Melody Markets - Chatswood, Sydney

Every Thursday means late night shopping (Yay!) but in Chatswood it also means the Melody Markets. Different stalls set up along the Corso of Victoria Ave and soon, appetizing smells are wafting through the air a bit before lunchtime. There are many different ethnic stalls setting up with their specialties which just emphasises the amount of diversity there is in Sydney, and when it comes to food it makes me one happy camper.

Coming back at dinner time, this place has transformed into a lively festival-like atmosphere with lights, music and of course the food! Starting at the bottom and working our way towards the station Here Comes the Food.

Garlic Prawns, Chorizos and Salsas

Chorizo
The first thing you smell is this stall especially the garlic prawns. The fragrance of the prawns and chorizos on the hot plate just entrances you and leads u to join the already long line. I usually go for the Chorizo and a generous helping of both of the salsas. This last time though, the bread was soft and squashed (must have been the bottom of the bucket) so that was a little disappointed compared to the usually crisp and flaky crust and soft inner dough.

Japanese Pizza (Okonomiyaki)
These okonomiyaki are decent but not something I would come to this market especially for.

Sweet and Sour
Liquorice of all sorts of different flavours.

Katsumen
A korean stall which sells deep fried cutlets. They used to have a really nice fried Bulgogi roll but they removed that from the menu a while ago :(

Turkish Gozleme
This is one of the more popular stalls if not the most, as there is always a long line snaking around the stall. The fresh gozleme has beautiful combinations of flavours, and cooked to a nice crispiness outside and soft and tender filling inside. I usually get one but this time the line was way too long and I was too hungry to wait haha.

Taiwanese Small Eats
Being Taiwanese myself this stall reminds me of home, but as with any other cuisine it is always bigger and better at the origin. Since it was a bit later in the evening they only had the bentos boxes left. What I recommend is the 'gua bao' and salt and herbed deep fried chicken among a few other dishes. The dessert is also a very good snack with 6 different fillings and comes hot and fresh off the hot plate.

Colotako
Takoyaki ^^! These stuffed little balls of pure pleasure now also comes in prawn and crab flavours (apart from the original octopus). The bbq sauce and mayonnaise just adds sweetness to these balls and the bonito flakes dance upon the steaming takoyaki. Even though they have many staff tending to the takoyaki, the wait times can get a bit much but the staff are very friendly and entertaining (saw one of them locking [a style of dance] a little bit to the music from their boombox).

Jackie M Mouth-watering Malaysian

Satay!

The Works - Roti, cucumber, some potatoes, coconut rice, 2 satay (3 as there was a special on at this time) and your choice of curry (I chose the lamb).
There was only one problem with this meal and that was the roti was too soft and a bit moist for my liking but the rest of the meal was worthy and very tasty. The satay was a good rich peanuty taste and the curry was mild but the meat was so tender and soft mmm. Definitley worth getting another hee hee.

Giant chess set for my inner nerd hee hee. Somebody else arranged it like this but I thought it was a good photo op :)

Other entertainment - Twirling fire!

There were other forms of entertainment like music from an accordian player with a sort of scary expression, an older pair playing smooth adut contemporary/jazzy music and a group of Capoeira dancers.

Melody Markets
Chatswood Mall, Victoria Ave, Chatswood
Every Thursday 9am - 9pm

FFichiban