Paddy's Market, Haymarket

Seafood section at Paddy's Market

Paddy's Market. Often over-run with tourists cash-happy for tacky t-shirts, crocodile warning signs and foam stubby coolers. However there are always plenty of locals too, who head to the fresh food section for a bounty of cheap fruit and vegetables, seafood, nuts and dried fruit. It's not as exciting as Melbourne's Queen Victoria Markets, but it's the closest thing we have to an open-air market in the CBD.


Nuts, wasabi peas and other snacks

The huge nut stand that straddles the fruit/veg and variety stall border is where I usually head to pick up all my cooking and baking supplies. Ground hazelnuts, almond meal, walnuts and poppy seeds are all stocked up on for baking. Huge jars of spices and dried seeds line the shelves behind the counter and there are always bags of freshly baked Turkish bread, Lebanese bread and tasty rings of simit, a Turkish ring bread rolled in sesame seeds that has the buttery texture of a crossiant.


Dried fruit

Roasted almonds, hazelnuts and macadamias taste freshly roasted and make perfect handbag snacks. I've also developed a taste for their soft stretchy Turkish Delight and the fluffy pink-and-white layered marshmallow squares rolled in coconut.



Plenty of office workers head here on their lunchbreaks to pick up their fruit and vegetables. It's certainly much cheaper than what you'll pay at your local supermarket.


Mini cabbages


Bitter melon

We usually have bitter melon stir-fried with beef strips, black bean and chilli. It's also tasty stuffed with pork mince and steamed.


Mangosteen

Mangosteen is a delicate tropical fruit so revered in Asia that is as known as "Queen of the Fruits". Squeezing the fruit gently in both hands will crack open the skin to reveal six segments of creamy white flesh. In my opinion, it tastes somewhat like a cross between a lychee and a custard apple: sweet, creamy and very more-ish.


Broccoli


Red globe grapes


Fennel


Custard apple


Lebanese cucumbers

Paddy's Market
Hay Street, Haymarket, Sydney

Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm
Public Holiday Mondays 9am - 5pm