Every Saturday the empty parking lot in Greenlyn Centre in Brooklyn, Pretoria, transforms into a bustling culinary market place. Hazelwood Food Market transports avid foodies and many curious Pretorians to a sociable food mecca. There are several delectable products sold, from a very popular dim sum stall to a morrocan bread and soup stall. A few favourites are:
- Sweet Angel’s stall: Sweet Angels sell fudge. But not just any old fudge! They sell a wide variety of intense and interesting flavours, from Lavender Lemon fudge to Carrot Cake fudge or a Brandy Caramel fudge. I have to admit, that these delights are worth the cavities!
- The Olive Grove stall: They sell a wide variety of home-made bread with familiar, yet tasteful, fillings, such as olive and rosemary or mushroom.
- The Dim Sum stall: I have to admit, dumplings aren’t widely available in South Africa, probably because it isn’t that popular, even at popular Chinese restaurants (and I’m not talking about the take-away chain shops with over oiled stir fry) the only dim sum filling you will get is pork. This stall serves several different varieties, and to my delight (being a pescatarian), there are prawn and chives dumplings! Hmmm… what an oriental sensation!
- The unnamed flat bread stall: Fresh Tomato paste, rosa tomatoes, rocket, a variety of cheeses and ostrich fillet or beef Carpaccio slices anyone?
- The Moroccan House stall: Here you can find a variety of Moroccan pastes and spices as well as Moroccan breads (that sells out like hotcakes!) and soups. The soups are delicious and are placed in containers to eat at home later on. Of most of the stalls, this business has the best priced produce for the quality you get!
- The Kudu Burger stall: Kudu steak burgers! Rather popular!
The variety of foods available is endless. There are crêpes with a variety of fillings (hmmm… the smell brings back memories of Parisian food carts), fresh ground coffee or even 70% cocoa hot chocolate or mocha chinos, stroopwafels (or Dutch syrup waffles), various different pastry stalls (Such as the Let Them Eat Cake stall, which is the only pastry shop in Pretoria who makes perfect and tasty Macarons – my Achilles heel of pastries!) as well as a few stalls selling spices, fresh produce, cheeses and meats.
Anybody who is in Pretoria over the weekend should definitely go to the Hazelfood Market. Even on the coldest and wettest days, people gather together under the picnic tables under the trees and enjoy the goodness of delicious food and (hopefully) equally great company.
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