Malaga Markets

Some days I just fancy a decent sized breakfast with no frills; an unglamorous plate of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, baked beans and toast is perfect — nothing difficult, complex or fancy. On one of those occasions I decided to take my chances at Malaga Markets food hall…
I’d had a rather dodgy breakfast (with onions!) at the markets before, so I tried «Coffee Break», a slightly less obvious choice for breakfast. And before you ask, no I did not try the coffee (see below for more on that). The menu is nothing to get excited about but quite extensive, with all sorts of burgers /​sandwiches /​hot meals /​drinks /​cakes at reasonable prices.
So onto breakfast, which was surprisingly good. Twice as much bacon as you normally get around town, tasty sausage, okay scrambled eggs, plenty of beans (you can have mushrooms instead if you’re mad), tomato and two slices of toast. I really can’t understand restaurants who think that one slice of sourdough toast cut from the end of a loaf is enough for a full breakfast.
But wait, there’s more! This breakfast also included a lasagne topper. Yes, I know how wrong this is, and I felt like I needed a shower afterwards, but it was GOOD. If you’ve never indulged in the delights of a lasagne topper, it’s basically some savoury «mince» and a gooey cheese-​like (or is it potato? it’s certainly not pasta!) substance, magically crumbed and deep fried. You normally eat them in moments of desperation /​weakness at remote service stations, and it is closely related to the lesser-​spotted cottage-​pie topper.
There was certainly nothing fancy about this breakfast, but there was nothing wrong with it either. And if the lasagne topper wasn’t enough to finish me off, I could have added hash browns for $ 1 each, which is about $ 2.50 less than many places around Perth.
Once you’ve eaten your heart-​attack-​on-​a-​plate, there are plenty of shops to look at in the markets, and also fresh produce to buy (how about some fruit?) It’s not up to the standard of Fremantle or the now-​defunct Subiaco markets, but it’s certainly worth a look, and is usually quite busy. The one thing it really lacks is somewhere to get a decent coffee — there is a place there that claims to sell good coffee, but it’s been horrible every time I’ve tried it.

Malaga Markets has all the classics of an indoor market; food stalls, grocers, clothing, knick knacks, hippies and hipsters as well as a stage for events.
I could do without the woman on the PA trying to sell stuff though, I mean come on I can stay at home and get that while I watch morning shows.

Malaga Markets is an undercover market with stalls selling an array of items, from fresh produce, to meat and trinkets. While not very large, the range in items makes it an interesting browse, and being air-​conditioned and undercover makes it a comfortable experience in summer.
The fresh produce is of a decent quality, depending on the produce and the seller. Some are better than others, so it can be a lottery at times. There is also a gazebo where various people busk, and the performers rotate every half hour. This adds a bit of colour to the market.
Malaga Markets is a fairly utilitarian, business-​like market. Unlike markets such as Fremantle where there is sense of controlled chaos, Malaga Markets is neat and subdued.

Malaga markets are markets of the gormet variety!
Whether you eat to live or live to eat the Malaga markets are sure to satisfy your needs (and perhaps desires you didn’t even now you had!) I declared a «Picnic Sunday» 2 weeks ago and happened to be going past these markets on the way to a park, naturally I thought that would be an ideal spot to quickly pick up some goodies and get my picnic on.. . BIG mistake, over an hour later I found I was still comparing produce and sampling cheeses.
This is where I went wrong, the markets are more then just fresh fruit and veg, they have an assortment of specialist stores including bakeries, delicatessens and natural stores containing every nut, seed, savoury snack and pickled substance ever invented! The prices for the fresh fruit were reasonable (almost ridiculous but Sunday must be the time to rotate stock, (I’m talking 3 ripe pears for 25c– I almost felt like I shoud just leave a gold coin and make a run for it!) As I questioned the crazy price of cherries I got te standard «not in season» run down but it’s always fun to put it out there. One woman, who said she shops there all the time, advised me that those cherries were straight from California so I should hold off until the aussie produce arrives, then girl behind me quietly whispered that I could get them @t a local supermarket for slightly less. That’s what I like to see, locals sharing their wealth (of knowledge, if nothing else) The prices are reasonable and the quality is good, I did leave the cherries but the strawberries, at $ 2 for a 500g punnet, were a steal! (swings and round-​a-​bouts)
The deli has a huge selection of cured meets and smoked, creamed and sliced cheeses (some come with conditions and have to be bulk bought so it’s a good idea to get to know them– if it’s got cling wrap on it, odds are you can slice it) Needless to say, much time was spent indulging in all that was on offer as my picnic inadvertedly transformed into a feast to end all famines. (subject to vegans, vegetarians and intolerences of the lactose or wheat, gluten or nut varieties.. .anyway– it was HUGE!) I easily spent almot 2 hours on my «quick» shop an only briefly browsed across the food court before forcing myself to retreat (not before impulsively buying a fresh french bread stick on the way out.)
These markets are a Friday Saturday and Sunday event 9: am-6:pmish so my advice is, eat before you go or you may never leave!