plates of soda bread and potato bread.  Now, one of us is of

Irish descent and spent many a holiday with their Granny being fed up on these breads – needless to say she never came away less than at least one dress size up. Be prepared to load up with an armful of bread or potato scones , which must be eaten with pure butter and blackberry jam. Perhaps crispy fried bacon, authentic black pudding, fried eggs and champ may be what accompany yours, but whatever your preference, these breads will compliment them and  ensure a time of grand eating, along with good craic with friends – so invite many.

Continuing on, Arlington dips offer many of their wares to sample, so don’t be shy – dig in and find your favourite. As we systematically work our way around the perimeter, we come across a supplier of marvellous home made muesli, a patisserie stall with glistening, Italian influenced sweet smelling delights and the Biscolli Biscuits stand

to tempt you with a wide range of sweet treats. For something a little outside the culinary field but still to pamper – the lemon myrtle stall which sells a range of bathroom and skin products made from pure ingredients.  The producer guarantees us that the ingredients are so pure you could infact

eat them without any dire results (perhaps then they do fall into the culinary category – but not to be recommended all the same). We can confirm that the soap, which was guaranteed to last longer than other soaps, does really live up to the promise . It fills the bathroom with such a delicate scent of citrus that visitors regularly comment on it.

The Maybole Pantry jam stall is proudly manned by the owner and jam maker themselves and excitedly they tell us about their latest prize winning adventure.  Abundant with fruit, these jams are extremely good.  In their range also find syrups and interesting flavoured preserves.  We come across Eyeball Teas, we’ve been fans for a long time so it’s great to find another outlet to buy from.  The Brahmi Herbal Infusion is good for memory and heh… I can remember it.  The Gorgeous Green Herbal Infusion is smooth and flowery – perfect for conjuring up a calm and relaxing atmosphere.

So with only the first few stalls out of the way, the picnic green  in the middle of the market is now filling  fast, and with probably another fifty or sixty stalls to go….phew… we need a coffee.

Moving on we visit Trunkey Bacon and Pork, offering not only traditionally smoked pork goods, but sulfate free bacon and ham, smallgoods such as chorizo and cured beef.   We stumble across  a cheese stall and for a fleeting moment fantasize that we are wandering around a French marketplace.  A

wonderful range of  range of blue cheeses, tangy hard cheeses and smelly provolone piccante  A delicious array of soft cheese will lure you.  Yes, tastings are encouraged.

Whisk and Pin has a stall there with their fine grain products and moreish cookies.  We fancy some smoked trout,  but right next door there’s a great deal on venison.  Decisions decisions………………………..Carlson’s Cordials has a large stand with heaps of different homemade cordials with ginger, barley and lemon bases.  A dapper gentleman in his straw boater hands out samples.  Mushrooms of several varieties are offered with handy recipe leaflets.  The fresh seasonal produce glistening in the sunlight is such a joy to behold.  Heirloom purple carrots still cling on to some dirt, crisp bunches of bok choy and scrubbed parsnips sit aside each other.  Cardboard boxes overlow with baby English spinach and fruits of all varieties tempt buyers.

One of our very favourites is the the man from Robertson Gourmet Potatoes.  Go and have a talk to him and he will tell you all about his “boys” and how to cook them. He is gorgeous.  Freshly cut flowers of all colours, sizes and types provide you an opportunity to fill your home with organic fragrance -very cheaply. Look out for  Badeland Brewery who sell several different kinds of boutique ales.  You can take a couple home to hubby to thank him for buying you all those beautiful flowers. Of course, on the other hand, you could put them away and savour them in a quiet moment.

Mother and daughter man the Jelbonleigh Estate stand and they really know their macadamia products.  Passion obviously helps sales as we moved on to the garlic stand – an enthusiastic grower  from Orange

Finally, there’s  one last stall  worth mentioning.   Small Acres offers excellent varieties of  cider and a perry, the quality of which we have not tasted since time spent in Normandy. If you do not like beer, but long for that crisp cold clear summer drink on a sultry evening then here is a product to definitely try.

If you haven’t brought a picnic basket or don’t want to share the grass, finish the morning by heading down to Lavender Bay for a hearty café meal, and take in the local architecture specific to this area.  There’s plenty of trendy shops to browse through too.

Oh… if this is not enough, just around the corner in Kirribilli is Coco’s. A wonderfully delicious, decadent and somewhat quirky chocolatier.