The salted peanuts whet our appetites. I’d love to know if these are cinnamon sticks or cassia bark…

Lightly steamed oysters with ginger, shallots and soy

Chinese pickled vegetables, sweet, salty and sour with crispy wonton skins sprinkled with schezuan pepper & salt

Bugtail wontons with schezuan chilli oil

Crispy prawn wontons with a sweet Vietnamese style dipping sauce

Slow roasted lamb pancakes- peking duck style. The home made sauce was tasty but a little too thin for the application, it dripped everywhere! I am not a big fan of ‘thickened’ sauces (apart from gravy) as a general rule, but here it needs it.

A standout crispy pork belly dish. Salty and moreish, with a refreshing coleslaw packed with fresh herbs to balance the richness of the meat.

The silken tofu was delicate and beautiful with a poached egg in the centre of the plate.

Crispy skin duck with citrus sauce

Stir fried mushrooms, fresh, flavoursome, delicate and a wonderful foil to the rich meats we ordered.

Pears poached in red wine with sour cream and almond praline- cleansing and light

My faves? A tie between Ducks Nuts on Mitchell St and Jay’s Coffee cart at various markets and the Nightcliff Jetty. I bought some gorgeous home roasted beans from Jay’s Coffee, some Ethiopian Sidamo and some PNG Purosa, both organic. I’ve been grinding to order at home on my Rocky grinder and my Rancilio Sylvia has been loving it! Thanks

Jay’s Coffee Bar

Great coffee, freshly roasted fairtrade coffee beans and I’ve heard the iced coffee is the best in Darwin.

Rapid Creek Markets (Sundays)

Nightcliff Jetty (Sat and Sun afternoons)

Ducks Nuts Bar Espresso

Mitchell St. You can sit inside Bar Espresso, or choose the lovely verandah outside, same coffee, more atmosphere. But you have to brave the heat. Come on, don’t be soft!

There’s another list here, but I haven’t tried them all. Will have to ask my trusty coffee scout to suss them out:

http://darwin.citysearch.com.au/restaurants/roundup/1119945819575/1137547155562

As soon as the balmy sea air at Mindil Beach hit my face, I relaxed. Sustained by treats from the stalls at the Mindil Markets, there was too much to choose from; Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian, and Roadkill stalls all competed for my attention. Do try the Ice Kachang dessert if you can find it.

Enthralled by the hard-to-find-in-Sydney Thai vegetables at Rapid Creek Markets, along with a great selection of meat and other ingredients at the Greenie’s real food store that I visited far too many times than a 10 day trip justifies.

Thai Massage, an Iyengar yoga class outdoors that bordered on Bikram’s style, local Indigenous art and music, the Darwin festival, and my new favourite clothing designer, Gita.

I can’t wait to go back to Darwin, if only to recapture that breezy vibe.

Sunset at Mindil Beach Markets

Even in the dry season, Darwin gives you a nice sweaty glow…

The view from The Wharf, a great place for dinner

Fish & Chips, Laksa and Som Tam at the Wharf

John Butler rocked the Darwin Festival

Deliciously cooling pools at Buley Rockhole

Florence Falls, a deep black pool beneath a waterfall filled with amorous fish

A clumsy ode to Spice Temple’s heavenly facing chilli and sichuan peppercorn dish.

Since eating at Spice Temple a month ago I haven’t been able to stop thinking about those feisty little peppercorns. I was chatting to a friend of mine on the phone the other night while cooking this so it got a little more crispy than intended but it just added to the intensity of flavour on the skin. Tongue numbing, aromatic, mouth watering.

I have seen Kylie Kwong toast sichuan peppercorns with sea salt in a hot pan until aromatic and then grind them up to a powder in a mortar and pestle. This is essentially what I did and then added a little smoky paprika and sugar and rubbed it into the skin of an organic chicken, added a little oil to the bird with a few cloves of unpeeled garlic inside and whacked it in a hot oven. Oh, and I threw in a few dutch cream potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks. I normally go for 220°C fan forced, 20 minutes each on its side, on its other side and on its back. I sound like Samantha from SATC.

The end result is a moist chicken with a crispy skin, with potatoes that taste more like wedges as they have absorbed all the chickeny goodness and are lightly flavoured with sichuan.

Next step is to try this with quail, or maybe duck…and I don’t think it needs the smoky paprika or sugar.

Just to stress the point, this is a roast that takes just an hour to cook, plus preparation time. So maybe realistic for a weeknight when you don’t get home too late.

I have also been sucked into watching Master Chef, however like my friend’s 4 year old son, have an aversion to the trauma of Thursday night eviction night. “But mummy, will we ever see them again?” says a concerned little voice with watery eyes. It’s just too confrontational and drawn-out ‘biggest loser’ style. Hurry up AJ, I mean Sarah, get us to the master class. Inspiration and instruction are where these types of shows can earn credibility by doing some good as well as just entertaining the masses.

But who am I to criticise, I’ve got my chocolate to distract me

243 Wilson St, Eveleigh

Next market is in February 2009.

This was a wonderful market held yesterday, in an open-sided but undercover hanger on a true Sydney summer day-humid, hot and windy. The restrooms inside the old carraige works just opposite provided a moment of coolness before the hunt began.

Highlights were cherry jam from Bird Cow Fish, goat’s cheese from Jannei Dairy, eggplant, zucchini flowers, apples and less common herbs from organic suppliers. Bread from Iggy’s, Olive oil from Alto and brunch from Eumundi Smokehouse: Bacon and egg roll with homemade BBQ sauce, and a chorizo roll with tomato and basil salsa. I didn’t eat both, three of us shared them, but I could have easily scoffed them myself.

My sister was searching for the perfect Kris Kringle present for $15 and bought the last jar of cherry jam from Bird Cow Fish ($10 but it is a large jar) and then topped up the gift with a jar of Apricot jam from Rowan Farm for $5, so mission completed on budget! The cheeky little bugger even managed to find some bread for her supper after everyone had sold out as the guys at Jannei took pity on her puppy eyes and sold her their second last loaf used for tastings for a token $2. Always the negotiator

Marinated creamy goat’s fetta at Jannei Dairy. I have been missing their presence at the Good Living Grower’s Markets- bring them back please!

Went home with a small white mould cheese, similar to Camembert, called ‘Miette’. Perfectly ripe for sale, the edge was devoured and it is already developing a creamy oozy layer but is still a little chalky in the middle so I’ll leave it for another day or two.

Fruity, buttery Stöllen from Pastisse

Organic Fuji apples, basil and garlic

Eumundi Smokehouse chorizo. I bought some of the small spicy ‘beer sticks’ as owner David calls them, you really need one to handle the heat and delicious intensity.

Nice review here of Eumundi: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2007/12/27/eumundi-smokehouse-at-dulwich-hill/

Delicious olive oil and marinated olives from Alto, with the Robust premium a favourite. Got talked into getting the large bottle very easily ‘are you sure you don’t want the larger bottle?’ No, I’m not, how silly of me, of course it is better value I am quite happy to be persuaded.

Another delicious oil is the Pepperberry and Salt Bush olive oil by the Yaama Dhiyaan Cafe, also a lovely place for breakfast located just next to the markets on Wilson St.

Crusty sourdough, a quarter is plenty for us and costs just $3.25 from Iggy’s Bread (49 Belgrave St, Bronte. Corner of Murray St)

Can’t wait for the regular market next year…

http://www.eveleighmarket.com.au/

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