Barossa Farmer Markets

We woke up early on Saturday to have breakfast and then visit the Barossa Farmer Markets. It is located in Vintners Sheds, next to Vintner's Bar and Grill. It is not a big market, but it's a place to meet and also buy weekly supplies of fruit, vegies, meats, dairy products, oil, and much more. It seems like a popular gathering place for locals where people catch up with each other, and have a cup of coffee with a pastry or two or maybe cupcakes. All the stalls offer a free tasting which was great for us. Our only regret was having breakfast before we went to the markets. There was this stall selling double smoked Schulz bacon and egg rolls and the smell from that stall was heavenly. My favourite stalls were the Careme which sells French pastries and other yummilicious baked goods and sausages from Barossa Farm Produce, which is partly owned by Saskia Beer (Maggie Beer's daughter). The chicken sausages were so good, I had to go back for a second piece. It was pure chicken meat with herbs, there were no extra fillers at all and the best thing preservative free.

The Barossa Farmers Market is permanently located in Vintners Sheds, this means you can gather your weekly supplies of fruit, vegies and much more in comfort come rain, hail or shine.

 Careme Pastry is a husband and wife operation specialising in French Pastries and ready to roll pastry. The pastries were absolutely beautifully crafted and delicious. We bought a lemon meringue tart and a smoked salmon thyme tart. Hmmm....delicious.

There were two stalls selling beautifully decorated cupcakes. The lady at the Coveiter Cupcakes stall (who baked and sold the animal cupcakes) is a lovely Australian lady who was born in Singapore. Co-incidentally, we share the same first name.

Food in the Barossa

I will do several posts on Barossa, simply because there are too many photos.

We were surprised by the lack of restaurants in the Barossa Valley. Most of the wineries we visited did not have a cafe or restaurant attached instead they offer a picnic basket or cheese platter if you want to eat something. The cottage we stayed in Tanunda provided full breakfast provisions - eggs. bacon, muesli, cereal, orange juice etc.

On our 1st night @ Tanunda in the Barossa, we had dinner at 1918 Bistro and Grill restaurant. The restaurant is in a former mayor of Tanunda's home built after the Great War. It is a lovely sandstone cottage with indoor and outdoor settings. In the warmer months, it would be lovely to sit under the gum trees, probably not in the peak of summer when the temperature can get up to 52C. Imagine that!  For entree, we shared the Seared Scallops served with Sweet corn and basil risotto and crispy pancetta, yum! For mains, I had the roasted duck breast, and Chris had the grilled lamb loin. The food was average, I thought the duck breast could have been cooked a minute or two longer. No complains with the dessert - honey and yoghurt panncotta. It was melt in the mouth delicious!

On the 2nd night, we went to Vintner's Bar and Grill near Angaston, which was about 10 minutes drive from the cottage. This restaurant is slightly more upmarket than 1918. I enjoyed my entree - extra large prawns (forgot the name!)  and my main - pan-fried veal loin with potato celeriac, baby carrots and jus. Hubby enjoyed his main - sirloin (again I forgot the name!). I usually take a photo of the menu, but totally forgot about it. Hubby claimed it was one of the best beef dish he had.. I suspect he was quite hungry because the main meals took some time to be served :) We also had a bowl of chips as a side, and they were crunchy and delicious, seasoned with a spicy salt (restaurant's own blend), Note to Lynsey: we did not finish the whole bowl! We did not have dessert at Vintner's because we bought a lemon meringue tart and mocha cupcake at the Barossa Farmers Market that morning.

Autumn Reds in Barossa, SA

Hubby and I spent four days over the weekend to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in Adelaide and Barossa Valley, SA. The Barossa was bursting with colours of reds, orange, yellow gold and green. Lovely autumn colours. Will share more about our trip soon.

This photo was taken @ Goat Square, Tanunda.