Orange Grove Organic Markets

bikemap
Originally uploaded by Rodsta.

Thought I should get back to the original intention of this blog. Which was to write about discovering things in Sydney.

Now... even though the Schapelle Corby post did grow my readership by 25% overnight (hi Russel Allan - thanks for the comment, and yes, you are worth more than one dollar!), I will resist the urge to actually write about something so interesting that it touches a pop culture nerve and crashes the Blogger servers (sorry... I'm fantasizing).

Yesterday I ended up going for a bit of an explore on my bike. Since coming to Sydney I've been trying to find a decent place to buy organic food and after 6 months have had no luck. So far it's been really expensive and crap.

Instead I have been shopping at the Fox Studios Farmers Market and there is some good quality stuff there but I haven't bought from the organic stall because I don't like shopping at places where the prices aren't clearly displayed. And also - when I've been able to decipher the handwriting on the blackboard behind the stall I've thought it's too expensive.

Instead I've been going to one of the conventional stalls which has some pretty good stuff. The problem with Fox Studios is it feels like your shopping inside some Gold Coast property developers wet dream. It's just SO clean!

Anyway, someone I met told me that there is one organic stall at the Glebe Markets (which is better know for it's trash, treasure, crafts etc). So I rode out there yesterday using my new Central Sydney Bicycle Map (which I picked up at the Surry Hills Festival a couple of weeks back). At the markets I found the vege stall but it wasn't clear whether the food was organic or conventional and it didn't look that great. So I went across the street to the healthfood shop that's been there for at least 10 years but in recent times has been taken over by that vitamin mutinational GNC (I thought of hotlinking to their site but anyone that uses the term "health and wellness" doesn't deserve the time).

They claim to be running the shop as it always has been but I have to say that I have never seen such tired looking vegetables since the morning after my two inebriated female flatmates bought some guys home who later decided that it would be sensible to piss in the fridge. This happened back in 1990. And if you're wondering - we washed the vegetables and made a soup. We were poor students.

So I decided to go check out the market at Orange Grove Public School which is on the corner of Perry St and Balmain Rd in Leichhardt/Rozelle. One of my readers had recommended this place sometime back. After consulting my bike map I managed to find my way there. It was a lot of fun riding over the ANZAC bridge 'cause you get a great view of planes taking off over Newtown on the left hand side and the harbour on the right hand side. And I LOVE planes and water - so perfect for me.

And I can really recommend that bike route from the city out to Rozelle (it keeps going to Olympic Park I think). RTA also have maps if you are interested. Actually I was thinking how different it is to cycle around Sydney (compared to Melbourne) having to follow these bizarre routes but I guess it's the same with driving in the two cities. Melbourne is full of straight lines, Sydney just doesn't have the landscape for that kind of simplicity.

Anyway. This market was really fantastic. It has three really great organic stalls, one of which was quite huge. And really cheap. In fact, dare I say, I think they were cheaper than organics at Vic Market in Melbourne.

I also discovered this amazing Guatemalan Coffee Stall. One thing I've learnt about Sydney is that if there is a queue then it must be something worth queing for. And there was a queue for this place. While waiting we were urged by a fairly steretypical middle aged Rozelle dwelling anglo saxon do gooder (female) to donate to a fund which educates Guatemalan kids. She was kind of hanging about in the back ground while the two real-life Guatemalans that she'd (no doubt) imported directly from South America did the coffee making.

After waiting for 10 minutes I found out why this place is so popular. The guy at the counter made me sniff two types of coffee before making a selection. He then asked Do you eat chilli? When I nodded, he said OK. Now we are going to give you a new experience, and proceeded to mix dried chilli seeds in with the coffee. My neighbours in the queue assured me that I was about to have a positive experience. And they were right. Chilli expresso just has a bit of a kick. I might even try it at home.