We went to Queen Vic Market today for our annual visit to one of the best damn markets in all of Australia. Today, we probably bought the largest haul of produce that we’ve ever gotten from Queen Vic: multiple bunches of choy sum, gai lan, and snake beans (Chinese long beans); eight massive Kensington Pride mangoes, twelve passion fruits (that were quite heavy for their size!); two kilos of super pink and sweet lychees, a kilo of Tasmanian cherries. The Asian vendor who sold us the greens was very particular about his produce, as he didn’t want us touching anything. We told him what we wanted and the quantity, and instead of grabbing the ones on display, he’d go to his massive buckets of greens, all soaked in ice-cold water, take out which bunches he thought looked good, do a quick rinse, then shake them out and place them in a bag for us. All of his vegetables looked photogenic and perfect, and the prices were insanely low (especially once you converted them from AUD to USD). The Kensington Pride mangoes seemed like they were perfuming the entire open market; all I could smell was their sweet, honey-like perfume walking up and down the large, wide aisles. We sampled sweet cherries and lychees and sniffed passion fruits and other local fruit along the way. And in between tasting all this fresh, local fruit, we enjoyed a delicious canele and slice of pistachio basque cheesecake from a French pastry vendor called Lemon and Butter. While the canele was certainly good, Chris and I were both totally blown away by how rich the pistachio flavor was in the basque cheesecake. I’d never had a basque cheesecake flavored with pistachio before today. And I figured that the baker must have used really high quality pistachio paste to make this absolutely perfect slice.
Another important stop at Queen Vic for me since last year that we made again today was at Ripe, the only all-Australian artisanal cheese market in the world. Hakim, the Singaporean-born owner, greeted us with friendliness and warmth from the moment we walked up to his stall last year. And I remember feeling so happy to give this guy business. Most wineries and fromageries historically have been White-owned and run, and frankly, they also have a reputation for having an air of pretension and snobbery… especially when serving us since we don’t look like them. But Hakim was anything but that. He gave us samples, explained in laymen’s terms how the cheese was produced and what flavors to expect, and was just an all around happy, fun, passionate-about-cheese guy. Last year, we purchased three cheeses to enjoy together as a family. When we walked up to his stall again today, he immediately recognized us (“You came here this time last year!”), gave us a very warm toothy smile, and welcomed us back to the Southern Hemisphere. And this year, we also picked up another three decadent cheeses, with one repeat from last year: the Silver Wattle, which he describes as a soft, bloomy lactic cheese in the style of St. Marcellin. It’s fudgy and lemony when young; soft, creamy, luxurious when ripe. Because it is pre-packaged and weighed in a cute little wooden round, we were not able to sample it, but that flavor stayed with me with how indulgent, rich, and multifaceted the flavor was. In addition to the Silver Wattle re-purchase, we also sampled and purchased the Ashed Triple Cream Brie (“Australia’s best brie: rolled in charcoal which enhances the creamy, nutty flavor of this fabulous cheese”) and the Banksia Reserve, “made traditionally like in France. It is aged more than one year. It is pungent and brothy/umami with age, satisfying with good length of flavour.” This is the second time we’ve spent a good deal of money ($59 AUD, or about $37 USD on fancy cheese) ever to bring home and enjoy, but what the heck — why not? I love supporting this business, and he clearly has delicious, high quality stuff.
A couple other notable things we left with : over 1.125 liters of freshly pressed sugar cane juice from a sugar cane truck (WHEN HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SUGAR CANE TRUCK ANYWHERE?), plus an ube “Morkshake” from Mork Chocolate, a chocolate stand I like at Queen Vic. The ube shake is made with a chocolate fudge sauce and matcha swirl, and it was so rich and ube-flavored that it was like a meal in itself!
We ended our outing with a visit to the famous eating street, Hardware Lane, for some char kway teow and char mee at Lulu’s Char Koay Teow. They had perfect “wok hei” in both noodle dishes, along with copious amounts of cockles in the kway teow and razor clams (which I rarely get but love!) in the char mee. Kaia got to try and indulge in a cold, chocolatey Milo for the very first time. Milo is nostalgic for Chris since it was a childhood favorite drink. And we got a perfectly frothy teh tarik.
It was a fun, food-filled day. Every time we come back home with huge food hauls like this, I always say to Chris, “We’re RICH!” It definitely feels like we’re rich with all the delicious culinary treats and indulgences we get. I’ve never brought home an entire two kilos of lychees in my life!