It’s official name is the City Bowl Market and it’s situated at nr 14 on Hope St in Gardens.  Actually, just a 2min walk away from my apartment!  Sweet…

As you enter the market, you’re greeted by fresh flowers, fruits & veggies:

The market is split into two areas:  Downstairs you’ll find plenty of yummy food stands and upstairs there’s a small bar and then clothing, decor & jewellery stands.

You’ll find anything from freshly baked breads, homemade jams & pestos to ready-to-eat quiches, gourmet sandwiches and build-you-own omelettes (also check out the omelette hottie):

But we totally lost our brains when we discovered Saszali Chocolates!

Carefully handcrafted, beatifully packaged, 15 delicious flavours… I was in heaven.  We decided to splurge out on a box of 4 for R50.  I went for the following flavours:

• Citrus Blossom: natural orange flavour, encased in the rich dark 70%
• Twilight: a fusion of white chocolate, Malibu and pineapple
• Noisette: filled with a hazelnut praline
• Golden Thyme: a centre infused with fresh thyme and drizzled with plenty of honey

Just check out how absolutely beautiful their packaging is!  This is the little box your choccies come in:

And then once you open it up, you find your amazing little treats, individually wrapped each with it’s own little flavour story included:

And trust me, they taste just as good as they look!  It’s the perfect gift idea for any sugar lover out there.   I’m certainly going to be getting myself a couple of “gifts from me, to me”.

The one thing I really liked about this market was that it’s not as crowded as the Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill.  But then again, I guess it’s just a matter of time before it becomes just as “hip” and popular.

I was totally in awe of the cheese & cured meats on offer…  I love cheese & parma ham!   Mmmmm…. Just look at these amazing blocks of “boere kaas”:

Oooh, and look at these lovely looking salads – which you could have “on a plate” for R45 or “in a pita” for R35:

But as fresh, healthy and tasty as that looked… I was on a serious mission to indulge in all the “evil stuffs”…  One option was these delicious looking cupcakes:

But then… the ultimate treat… pancakes! Mr Pancake Perfect himself, Siegfried Kitching, was there serving up fluffy & sweet perfection:

Next we headed upstairs. Now I’m not a vintage clothing person (it just slightly creeps me out that someone else has worn the clothes), but if that is your thing, then you’ll find lots of treasures here.

I was excited to see the Jam stand – they sell “beautiful things with love”. I’ve seen some of their things in little decor shops and I especially love their heart shaped wooden cutting boards.

As for the jewellery options – I was fascinated by Zoe Designs.  Designer Helen du Toit makes beautiful, unique rings with antique teaspoons and cake forks:

These next ones have been hand cut with pretty designs.  The bowl of the teaspoon forms the accent part of the ring:

Some other fun things were the oh-so-pretty brooches from Bow Peep:

But after all those creative vibes, our brains needed a break, so we checked out the little bar area:

Here you get a nice view of the ground floor, you can see at this point it was really buzzing:

For me, it was a bit too early for wine or beer.  So I rather opted for a flavour packed cappuccino:

I have to say though, they do need more than just one coffee stand.  That queue was loooooong and there’s nothing worse than cranky caffeine freaks. haha

But that’s it people.  Go check it out.  It really is quite charming, and seeing as it’s pretty much right on my doorstep, I will be visiting it frequently I’m sure.

xxx