Good Food For Life

Home » Posts filed under market

Showing posts with label market. Show all posts

Cardiff Market

Posted by Unknown Monday, March 24, 2014 0 comments

If ever I visit a town/city that I don't know well, I always like to start with the market. The best places for food nearly always have good markets - and Cardiff has a wonderful market.

There's been a market here for a long time. As a sign above the entrance tells you, the current building was opened in 1891.

As you go through the doors, there's Sullivans, with a colourful display of fresh fruit and vegetables:

Opposite them, there's E Ashton Fishmongers:

who are Wales largest independent fishmongers, and have been in Cardiff Market since 1866!

When I called they had razor clams:

and also sea bream and Welsh sea bass on offer:

There are 6 different butchers in the market. Gary Anthony had this attractive display:

which included ribs of beef, rabbit and Welsh lamb chops.

J T Morgan have been trading since 1861:

They sell free range and organic meat and poultry to some of Cardiff's top restaurants.

Our Victorian ancestors knew how to build good markets - it's a nice light airy building.

Underneath the clock tower is Clancy's:

where vegetarians and vegans are very well catered for. They sell fresh food which is made by themselves, and also local chefs. They have an interesting range of herbs and exotic spices, including nine different sorts of dried chillies!

Another stall sells Mediterranean foods:

The Bread Stall sells fresh bread and cakes, including these Welsh cakes:

I'll finish off with another picture of Yeates Fruit and Veg:

I'm sure if more people used our markets, they would be happier (no BOGOFs to make you buy stuff to throw away), healthier, and richer (as prices are very reasonable)!

Cardiff Market
St Mary Street
Cardiff
CF10 1AU

Tel: 029 2087 1214

Web: www.cardiff-market.co.uk

Ripon

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, June 12, 2012 0 comments

Ripon is a delightful small cathedral city, with a fine market square. The fine obelisk that dominates the square was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Every Thursday there's a market here (I've been told there's a good baker here).

A farmers' market takes place on the third Sunday of every month, look out for Garth Cottage Nursery who specialise in growing herbs.

They still have a Hornblower, who maintains a 1,000 year old tradition of setting the night watch:

(thanks to Phil Catterall for the use of this image).

Also in the market place are T Appleton & Son butchers. I've heard very good reports of their pork pies, but sadly they weren't open when I called (I'll have to go back).

T Appleton & Son
6 Market Place East
Ripon
North Yorkshire
HG4 1BP

Tel: 01765 603198

Web: www.appletonsbutchers.co.uk

Oxford Covered Market

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, June 6, 2012 0 comments

The Covered Market in Oxford was opened 1774, and is one of my favourites. If you enter from the entrance on The High:

you'll soon find Ben's Cookies:

who started in this market and now have 10 outlets in the UK, and also trade in Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

It was originally built for butchers (and had 40 shops), to clear "untidy, messy and unsavoury stalls" from the streets of Oxford. Today there's just four butchers, which are smart and attractive:

The market is the place to get your Oxford sausage, originally made with veal as well as pork and was also skinless.

David John:

supplies Oxford sausages:

to restaurants like The Big Bang, and also caters for vegetarians with seven types of vegetarian sausage:

He's also the biggest pie maker in Oxford:

and will also sell you some Oxford Sauce to go with it.

Hedges:

have been trading since 1896, and also sell game.

M Feller Son & Daughter:

specialise in organic meats. According to their web site, they are the proud owners of the world's oldest ham! They take their cooking seriously around here so it was nice to see bags of bones for making stock here as well.

Haymans Fisheries:

have over 50 different species available, and sell live crabs and lobster:

Baskavilles and Bonners both have good displays of fruit and vegetables.

Come again in the autumn to buy all sorts of mushrooms.

Nash's Bakery from Bicester have a stall, try their Lardy Cake:

The Cake Shop also keeps undergraduates and postgraduates in cake:

They also offer a wide variety of celebration cakes including wedding cakes, birthday cakes, corporate cakes and more, plus a good range of sugar craft materials.

