South Bank Regional Flavours

It's cold tonight, so I'll keep this post short and sweet. If I sit at the computer too long my fingers are likely to freeze off, which would probably be the end of the blog.

Anyway, this Saturday get along to the South Bank Regional Flavours event, which features about 80 stalls of food and wine from the Granite Belt, Darling Downs, North & South Burnett, the Scenic Rim and Gold Coast. Sounds like a great way to spend a winter's day.

South Bank Regional Flavours
Saturday 13 June 2009, 10am to 3pm
Little Stanley Street
South Bank 4101
W - www.visitsouthbank.com.au/regionalflavours

Farmers' Market in the City

I regularly go along to Jan Power's Farmers' Market at Mitchelton, although recently I've done a great job of being away from Brisbane when they are actually on.

Luckily for me (and you), Jan Power's Farmers' Market is now also held in the city every Wednesday. You'll find the market at Reddacliff Place, which is at the top of the Queen Street Mall (just across from the front of the Treasury Casino).

I wandered up a couple of weeks ago and was surprised at just how many stalls they have managed to fit into the space. There are plenty of food stalls, and it's great to see them open till 6pm, so you can drop by on your way home (if there's any stock left by that time of the day). It sure beats a trip to Woolworths or Coles on the way home at the end of the day.

Jan Power's Farmers Market
Wednesdays, 10am -6pm
Reddacliff Place, Queen Street Mall
Brisbane 4000
W - http://www.janpowersfarmersmarkets.com.au/

Schulte's Meat Tavern

For so many years I've driven past Schulte's Meat Tavern on the way back from Toowoomba, wondering just what they sold (other than meat of course). Recently, on the way back from Peppers Hidden Vale, I dropped in to investigate.

To start with, there's a great range of meat, including beef, lamb and pork sourced from the local area. In addition to the fresh meat, there's a selection of smallgoods, including house-made wursts, which are famous for miles around (even my local Brisbane Woolworths sells Schulte's wursts). You can also buy a selection of wines (including Ballandean Estate) and plenty of specialty German food, like gherkins and sauerkraut.

I picked up two Kumamoto Wagyu rump steaks ($11.65 - which is actually grown on the property at Peppers Hidden Vale), some delicious prosciutto ($5), a bottle of Ballandean Estate Sylvaner ($16 - one of my favourite dessert wines) and a can of Almdudler ($2.35) which I'd never come across in Australia before. Almdudler is an Austrian soft drink, which I used to buy to wash down various kinds of wursts from the little snack stands in Vienna. Seeing a can on the shelf brought back some great food memories, so I just had to buy one.

Anyway Schulte's is a great place to drop into next time you're heading back to Brisbane from Toowoomba way. Not only will it break up the drive, but you're likely to walk out with some great local meat, smallgoods and wine.

Schulte's Meat Tavern
4424 Warrego Highway
Plainland 4341
P - 07 5465 6592

Aratula Markets

Whenever we get out of Brisbane, I always try my hardest to try and pick up some real fruit and veges on the way back to the big smoke.

On the way back from Warwick after a great country wedding, we stopped at the Aratula Markets in (surprise) Aratula.

Aratula is a small town on the Brisbane side of Cunningham's Gap. On the weekend we stopped to buy some local potatoes, sweet potatoes, Queensland Blue pumpkin (they had an amazing range of pumpkin varieties), parsnip (a whole bag for $2!), onions, miniature yellow zucchini (it makes great pasta), broccoli and new season apples. Our whole box of real fresh fruit & veges only cost $15. The vegetables made the most delicious roast I have had in ages. The potatoes ($1.99/kilo) and onions were particularly amazing.

It just goes to show that you can actually taste the difference between fresh vegetables and those that we usually buy at the supermarket. Next time you're going through Aratula, make sure you stop at the Aratula Markets. You'll remember what good vegetables should taste like.

Aratula Markets
Cunningham Highway
Aratula 4309
P - 07 5463 8144

South Bank Growers' Market

I've just checked my calendar and realised that the next South Bank Growers' Market is on tomorrow, 15 March 2009. Tomorrow's market will feature produce from the Granite Belt.

I went along to one of the Granite Belt market days at South Bank last year, and it was excellent. We ended up going home with fruit, wine, honey, chocolate and plenty of other great stuff.

If you're looking for something to do tomorrow morning, grab your green bags and head along to the growers' market. It's great to see the people of Brisbane supporting local suppliers, like those from the Granite Belt.

South Bank Growers' Market
Sunday 15 March 2009, 10am to 3pm
On the lawn between Stanley Street Plaza and Little Stanley Street
South Bank 4101
W - http://www.southbankmarket.com.au/gm.html

Sameway Milk

Apologies for my recent slackness in posting. It's been a combination of getting a new puppy in early January, together with being way too busy at work.

Anyway, for a long time now I've been looking out for locally produced milk. I love the Barambah Organics milk, which is my favourite, and makes fantastic home coffees. But it can be a bit tricky to track down the one litre bottles.

A week or so ago I headed down the road to our local little IGA to pick up some skim milk for the puppy. As I knew she wouldn't be terribly fussy, I was looking for the cheapest skim milk in the shop. It turned out to be Sameway Slender milk, which I'd never seen before. On closer inspection I saw that it was Queensland owned, and produced in Nanango. So I bought a bottle of the Slender milk for the puppy and one of the normal milk (called Sameway Fresh) for me. Of course I'll always buy Barambah Organics milk when I can find it, but in the meantime I'll be regularly popping in to the local IGA to stock up on Sameway's milk.

I've had a look at the Sameway website, but it doesn't list the Brisbane distributors. Keep an eye out for it at your local IGA though, and hopefully you can pick up a bottle or two. It's yet another great example of the way that IGA support local Queensland producers.

Sameway Milk

P - (07) 4163 1599

E - info@samewaymilk.com.au

W - http://www.samewaymilk.com.au/

Browns of Mooloolaba

I always love coming across new places that sell fresh seafood. Browns of Mooloolaba sell seafood that is about as fresh as you'll ever get. Their prawns, crabs and bugs are locally caught, which means they come straight off the boat to you.


I was lucky enough to have a feast of fresh prawns and Balmain bugs today for lunch, which were delicious. The best thing about really fresh prawns is that you just can't stop eating them. Luckily we only bought a kilo, so we had to stop eating eventually.

Browns of Mooloolaba also sell oysters, fish fillets and a variety of gourmet foods from the Spirit House, Tetsuya, Maggie Beer and Simon Johnson.

Browns of Mooloolaba
10 Parkyn Parade
Mooloolaba 4557
P - 07 5444 6422
E - enquiries@brownsofmooloolaba.com.au
W - http://www.brownsofmooloolaba.com.au/

Kumamoto Beef

I don't normally order too much beef in restaurants. Normally I prefer to eat something I can't whip up myself at home. Every now and again though there comes a time and place to order a good steak.

We've just been lucky enough to spend the weekend at Peppers' Hidden Vale, which is out near Grandchester. Peppers' Hidden Vale is actually located on a working cattle property, called Old Hidden Vale. They run wagyu cattle on the property, and not surprisingly wagyu beef popped up on the restaurant menu. It's not every day that you get to try grade 7 wagyu steak, sourced from the same property. I'll put up a post about our dinners at the restaurant at Pepper's Hidden Vale, including the delicious wagyu steak.

Just as we were checking out, I was wondering if we could actually buy any of the wagyu beef that came from Old Hidden Vale. As some kind of bizarre coincidence, The Weekend Australian had a little article on the Peppers' resorts in South East Queensland, noting that Peppers' Hidden Vale was just about to start marketing beef under the Kumamoto brand.

The coincidences continued. On the drive home, we stopped in at Schulte's Meat Tavern, on the Warrego Highway at Plainland. As luck would have it, Schulte's stock a range of Kumamoto wagyu beef. I picked up a rump steak, which was $24.99 a kilo, but you can also buy a whole wagyu eye fillet for about $40, which seems like a bargain.

I've been Googling away this afternoon, but I haven't been able to find anywhere in Brisbane that stocks Kumamoto wagyu. But if you're keen to try some locally produced wagyu beef, drop in to Schulte's next time you're on the way back to Brisbane. Hopefully Kumamoto wagyu will make it to the shelves of Brisbane butchers soon.

Sutton's Apple Juice

I picked up a bottle of Sutton's Granny Smith apple juice at the Mitchelton farmers' markets on Sunday. If you haven't come across Sutton's apple juices before, you really should hunt them down. They make a great range of apple juice from loads of different apple varieties, including Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Jonathon, Mutsu and Royal Gala. You don't realise just how good apple juice can taste until you've tried their different varieties. And if you're not really into drinking juice, they'd make a fantastic cocktail.

You can usually find Sutton's apple juice at either the Mitchelton or Powerhouse farmers' markets ($4 for a 1 litre bottle). I've also seen them at the Rosalie Gourmet Market (but they are more expensive). Otherwise, you can order them directly here.

Next time you're out at Stanthorpe, pop in to Sutton's farm, where you can taste all the different juices, ciders, liqueurs and brandies. We always drop in to the farm whenever we are anywhere near Stanthorpe. Be warned though, you'll go through a litre of these great juices pretty quickly, so make sure you buy a few. Best of all, you'll be supporting a local Queensland product.

Sutton's Juice Factory & Cidery
10 Halloran Drive
Thulimbah QLD 4376
P - 07 4685 2464
E - hivalue@flexi.net.au
W - http://www.hivalue.com.au/