Every Wednesday
The colourful weekly Wednesday City Farmer’s Market is extremely popular with city workers and visitors to town.
With a crowd dressed in shirts and ties and business wear, it is clear that the city’s office workers love being able to buy fresh food. A simple pleasure maybe, but one that had been frustratingly difficult before the mid-week city markets opened in early 2009.
The City Farmer’s Markets fill the outdoor space of Reddacliff Place in front of Brisbane Square (opposite the casino) every Wednesday from 11ish until 6pm.
You can expect to see bread, freshly made pasta (created in front of you), snake gully bananas, rich quiches, frittatas and pies, organic and gluten free grocery items, cheeses, dips, olives and sweet patty cakes. Of course, there’s fresh produce too. It’s delightful to have access to seasonal, local fruits (on my visit there were peaches, lemons, Queensland grown raspberries and much, much more).
Since the market is held on a weekday, I was on the lookout for a quick and easy take home dinner option. Many people were keen to buy something to eat on the spot. The German sausage stand was very popular, as sausage fans queued in Brisbane’s midday sun. Similarly, steamed Asian snacks and bakery items were selling well.
Every Wednesday 11am - 6pmReddacliff Place is not shaded or well covered. Margaret of Ferny Grove says she’ll be more prepared next time and have a hat. Her friend also brought up an interesting issue with the city market – the question of how to get the goods home in prime condition, especially if there is a commute on public transport to reach the dinner table.
“I’ll buy a zippered freezer bag to carry my stuff home. Not even for the chilled meat and seafood, but to make sure my fruit and vegetables stay intact,” Margaret said.
Some of the stallholders offer to keep your purchases (such as cuts of meat and vacuum sealed seafood) chilled until you pick them up to take home, as long as it’s before 6pm when the market closes.
Personally, I wondered how I would safely transport the fresh seafood, organic whole chicken or roast beef that’s for sale. I’d have loved to have bought more but didn’t think it would be good public transport etiquette to carry fresh sand crabs on my lap.
The vibe is slightly more rushed than what you’ll find at weekend markets and there isn’t really space to laze or sit and graze at leisure. Plus, as a customer I was looking for easy meal options or lunch rather than buying a weeks’ worth of produce, as I would normally. But the City Farmers Markets are a winner.
Make sure you taste it for yourself sometime soon because it’s city shopping with a difference.
I gave the markets the once over at lunch time. Big crowds. Lots of wonderful produce. The German sausage stall was particularly popular with hungry office types. I'll definitely be a regular. I think they'll be a huge success.