Cardew & Co sell tea and coffee and ancillary equipment:

Moo Moo's has a cult status amongst the students:

and does an amazing number of milk shakes and smoothies.

Not every stall is food. I've been a regular customer at Next to Nothing over the years:

My favourite purchases include a wine stains t-shirt (sadly most of my friends think they're genuine), and the Harold I Spy t-shirt.

Towards the Market Street entrance there's Bolitas:

which are Brazilian cheese flavoured balls, made with tapioca flour, cheddar cheese, free range eggs and milk:

They're cheaper than a Mars bar, contain no added sugar, and are free from gluten, wheat and yeast.

I've saved my favourite shop for the end, Robert Pouget's Oxford Cheese Company:

There's a wide and varied selection of British and Continental cheeses here:

many are unpasteurised and sourced direct from the producer. There's a particularly good selection of blue cheeses:

including Robert's own Oxford Blue (similar to Stilton, with a creamier consistency). They also do an Oxford Isis cheese, a full fat cheese which has the rind washed in Oxfordshire Honey Mead and College White which is a bit like a brie.

In 2000, to celebrate the millennium, Robert created the previously mentioned Baron Pouget’s Oxford Sauce. It's a spicy sauce, the recipe came more or less by accident when the decimal point on the chilli content was mis-read!

Like all good cheese shops, samples are freely given:

The more you try, the more you'll buy!

Oxford Covered Market

Market Street

Oxford

OX1 3DZ

Web: www.oxford-coveredmarket.co.uk

Leeds Kirkgate Market

Posted by Unknown Thursday, May 24, 2012 0 comments

Despite the fact that I'm a Lancastrian (the side that won the War of the Roses) I have to admit that Leeds Kirkgate Market is one of my favourite markets. Like many markets it's having its ups and downs. I went a while ago and thought it was a shadow of its former self, but when I visited earlier this year I thought things are getting better again.

The fish stalls are fantastic.

There's everything from monkfish, salmon and scallops:

there's anchovies:

cockles and crevettes:

and crabs:

and even fish heads (to see you through the week):

The fish I saw was fresh, good quality and good value and the staff were all helpful.

There's even special deals (10% off) for students:

There's quite a few customers from other countries and they are catered for. I'm not sure what Trevally Jack is:

I gather it's from Hawaii, and isn't overfished?

There's also good butchers

and £2.50 for a large Aberdeen Angus sirloin steak is considerably cheaper than some supermarkets, who boast about how much cheaper they are:

There's also a good stall selling poultry and game:

another sells potted meat and savoury ducks:

and Good Food Shopper always recognises tripe when he sees it!

My African Butcher:

sells boerewors, droe wors and biltong.

There's a Russian and Polish delicatessen:

and Tian Tian sells Chinese food

(I gather they've also got a bigger supermarket in Leeds).

There'e lots of places to get fruit and vegetables;

and prices again are very reasonable.

Neil's Fruit and Veg

are specialists in African and Caribbean foods.

Spice Corner is one of my favourite stalls:

they sell mini aubergines

and have a good range of chillies

and much more besides.

There's not just food stalls (and I've not covered any of the outside stalls), but if you got my birthday present from this stall I'd say it was pants!

There's some worrying developments in the news recently. Leeds City Council appear to be advocating a 25% cut in the size of the market which is visited by over 200,000 people every week! There's a good article to read here. Thankfully there's a support group called Friends of Leeds Market who are fighting back.

Two years ago Jamie Oliver opened a branch of his Ministry of Food:

in the market to help educate people how to love and enjoy good.

Another promising new initiative is The Source. It was closed when I visited (it was moving to another pitch). It's a pop up shop for local producers to hire for a day or two to promote the food in the market.

I wanted to finish this post on a sweet note, so went to Moore's Allsort's:

One of the great things about shopping in a market is talking to the traders. I found them helpful and happy to give advice. The girl here had several suggestions about what to take home, in the end I settled for the popular Yorkshire Mixture: